Professor looks at ethics and the Last Supper

Although many students may not practice an organized religion, Richard Gaillardetz, a professor of philosophy, said there are ethics and philosophies that they may be able to acquire from religion.

Gaillardetz discussed the issues of hunger and destruction of the earth from a religious point of view in his lecture on Tuesday in the Law Center Auditorium.

He said the examples of the values Jesus displayed at the Last Supper can be utilized by Christians and non-Christians as a way to relieve earth’s social and environmental dilemmas.

“My lecture was intended to say to Christians: heal the divide, bring together, discover the relationship between how you worship and how you live your daily life. And to non-Christians, to recognize that what they see is not the way it’s supposed to be, but the way, too often, it ends up,” Gaillardetz explained.

Gaillardetz explored the link between worship and ethics by explaining how the Eucharist is a ritual enactment of the Christian practice to feed the hungry and poor.

He stressed that people should not commit a kind act in expectance of receiving a reward, but instead they should follow the example of Jesus and perform these acts because it is the moralistic thing to do.

Gaillardetz also talked about caring for the earth and said, “The planet was given as a gift by God and it should be cherished as one would cherish a gift given to them by their child.”

He used the example of Jesus giving bread and wine to his disciples to convey how God gave humans the planet.

“The gifts are those of a cooperating relationship between man’s works of the hand with the earth; grain and grapes were not given but rather the product of both with the help of humans,” he said.

Gaillardetz’s speech was part of the annual Murray Bacik lecture in Catholic Studies called “Eucharist, Hunger and the Destruction of the Planet: Can a Religious Ritual Heal the World?”

When a member of the audience asked about the idea of religion healing the world being an extreme view, Gaillardetz said he knows religion is not the answer to fix everything, but the ideas embodied by Christianity are a step in the right direction for Christians and non-Christians alike.

The Eucharist is a ritual dinner in remembrance of the Last Supper when Jesus shared his final meal with his disciples before being crucified.

Some audience members found Gaillardetz’s lecture captivating.

“Every time I hear him speak like this, it always reminds me of why I became a religious studies major in the first place,” said Danielle Roberts, a senior majoring in religious studies.

The auditorium was filled with people of various ages and religions who felt the same way.

“I’m not coming from the issue so much from the Christian theological standpoint,” said Ashley Pryor, an associate professor of women’s studies. “Pragmatically with how it could really help, I think it’s an important message.”

Though Gaillardetz gives the Murray Bacik lecture every year, he said he still enjoys participating in the event.

“The annual lecture is an opportunity to take the scholarship that my work is all about and make it accessible to a larger community,” Gaillardetz said.

Gaillardetz said his goal is not to convert students to Catholicism.

“What’s important about this lecture is that there are ordinary folks that I am trying to say, ‘Here’s some insight from scholarship that might enrich your own understanding of Christian worship,’” he said.