Past Speakers
2007-2008 Speakers
2008
February 11, 2008
Fr. Donald Senior, C.P.
"Finding the Bones of Jesus: What Difference would it Make?"
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March 10, 2008
Thomas Reese, S.J.
"Faithful Citizenship"
April 14, 2008
Marcia Hermansen, Ph.D.
"Cultural Worlds/Cultural Wars: Islam, Christianity, and Culture in the 21st Century"
2007
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Simone Campbell, SSS "Fear Based Politics - and an Antidote" |
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John Dear, S.J. "Peace, Shalom, Salaam: Interfaith Nonviolence and the Children of Abraham" Interfaith nonviolence is our future, John Dear will tell us. All the religions are rooted in nonviolence, even Christianity, and each one of us is called to work for a new world without war, poverty or nuclear weapons, a new world of nonviolence. John Dear, S.J. will speak about the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other modern peacemakers and their legacy of nonviolence as our only hope, as the only way to look at the world, as the best political solution for each of us personally, nationally and globally. John Dear, S.J. is a Jesuit priest, pastor, peace activist, organizer, lecturer, retreat leader, and the author/editor of 25 books on peace and justice. His most recent book is "Transfiguration." He is also a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. |
September 17, 2007
October 15, 2007November 12, 2007
Timothy Radcliffe, O. P.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers: the Challenge of Peace in the Church"
In the United states the Church suffers wounds of division and incomprehension, which mar the witness of the Church to Christ's peace. In this lecture Timothy Radcliffe OP will look at how we can understand these and seek to overcome them.
Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. is a member of the community at Blackfriars, Oxford, and was Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the author of 4 books, the latest being “What Is the Point of Being A Christian?”
February 9, 2009
"Thinking Theologically about Race, Gender, and Politics"
M. Shawn Copeland, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Systematic Theology - Boston College
The 2008 presidential campaign challenged barriers of race and gender in unprecedented fashion. But misinterpretations of this challenge and of the election's historic outcome pose serious threats to our concrete realization of the common human good that is our country.
March 16, 2009
“The Cross, the Crescent and the Ballot Box: Catholic and Islamic Perspectives on International Democracy Promotion”
Peter J. Schraeder, Ph.D.
Professor, Political Studies – Loyola University Chicago
The primary focus of this talk is to explore the relationship between two of the world’s most prominent religions – Catholicism and Islam – and the international promotion of democracy and the rule of law. Despite democracy’s emergence at the beginning of the 21st century as the predominant form of political governance within the international system and the emergence of an international norm that considers democracy promotion to be an accepted and necessary component of international behavior, the role of religion within these processes remains at best understudied and poorly understood, and in the extreme, hotly debated and criticized by contemporary writers. The relationship between Islam and democracy especially has been fraught with impassioned debate in recent years, not least of all due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. This talk will explore similarities and differences in how the Catholic and Islamic faiths have approached the topic of international democracy promotion, with an emphasis on historical, theological and political-legal perspectives.
April 20, 2009
“Global Migration: Challenging the Catholic University”
Rick Ryscavage, S.J.
Director, Center for Faith and Public Life - Fairfield University
Globalization, demographic imbalances between rich and poor countries, conflicts and the violation of human rights are among the factors fueling the growing global movement of people – including unauthorized immigration. In the United States historically high numbers of immigrants, many of them Catholic, pose a particular challenge to American Catholic colleges and universities. Originally these schools acted as important mediating institutions for older generations of immigrants. Today immigrants are gradually redefining U.S. Catholicism without attending Catholic Schools. This disconnection will have profound implications for the future.
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