A Conversation with Law Professor & Author John Inazu
2021-04-01 14:15 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
Regent College and the Regent College Bookstore are pleased to invite you to a conversation with law professor and author John Inazu. Hosted by Dr. Iwan Russell-Jones, Mr. Inazu will be discussing his recent books Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference and Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference, co-edited with Tim Keller.
In Confident Pluralism, Mr. Inazu analyzes the current state of America, orients the contemporary United States within its broader history, and explores the ways that Americans can—and must—strive to live together peaceably despite our deeply engrained differences. Pluralism is one of the founding creeds of the United States—yet America’s society and legal system continues to face deep, unsolved structural problems in dealing with differing cultural anxieties and differing viewpoints. Inazu not only argues that it is possible to cohabitate peacefully, but also lays out realistic guidelines for our society and legal system to achieve the new American dream through civic practices that value toleration over protest, humility over defensiveness, and persuasion over coercion.
In Uncommon Ground, John Inazu and Tim Keller bring together a variety of artists, thinkers, and leaders to address the question: How can Christians today interact with those around them in a way that shows respect to those whose beliefs are radically different but that also remains faithful to the gospel?
John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. He teaches criminal law, religion and law, and various First Amendment courses. He writes and speaks frequently to general audiences on topics of pluralism, assembly, free speech, religious freedom, and other issues. Inazu is the author of Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale, 2012) and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (Chicago, 2016). He is co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (Thomas Nelson, 2020).
During the event, please submit questions to questions@regent-college.edu.

Being, Living & Dying Well: an Online Conversation with Lydia Dugdale
2021-04-02 13:30
On Good Friday, April 2nd we invite you to join us for a conversation with professor and physician Lydia Dugdale. In her recent book, The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom, Dugdale revisits ancient wisdom circulated in the wake of the Black Plague about living and dying well.
On this Good Friday, in the wake of our own plague and year of loss, we invite you to consider what the Passion of Christ means for our living and our dying, and the hope and beauty that can be found, even in the valley of the shadow of death.
Special thanks to this event’s sponsors: Goodwin House
And thanks to our co-hosts: Yale Center for Faith and Culture

A Conversation About 'Jesus and the Disinherited' with Dean Luke Powery & Dr. Walter Fluker
2021-04-06 19:00
As part of its Duke Chapel Reads series, the chapel will host online conversations about the book Jesus and the Disinherited by the theologian and minister Howard Thurman as a way to address contemporary issues of faith, race, justice, and love. Through the reading series, the chapel aims to curate spaces for reflection and conversation based on a common book reading each semester.
Chapel Dean and Duke Divinity School Professor Luke A. Powery will host a concluding online discussion in the series on April 6 of the book with Dr. Walter Fluker, a scholar of Thurman’s work. Fluker is the editor of the multi-volume series The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman and is Dean’s Professor of Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.
“Jesus and the Disinherited stands out as a book that both critiques the injustices suffered by people facing oppression and also offers a spirituality of true resistance and reconciliation centered on the love of Jesus,” Powery said. “It is a book that helped sustain and guide the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his colleagues in the Civil Rights Movement—and I believe it is a book that can provide vision and insight for us in our time and during this upcoming season of Lent.”
Members of the Duke community and others who are interested in participating in an online reading group about the book are invited to contact the Rev. Bruce Puckett, assistant dean of the Chapel.
In Jesus and the Disinherited, first published in 1949, Thurman frames the book as a response to an inquiry about how he can hold to a Christian faith that has been used to justify the enslavement and mistreatment of Black Americans for centuries. Using the sociological language of his time, Thurman explores how Jesus, a rural Jew under Roman occupation, was among, and spoke to, those “with their backs against the wall.” Thurman argues that from this social location Jesus teaches against evils that could corrode the oppressed from within—fear, deception, and hate—and for an ethic of love.
Powery is currently teaching a course through Duke’s Divinity School titled “Deep River: Howard Thurman, Spirituality, and the Prophetic Life.” He recently contributed an essay to the book Anchored in the Current: Discovering Howard Thurman as Educator, Activist, Guide, and Prophet, which offers fresh insights into Thurman as a mystic, preacher, educator, and theologian.

Does Civility Still Matter?
2021-04-09 12:00
In an increasingly polarized age, people are confused about when civility is appropriate, and what it entails. In a conversation moderated by David Corey (Baylor in Washington), join Dr. Cornel West (Union Theological Seminary), Dr. Teresa Bejan (Oxford University), and Dr. Andrew Sullivan (The Weekly Dish) to explore these questions, as well as the role of religious faith in the practice of civility.
The IHE is pleased to cosponsor this event with Baylor in Washington as a program of the Joint Initiative on Faith and the American Commonwealth.

All the Lonely People: Isolation, Connection & The Common Good
2021-04-09 13:30
An Online Conversation with Ryan Streeter & Francie Broghammer
On April 9, in partnership with the Pepperdine School of Public Policy we are excited to host author and scholar Ryan Streeter and psychiatrist Francie Broghammer on America’s epidemic of loneliness and the path towards meaningful connection.
Loneliness in America has been sharply increasing, even before the onset of the pandemic — despite our virtually unprecedented national prosperity, technological advance, and immediate virtual access to information and each other, there is, in the words of our guest Francie Broghammer, a growing “toll of despair.” The thinning of many family and community ties has sharpened our felt sense of isolation, and led some to seek a sense of solidarity in political involvement. But Streeter’s research has found that “normally, when people get involved in their communities, social capital grows and loneliness declines…But we have found that political engagement is a lone exception to this rule.”
How then should we think about reinvigorating the relational and community ties that encourage the flourishing of both the individual and the body politic? What are the antidotes to isolation in a time of pandemic — and beyond? Is there hope for connecting lonely people in a divided nation at a polarized time?
We hope you’ll join us as we wrestle with these questions and more.

Living in the Midst of Death: Theological Reflections on Aging and Technology
2021-04-09 15:30 - 16:30
Being human in our technological age requires not merely technical skills but—more importantly—intellectual capacity to navigate a rapidly changing philosophical milieu. Join us this winter for our online lecture series, Human Flourishing in a Technological Age, to learn from leading scholars about key aspects of what it means to be human in a technological age: personhood, embodied cognition, leisure, transhumanism and more.
Please join us on Friday, April 9 as we welcome Dr. Michael Mawson who will give the lecture “Living in the Midst of Death: Theological Reflections on Aging and Technology.”

Dr. Mawson will draw upon the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Austrian born philosopher Jean Améry to reflect upon the phenomenon of human ageing. In particular, he will explore how Bonhoeffer and Améry might help us to better understand and attend to the ambiguities and complexities of our experiences of ageing. In the first part, Dr. Mawson will engage Bonhoeffer’s theological account of the human being as situated between life and death. In his 1933 Creation and Fall, Bonhoeffer presents human beings as existing between the two conflicting promises of the opening chapters of Genesis: God’s promise to Adam in the garden (‘if you eat from this tree you will surely die’) and the Serpent’s promise to Eve (‘you will not die at all’). These two promises together encapsulate and disclose the situation of the humanity: ‘After the fall, all human beings are suspended between these two conflicting statements—living towards death, living as those already dead.’ In the second part of this lecture, Dr. Mawson will turn to Améry’s phenomenological reflections in On Ageing: Revolution and Revolt (1968), wherein he provides an account of ageing as ‘death in the midst of life’. In aging, as Améry reflects, “we become more alienated from ourselves and more familiar with ourselves…Day and night cancel each other out in twilight.” Améry’s rich descriptions thus draw attention to ambiguities and tensions that are present in all experiences of aging. Dr. Mawson will conclude by demonstrating how Bonhoeffer and Améry can assist with contesting the kinds of utopianism and idealism prevalent in many standard approaches to aging. In particular, Bonhoeffer and Amery help us to recognise the limitations of medical and technological responses to aging. Such responses fail to address our actual human experience because they promote life as the opposite of death, and in so doing they fail to attend to the nature of aging as dying.

Dr. Michael Mawson is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology & Ethics and Research Fellow in the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He holds a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame and teaches theology and ethics at the United Theological College of Charles Sturt University in Sydney Australia. He has particular interests in modern German theology and ethics, bioethics, phenomenology, and the writing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He has completed a monograph on Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology and is at the beginning of a new project on ethics and aging. He has co-edited four books including the Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dr Mawson’s work has also appeared in The Scottish Journal of Theology, The International Journal of Systematic Theology, and The Journal of Religion, Disability and Health.

Neighbourliness in a Global Context
2021-04-13 14:00 - 15:30
What does it mean to be a good neighbour on a global scale? Theos researcher Simon Perfect will chair this talk given by the Bishop of London.
What does it mean to be a good neighbour on a global scale? How might Brexit impact on our ability to live up to that challenge? Has the coronavirus pandemic taught us anything about solidarity with our international neighbours in a time of far–reaching disaster? How might all of this shape our approach to climate change?
The Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, will explore these questions at this event hosted by JustShare on 13th April, asking how we might engage with our neighbours’ struggles, allow our lives to be diverted off course for the sake of their wellbeing, and recognise our resources as theirs.
13th April, 6–7.30pm GMT
Register for the event here.
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Bishop Sarah was installed as the 133rd Bishop of London at St Paul’s Cathedral on 12th May 2018. Before ordination she was Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health. She served her first curacy at Battersea Fields from 2001 to 2006 and from 2006 to 2012 she was Team Rector at Sutton, both in the Diocese of Southwark. From 2012 to 2015 she was Canon Residentiary and Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral before her consecration in 2015 as the Suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 for her contribution to nursing and midwifery.
Simon Perfect is a Researcher at Theos, the religion and society thinktank, and a Tutor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is the author of Theos reports exploring religion or belief in universities, economic inequality in the UK, and university chaplaincy. He is also co–author of the book Freedom of Speech in Universities: Islam, Charities and Counter–terrorism (Routledge, 2021).

The Battle Over American History and Civics: The Traps and Perils of Having a National Plan
2021-04-16 12:00
A broad consensus has formed for improved instruction in American history and civics. Multiple studies and assessments indicate that Americans have an appallingly deficient understanding of their history and their governing process. And, of course, the events of political violence over the last year exacerbate those concerns.
But what should such an effort look like? Should it be based within the states? Should Congress adopt a national strategy? If so, should that be overseen by the federal bureaucracy and implemented by the states?
For a Faith and Law Friday Forum, join IHE Director of the Program on the Constitution and Catholic Social Doctrine Emmett McGroarty for a conversation on U.S. civics and history education with Stanley Kurtz (Ethics and Public Policy Center) and Bill McClay (Liberty University).

'The Brown Church' with Rev. Dr. Chao Romero
2021-04-19 17:00
The Hispanic House of Studies at Duke Divinity School will sponsor a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Chao Romero speaking on his latest book, Brown Church, highlighting the history of the Latinx church and its pertinence to the present times. The event, titled “The Brown Church,” is part of the 2021 Sumérgete Webinar Series featuring webinars on a variety of topics for laity, pastors, and other interested persons on theological topics related to the Latinx community.
Romero is “Asian-Latino” and has been a professor of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA since 2005. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Latin American History and his Juris Doctor from U.C. Berkeley, and is also an attorney. Romero has published 15 academic books and articles on issues of race, immigration, history, education, and religion, and received the Latina/o Studies book award from the international Latin American Studies Association. He is an ordained pastor. Together with his wife Erica, he is the co-founder of Jesus 4 Revolutionaries, a Christian ministry to activists, as well as the co-chair of the Matthew 25 Movement in Southern California.

Suffering, Healing & Meaning: An Online Conversation with Philip Yancey & Julia Wattacheril
2021-04-23 13:30
We are delighted to host the next event in our “Discovery and Doxology” series in partnership with BioLogos and Church of the Advent. This series brings together leading scientists and theologians to discuss the relationship between science and faith.
On Friday, April 23rd author and theologian Philip Yancey will be joined by Dr. Julia Wattacheril to discuss suffering and its redemption. Yancey believes that “the redemption of pain is better than the removal of it.” Yancey and Wattacheril will help us think through the meaning of our personal and national pain and how knowing the God who suffers-with us transforms our suffering into something beautiful. We hope you will join us!
This event was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton Religion Trust. The opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust.

Palliative and Hospice Care From a Catholic Perspective
2021-04-27 14:00
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a renewed societal focus on issues related to sickness and death. But how do we best care for the sick and for the dying? How do we appropriately provide palliative care and hospice care?
In the first collaboration between the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Institute for Human Ecology, listen to a panel discussion, moderated by IHE Director of the M.A. Program in Human Rights William Saunders, J.D., with ethicists Dr. Jozef Zalot (National Catholic Bioethics Center) and Dr. Myles Sheehan (Pellegrino Center for Clinical Ethics; Georgetown Medical School), on the definition and scope of palliative and hospice care from a Catholic perspective.

Reading the Gospels While Black: A Conversation with Esau McCaulley & N.T. Wright
2021-04-28 12:30 - 15:00
We are delighted to partner with Seattle Pacific Seminary and Portland Seminary to present Reading the Gospels While Black, a timely conversation between Dr. Esau McCaulley and Dr. N.T. Wright. The morning will open with a conversation between Dr. McCaulley and Dr. Wright, followed by two teaching sessions and a Q&A session moderated by Tim Mackie of The Bible Project. We hope you’ll join us for this important and illuminating event.
This event is free and open to the public, but does require advanced registration.

Beyond Diversity
2021-04-29 13:00
Guided by the expert research team behind Barna’s Beyond Diversity study, along with ministry practitioners, journey toward deeper understanding and greater empathy around racial justice issues and learn how to cultivate a healthier multiethnic team and community.

Flannery, ‘Revelation,’ and Race
2021-04-29 18:00
The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University Presents:
Flannery, ‘Revelation,’ and Race: an Audio Drama and a Contextual Conversation
Thursday, April 29, 2021
6 p.m. EST
Moderated by Curran Center associate director Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Ph.d.
Panelists: Professor Mark Chapman, Ph.d. (Fordham University), author William Eric Waters, director Karin Coonrod (Yale), and actor KenYatta Rogers (Montgomery College)
This contextual conversation, which will take place as a webinar, will begin with an audio stream of theater company Compagnia de’ Colombari’s latest work in development, a stage production of “Revelation,” Flannery O’Connor’s powerful story about race in the American South during the Civil Rights era. Afterwards, four distinguished panelists will engage in a contextual conversation around O’Connor and race.
This event, the first of a series of contextual conversations, is part of a project to build support for the future stage production of “Revelation.” These contextual conversations, by engaging directly with the issues surrounding the author’s views on race, are designed to build engagement and support for the fully staged production of the drama. The conversation will be recorded for archival and educational purposes.
Free and open to the public. Registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent upon registration. For more information, or to RSVP, email cacs@fordham.edu
