Sharif International School of THEISM: East & West (1)

The first course of this school was held in August 2021, focusing on God: Concepts, Proofs, Attributes, and Actions. Having been followed by enthusiasts, this event featured fourteen Iranian & international professors for two weeks. The first week, we started with a brief lecture by Dr. Seyyed Hasan Hosseini on the visions and plans of the school. Then, Dr. Ebrahim Azadegan made a speech titled “The Impression of Praying”, followed by Dr. Sajjad Rizavi’s analysis of divine simplicity from Mulla Sadra’s point of view. On the second day, Prof. Graham Oppy began his lecture on the challenges to Atheism, and then Dr. Michael Ruse gave a speech titled “Did the Darwinian Revolution Mean the Death of God?”. Prof. Muhammad Legenhausen started the next session, by talking about “Is God a Person?” and its historical background. Also, Dr. Rahim Acar lectured on Avicenna’s Theology. The second week of the event was arranged as speech lessons and each lecturer allocated three sessions for a specific topic. The main focus of Dr. Timothy O’Connor was on theism & metaphysical naturalism and also talked about arguments for theism regarding consciousness and normativity, along with naturalistic arguments on the problem of evil. Prof. Jeffrey Koperski delved into the Neo-Classical Model of Divine Action while Dr. Ben Page commentated on Brian Leftow’s opinions about “the Timelessness of God”. Dr. Seyyed Hasan Hosseini, centering on Ibn Sina, presented topics like “Proofs of God” and “God’s Knowledge” for interested participants. Also, Dr. Yousef Daneshvar and Dr. Muhammad Saeedi Mehr explained “The General and Special Divine Action” and “Necessity and God’s Knowledge” respectively, based on Transcendent Theosophy. Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Prof. Brian Leftow made solo presentations entitled “God in Transcendent Theosophy” and “Must God Create?” respectively, during the second week.