Tal Howard to speak on Protestant Theology

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Tal HowardTal Howard, professor of history at Gordon College, will speak on Tuesday, January 28 on the topic, “Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University.” His lecture will be in Gibson Hall 242 at 3:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

Professor Howard is director of the Center for Faith and Inquiry at Gordon College. He is also founding director of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, a great books honors program in the history of Christian thought and literature. He is the author of numerous books and other publications, including Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford, 2006) which won the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award in 2007, and most recently, God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide (Oxford, 2011), winner of a Christianity Today book of the year award in 2012.

Watch or read Tal Howard’s lecture.

Virginia Seminar member Amy Laura Hall speaks out about masculinity and bullying

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Amy Laura HallAmy Laura Hall, associate professor of Christian ethics at Duke Divinity school, begins her recent column for the Durham, NC Herald-Sun this way: “One of the most asinine things I have ever heard on the radio was from a sports news commentator, who said recently that it was ridiculous to think that an NFL football player could be ‘bullied.'”

Hall goes on to comment on the recent bullying story concerning the Miami Dolphins, discussing the use of emasculation as a bullying technique. Read the full column here.

As a member of the Virginia Seminar in Lived Theology, Amy Laura Hall is researching and writing a book on masculinity entitled, Erecting the Pulpit: Muscular Christianity from Victoria to Viagra.

Tonight: John de Gruchy lectures on mystery, life, and death

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Led into Mystery CoverTonight at 5 pm, leading theologian and Bonhoeffer expert, John de Gruchy, will speak on “Led into Mystery: Seeking Answers in Life and Death.”

De Gruchy’s most recent book, Led into Mystery: Faith Seeking Answers in Life and Death, will also be the subject of his lecture. Led into Mystery is an unanticipated sequel to his book, Being Human: Confessions of a Christian Humanist. It was prompted by the untimely and tragic death of his eldest son, Steve, in February 2010, and the questions this posed about the meaning of life and death from the perspective of Christian faith.

Join us tonight as Prof. de Gruchy takes us on a theological journey into the depths of life and death. You can read more about Prof. de Gruchy and the event at this link.

Click here for the audio recording of the event.

Prof. John de Gruchy to lecture on life and death

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John W. de GruchyJohn W. de Gruchy, Emeritus Robert Selby Taylor Professor of Christian Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, will give a lecture entitled, “Led into Mystery: Seeking Answers in Life and Death” on Tuesday, November 19 at 5:00 p.m. in the lounge of St. Paul’s Memorial Church across from the Rotunda.

John de Gruchy has authored or edited more than thirty books on Dietrich Bonhoeffer; the church in South Africa; contextual, public and Reformed theology; social history; Christianity and the arts; reconciliation and justice; and Christian humanism. He served two congregations and the South African Council of Churches as an ordained minister in the United Congregational Church before he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Cape Town in 1973. De Gruchy retired in 2003, but continues to be active in research, publishing, and mentoring at the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. With his wife Isobel, de Gruchy is now a resident member of the Volmoed Community for Reconciliation and Healing near Hermanus where he writes, gives seminars and makes furniture.

De Gruchy’s most recent book, Led into Mystery: Faith Seeking Answers in Life and Death, will also be the subject of his lecture. Led into Mystery is an unanticipated sequel to his book, Being Human: Confessions of a Christian Humanist. It was prompted by the untimely and tragic death of his eldest son, Steve, in February 2010, and the questions this posed about the meaning of life and death from the perspective of Christian faith.

Tonight: Diana Butler Bass gives the Capps Lecture at U.Va.

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Diana Butler BassIf you can’t join us in person tonight, you can watch or listen to the lecture at a later date.

If you can join us in person, we’ll see you at the Rotunda. The lecture begins at 6:00 p.m. Seating is limited, so arrive early for a seat in the Dome Room. Overflow seating will also be available in the Lower West Oval Room.

For more information about Diana Butler Bass and the Capps Lecture, read this.

Virginia Seminar member Mark Gornik featured in Christianity Today

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Mark GornikMark R. Gornik, member of the first Virginia Seminar and author of Word Made Global: Stories of African Christianity in New York City, is coauthor of a recent article in Christianity Today about the vibrant, multicultural Christianity of New York City. Gornik and Maria Liu Wong write:

There are two ways Christians tend to see the city and God in the city. The first peers through a lens that sees primarily what is wrong with it…. The second way is to try to see the city through the eyes of God….We at City Seminary of New York see God at work in ways that confound stereotypes of a secular landscape. That work is led by grassroots ministries energized by an influx of Christians from around the world coming to New York City. Their work is less about setting up specific programs or starting new churches—though they do that in great numbers—than about enabling fellow Christians to live out their faith in the city, in order to bless their neighborhoods and neighbors.

Read the whole article here.

Leaving Church? Generation Next and the Future of Faith

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Diana Butler BassNext Friday, November 1 at 6:00 p.m., Diana Butler Bass will give a lecture entitled, “Leaving Church? Generation Next and the Future of Faith” in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Seating is limited, but the public is invited and admission is free. This lecture is part of the Capps Lecture Series in Christian Theology sponsored by Theological Horizons and the Project on Lived Theology.

Theological Horizons will also host a 1:00 p.m. brown bag lunch seminar with Diana at the Bonhoeffer House.

For more information on Diana Butler Bass and these events, read U.Va.’s press release here.

Kelly Figueroa-Ray blogs about meeting Ed King in Jackson

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Ed King and Kelly Figueroa-Ray

Later this week, the Project on Lived Theology is hosting Rev. Ed King, chaplain at Tougaloo College during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Last month, Project assistant director Kelly Figueroa-Ray met Rev. King in Jackson, Mississippi, and talked with him about his memories of the Civil Rights Movement. Read her blog post about her conversation here.