Intellectual Life Events 2019 - 2020
Dignity and Vulnerability: Unpacking the Terrorist Attack in Stockholm 2017 from a Theological and Human Rights Perspective
Prof. Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson will give this year’s McCormick Chair lecture on Wednesday, February 12, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. So please mark that date in your calendars. The title of the lecture is “Dignity and Vulnerability: Unpacking the Terrorist Attack in Stockholm 2017 from a Theological and Human Rights Perspective.” All are welcome.
Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson is Professor of Ethics at Stockholm School of Theology (University College Stockholm). Her research has mainly focused on the ethical, philosophical and theological aspects of media ethics; surveillance; rights-oriented questions about the freedom of religion and of conscience, as well as, most recently, the theological understanding of love, life and death, expressed in Swedish hymns. While these subjects may be perceived as widely disparate, they are examined by Prof. Yngvesson from a theological perspective that emphasizes their ethical and moral aspects. Prof. Yngvesson has published five monographs: The Moral Journalist: Professional Ethics, Ideals and Virtues (2006); Afflicted by Journalism (2008); Freedom of Conscience (2016); Surveilled: People, Machines and God (2018); and All Your Grace is Open Arms: Hymns as Sung Theologies (2019). Currently, she is writing various articles on freedom of conscience, AI technology, and notions of an omnipotent and almighty God in the Church of Sweden’s hymn book.
Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story
The Theology Department will host a screening of a new documentary by Martin Doblmeier and Journey Films on the life of Dorothy Day titled “Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story” on Wednesday February 5, at 4:00 p.m. in the Damen Student Center Cinema. The film profiles one of the most extraordinary and courageous women in American history—one who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church, but who famously said, “Don’t call me a saint, I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.” Realist and radical, Day was both a typical grandmother and a self-described anarchist who once made the FBI’s watch list as a “dangerous American.” Revolution of the Heart is the story of one of the greatest champions of the poor America has ever known.
Martin Doblmeier will be present at the screening to introduce the film and to respond to questions and answers afterwards. We obviously would like to fill the Damen Cinema so please come join us and bring a friend.
About Martin Doblmeier
Martin holds degrees in Religious Studies, Broadcast Journalism and three honorary degrees in Fine Arts and Humane Letters. Since 1984 he has produced and directed more than 30 films focused on religion, faith and spirituality. Martin combines a lifelong interest in religion with a passion for storytelling. Over the years he has traveled on location to more than forty countries to profile numerous religious leaders, spiritual communities, heads of state and Nobel Laureates. His films explore how belief can lead individuals to extraordinary acts, how spirituality creates and sustains communities and how faith is lived in extraordinary ways.
Controversial Conversations
Prof. Miguel Diaz's John Courtney Murray Chair of Public Service will host a controversial conversation on the Synod of the Bishops of Amazon on Wednesday, October 23, at 5:00 p.m. in Cuneo 217. A variety of issues are being addressed in The “Amazon Synod” – ecological destruction in the Amazon as a form of violence against the earth and against indigenous people, the importance of the church maintaining a balance between “Inculturation and Evangelization” in its mission efforts, and the conviction that issues that concern the church in the Amazon also concern the universal church, whether it is the importance of the sacraments, the formation of ministers, the role of women or the protection of women against any form of violence.
On November 6 at 6:00 p.m. in the IES Multipurpose Room, the John Courtney Murray Chair and the Richard A. McCormick, S.J. Chair in Catholic Moral Theology will co-host a controversial conversation on the Congregation for Catholic Education's Document "Male and Female He Created Them." In addition to Profs. Diaz and Haker, Prof. Cristie Traina of Northwestern University and David Ozar, Prof. Emeritus from Loyola's Department of Philosophy, will participate in this discussion of the issues of sexuality and gender.
Science, Society, and the Search for Life Elsewhere/The History of Volatiles and Climate on Mars - Past, Present, and Future
Prof. Bruce Jakosky, Principal Investigator of the Mars Atmospheric Volatile and Evolution (MAVEN) mission will be at Loyola for two presentations on Thursday October 31st. His first presentation will be at 10:30 a.m. on October 31st in the Palm Court Conference Area located in Mundelein Center. The title of that presentation is “The History of Volatiles and Climate on Mars – Past, Present, and Future.” The second presentation will be a 4:00 p.m. in the Palm Court Conference Area and is titled, “Science, Society, and The Search for Life Elsewhere”. You are most welcome to come to either or both.
Bruce Jakosky is a Professor in both the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and in the Dept. of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His research interests are in the geology of planetary surfaces, the evolution of the Martian atmosphere and climate, the potential for life on Mars and elsewhere, and the philosophical and societal issues in astrobiology. He headed the University of Colorado’s team in the NASA Astrobiology Institute for more than ten years. He is the Principal Investigator of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission to Mars which is a P.I.-led mission developed through the Mars Scout program. It has been orbiting Mars since fall of 2014; results have been published in more than 200 papers that have appeared in Science, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Nature, and Space Science Reviews. He has published more than 250 papers in the refereed scientific literature, and has authored or co-authored a number of books, including “The Search for Life on Other Planets” and “Science, Society, and the Search for Life in the Universe”.
2019-2020 Religion and Nature Speaker Series
The Religion and Nature Speaker Series is a collaboration between Loyola University's Department of Theology and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability. The series features six speakers (three per semester) who will detail certain practices and ideas within their respective religious communities (Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Lakota, Hinduism) that creatively respond to today's ecological crisis and that both draw from and enrich the scientific wisdom needed to heal the Earth.
Word Became Flesh: The Question of Performance as Method in Biblical Studies
Join us on October 4th, 2019 for the 2019 Performance Criticism Conference! This conference, organized by New Testament and Early Christianity graduate students Zach Eberhart and Megan Wines, is organized around the question of how performance works as a methodology within Biblical Performance Criticism.
Sponsored by the Theology Department, the John Cardinal Cody Chair of Theology, the Theology Graduate Caucus, and Northern Seminary.
Feel free to also check out the Intellectual Life Events Archive of previous years events!
