Cole Lecture

Vanderbilt University Divinity School announces the 2025 Cole Lecture

“Sacred Versus Holy and the Inversion of Ethical Values in the Contemporary World”

Jung Mo Sung

Professor of Graduate Studies in Religious Studies at the Pontifical the Methodist, Retired

University of São Paulo 

Monday, October 13, 2025

6:00 p.m. CT

The Space

Lecture Description:

We live in a time of polarization in which notions of ethical-theological values, such as cynicism, selfishness, empathy, or love for one's neighbor, have become confused or even inverted. Is there a truth that humanizes us, or is everything a matter of political or cultural choices? How can theology contribute to this debate? Joan Robinson, an economist, talking on the endless pursuit of profit and social prestige by business people, said, “No one likes to have a bad conscience. Pure cynicism is rather rare. Even the Thugs robbed and murdered for the honor of their goddess.” On the other hand, Weber said that, whether in pre-modern or current societies, there has always been and always will be the offering of sacrifices to the gods of society, whether these gods are personal or impersonal. Whether because of a bad conscience or a necessity for unequal social systems, the notion of the sacred and its demand for sacrifices are essential in the process of inverting what is good and evil. To gain a better understanding of this dynamic, it is important (a) to distinguish between the logic of the sacred and that of the "holy" (which breaks sacred laws in the name of compassion) in social and religious relations; (b) to analyze the current dialectic between the social division of labor and the social division of workers.