Bogitsh Lectures

About the Bogitsh Lecture

The Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh Memorial Lecture was established by a gift from Professor Emeritus Burton Bogitsh and his family in honor of Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh. Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh grew up as a Baptist in a small farming community in west Texas, where her mother Una Hooper Carlisle, taught her the principleof religious tolerance.  Mafoi studied comparative religion at Baylor University and cultivated a profound interest invarious world religions and the cultures from which they arose.  This interest grew when she married Burton, a man of Jewish heritage, and both involved themselves with the Unitarian tradition.  It was within the religious philosophy of Unitarianism that Mafoi cultivated a deep understanding of the effect that cultural diversity has on religious beliefs.  Through travel and exploration, Mafoi and Burton were privileged to learn about Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam intheir native environs.  The Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh Memorial Lecture honors Mafoi's lifelong interest in the interplay between culture and religious expression.