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For the second year, the University of North Georgia (ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½) and Mountain Top Lectures are co-hosting a lecture series beginning Aug. 26 at the Hoag Student Center Auditorium on ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½’s Dahlonega Campus.

"As our partnership with Mountain Top Lectures matures, we hope that students, faculty and staff will become more aware of the regularity of the free lectures each semester and take the opportunity to come and listen to some excellent speakers who enlighten and even challenge our understanding of our religious and spiritual worldviews," said Michael Proulx, associate professor of history and philosophy at ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½.

In the first lecture of the academic year, Dr. Mark Muesse, will deliver a presentation, "The Promise of Buddhist Spirituality." He will provide an overview of the basic teachings and practices of Buddha, discuss the essential components of Buddhist spirituality, and conclude with the teaching of several of the basic techniques of Buddhist meditation.

Muesse is a professor emeritus from Rhodes College where he was chair of the department of religious studies and held the W. J. Millard professorship in religious studies.

He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Baylor University, and a master’s degree in theological studies, Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in the study of religion from Harvard University.

Mountain Top Lectures is an organization that has presented lectures on theology, spirituality and science to the north Georgia community since 2010. In that time, Mountain Top Lectures has hosted some of the most prominent authors and speakers on religion such as Dr. Amy Jill Levine, Dr. Marcus Borg, Dr. Robin Meyers, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Brian McLaren, Bishop John Shelby Spong, and Rabbi Rami Shapiro. 

For more information about the event and to register, visit