Missouri Baptist University will be hosting a conference cosponsored by the ISCC on Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18, 2005.
Christian Reflections on Contemporary Culture
This conference will feature Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Jenkins is the author of numerous books including The Next Christendom and The Hidden Gospels.
|
Friday evening, This lecture is free to the public. |
The Dan Brown Code: Why Are We So Hungry For New Gospels? A response to the Da Vinci Code, by Professor Philip Jenkins Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE represents an amazing publishing phenomenon, suggesting an immense popular interest in Christianity, but a desire to go beyond the portraits offered in the canonical gospels. Professor Jenkins will explore the search for new and hidden gospels over the past two centuries, and ask what this suggests about the state of Christianity in the advanced Western world. |
|
Saturday morning,
(for registered participants) |
Global Christianity and the Future of Liberal Arts Education This morning panel will begin with a lecture by Professor Jenkins. In our lifetimes, the contours of worldwide Christianity have changed fundamentally with a far greater proportion of believers living in the global South, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Reflecting this phenomenon, American colleges and seminaries are seeking to build the theme of global Christianity into their curricula. This lecture will discuss some of the opportunities and difficulties involved in this process. Panelists will include: William Shea, Holy Cross |
|
Saturday afternoon, (for registered participants) |
Apocalyptic for the People This afternoon panel will begin with a lecture by David Dark, author of Everyday Apocalypse, among other works. Dark will discuss the apocalyptic genre and its presence throughout a wide range of artistic expression. Dark suggests that the proclamation of God's coming kingdom functions as kind of demythologizing virus, disturbing the mental furniture of any culture it infects, redemptively disrupting the agreed-upon status quo of any community. The presence of apocalyptic witness, in this sense, will bypass the popular categories of religious/political, high/low, and sacred/secular. The panel discussion will be led by Harold K. Bush of St. Louis University and will include other respondents. |
|
|
|