Grant to Ask New Questions on the Problem of Suffering

Posted by  on Monday, June 17th 2013     

How does one address, and think about, suffering in a way that goes beyond academic engagement to practical theology? Ian DeWeese-Boyd, associate professor of philosophy & education, hopes to find out. DeWeese-Boyd is part of a team with two other scholars who have been awarded a $14,260 grant from the Center for Philosophy of Religion at Notre Dame for the formation of discussion groups that will focus on such analytic theology. The grant will help DeWeese-Boyd, Patrick Smith of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Rev. James Arcadi, adjunct instructor of the Great Conversations course at Gordon, explore how contemporary approaches to the problem of suffering might address the existential and pastoral dimensions of this problem. They expect to form the group in the fall of 2014 and bring Eleonore Stump and Oliver Crisp as guest speakers. Here’s the team’s abstract:

“In addressing the problem of human suffering, analytic philosophers have traditionally been accused of doing little to comfort those actually enduing suffering. However, recent work on the problem of evil has begun to recognize the existential limits of responses to the problem of evil that focus exclusively on the reasons justifying God’s allowance of evil.  This new line of thinking holds that to respond fully to the problem of human suffering, we must expand beyond typical limits to address deeper questions than merely, ‘How can God allow this to exist?’ Eleonore Stump and Marilyn Adams suggest that responses to the problem of suffering must offer alternate routes to consolation for those suffering the heartbreak and horrors of this world. Stump focuses on how the biblical narrative provides what she calls second-personal knowledge of God. Adams focuses on how the person and work of Christ provides a redemptive identification with humans that engulfs the experience of horror. Both approaches offer substantial material for thinking about how to console suffering Christians.

“We will form a Cluster Group of seminary theologians (who specifically train those who minister to the suffering) and philosophers trying to connect theoretical discussions to the concrete struggles of those in their communities. We aim to bring these rich discussions of analytic theology to those who can benefit practically in their encounters with suffering. For this reason, we also hope to include the voices of those directly ministering to the suffering (e.g., local clergy, campus counselors, hospice workers) as we consider the pastoral significance of these contemporary analytic theodicies.  We will engage these discussions with consideration of the nature of God’s self-revelation in, through, and in spite of human suffering. We plan to discuss our epistemic access to God through Scripture, Christ, and the Sacraments as means of knowing God in the face of experiential counter-arguments. In this way, we hope to highlight the personal and practical significance of analytic theology.”

category: Philosophy

Christian Scholars Address Ethics Crises

Posted by  on Friday, June 7th 2013     

Whether there’s a new cultural crises in ethics or such crises have simply become more public through the information age, the need to address them is real. At this year’s interdisciplinary  Christian Scholars Conference in June and around the theme, ”Crises in Ethics: Theology, Business, Law and the Liberal and Fine Arts,” two Gordon professors travelled to Nashville to present papers on panel discussions.

Joining two other bible scholars on a panel called, “Old Testament Theology of Prayer,” Elaine Phillips, professor of biblical studies and Christian ministries, discussed, “The Prayer of the Upright:  Confession, Petition, Accusation, and Intercession in Wisdom Literature.” There are several studies on prayer in the Psalms or on select prayers within the Old Testament, but little in the way of a comprehensive exploration of the theology of prayer in all the Old Testament.  Her session was the second in a three-year project to examine the theology of prayer in the various sections of the Old Testament with the intent of providing the groundwork for a canonical Old Testament theology of prayer. 

Across campus, Jonathan P. Gerber, assistant professor of psychology, discussed the recent number of high-profile lapses in research ethics, where many of these cases emerged due to new analytic techniques for detecting and managing fraud, techniques which are broadly applicable to other empirical disciplines. Gerber’s peer-reviewed panel discussed the impact of recent cases of social psychological ethics, the techniques used to uncover fraud, the role of Christian institutions in maintaining research integrity, and the application of these techniques to other disciplines.

Specifically, Gerber addressed the fraud of Diederik Stapel and whether it led to calls to revise research practices in psychology.  Gerber’s paper—entitled, “Did Stapel’s research fraud lead to knowledge distortion or reputation reduction?”—provided the preliminary results of a 60 year meta-analysis of social comparison research, including over 600 research papers. Gerber said, “The effect sizes in Stapel’s work were not significantly different to other researcher’s findings, suggesting that knowledge about social comparison has not suffered from Stapel’s misconduct, even though the field’s reputation has. It appears that, sometimes, you can fake too well.”

Distinguished Faculty Awards, 2012-13

Posted by  on Friday, May 24th 2013     

On Saturday, May 18, at Gordon’s 121st Commencement ceremony, provost Janel Curry recognized professor of recreation and leisure studies Valerie Gin and assistant professor of philosophy Brian Glenney as this year’s recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Awards. The Distinguished Faculty Awards are given annually to one senior and one junior full-time faculty member in recognition of excellence in teaching, substantial scholarly and professional achievement, and notable service to the Gordon community. Upon being nominated by the faculty and members of the graduating class, the final recipients of the award are chosen by a committee comprised of Distinguished Faculty Award winners from the previous three years and the provost.

Said Provost Curry of Senior Distinguished Faculty Award winner Valerie Gin, “The Senior Distinguished Faculty Award recipient can be found almost anywhere in the world–mentoring others in places as far-ranging as South Africa or China. Beyond cultural boundary crossings, she has also been exploring the boundaries of gender and sport, and is presently working on a novel–collaboratively–around the topic of Title IX.”

Of Junior Distinguished Faculty Award winner Brian Glenney, she noted, “The Junior Distinguished Faculty Award winner also crosses boundaries–especially disciplinary boundaries. I believe our conversations this year have ranged from: perception of place, to the sovereignty of God and cultural landscapes, to randomness in nature, to graffiti art, and finally, to the construction of shelves in my house–from the abstract to the concrete and everything in between. Often I forget what department he actually belongs to because his work is so creatively cross-cutting.”

Writing the Textbook for the Environment

Posted by  on Friday, May 10th 2013     

Dick Wright and Dorothy Boorse recently celebrated the release of their co-authored text with students at Gordon.

These past several months, Dorothy Boorse, professor of biology, hasn’t been in the thick of the marshes as much as usual. Instead, she’s been in the thick of words, writing and editing a new edition of a textbook on the environment.  Boorse co-authored the environmental science text with her own former Gordon professor and mentor, Dick Wright, who has worked on several editions of the text for the past twenty years. This was his last as he passed on the baton to Boorse. One conference colleague once told Boorse that, “Dick Wright is the best marine scientist I’ve ever known.” Boorse said she’s always found it “a joy and an honor” to work with Wright.

Here’s how the publisher (Pearson Higher Ed) describes the text: “With dramatically revised illustrations, the Twelfth Edition of Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future is even more student-friendly while retaining the currency and accuracy that has made Wright/Boorse a best seller. The text and media program continue to help students understand the science behind environmental issues and what they can do to build a more sustainable future, with further exploration of the hallmark core themes: Science, Sustainability, and Stewardship.”

Thinking About the Flesh-and-Blood Jesus

Posted by  on Friday, May 3rd 2013     

New Testament scholar and theologian Scot McKnight used to ask his students if they thought Jesus made mistakes learning Hebrew or mathematics or Israelite history. “The question, I learned, was a good way to get students to think about the humanity of Jesus.” Those discussions also confirmed for him that many Christians did not know how to think of Jesus in human terms, which is also why McKnight has endorsed and written the introduction for the second edition of, “Flesh-and-Blood Jesus: Learning to Be Fully Human,” by Dan Russ, academic dean. 

The book’s new and updated edition—which was recently released—includes McKnight’s introduction, a new chapter on Jesus and money, and many revised and expanded ideas, sentences, paragraphs and chapters, based in part on feedback Russ received from readers.

In addition to exploring various ways the Son of Man lived as a human, Russ also writes about the importance and power of money in the life of Jesus and our own lives. “(This) was a much needed addition (in the book), especially when considering the influence of today’s culture of materialism. We need to see how Christ himself responded to the challenges money can present.”  Flesh-and-Blood Jesus was first published in 2008, and is one of many published works by Russ .

Ends and Beginnings—and the In Betweens

Posted by  on Wednesday, May 1st 2013     

Tim Sherratt

As another semester comes to a close, Timothy Sherratt, professor of political science, reflects on a year filled with challenges and questions, both essential elements in the process of learning—and living. (His essay will appear in the upcoming edition of Capital Commentary published by the Center for Public Justice.)

At the Corner of Need and Calling

By Timothy Sherratt 

The academic year is ending. In the first year seminar course I teach, the spring semester picked up where the fall had left off, moving from character and the good life to consideration of community and justice. Students embarked on service projects in the City of Lynn, near in miles but far in cultural and economic distance.

The political backdrop to the semester saw the President inaugurated for a second term, sandwiched between the averted fiscal cliff and the looming sequester. Hopeful signs accompanied a renewed debate on firearms, occasioned by the atrocity at Sandy Hook, and on immigration, occasioned by predictions of electoral extinction for the G.O.P.

The semester ends on notes of tragedy and terror. Bombings at the Boston marathon. A political rather than a popular failure to take commonsense steps to restrict gun violence, even as some in Congress excoriate federal agencies for failing to intercept the makers of an IED. Closer to home, the community memorializes a freshman killed in a traffic accident and remembers a beloved professor taken by a heart attack at the peak of his powers. Referencing these events, one student declared with refreshing transparency, “Transience is suddenly becoming a very real issue.”

A common theme emerges in my students’ final papers. There is so much injustice and so much need. Am I in the right place, going to college? What is God calling me to do? All this time spent equipping; shouldn’t I be doing?

There are, I respond, certain problems with this view. The need is great, but it lies deeper and is more varied than the most visibly urgent concerns. Short-term missions and direct aid have their place. But have we asked ourselves how much difference good government could make in most of the places where the aid is destined?

Besides this, education cannot be reduced to equipping. To the Christian, the mind is not a luxury made available only to an elite but is instead integral to human living, securing our health in the largest sense against the reductionists of our age. It is the ballast that holds us fast against what George Steiner memorably termed, “the detergent tide of social conformity.”

But I sympathize with these nineteen-year-olds. Theirs are some of the right questions. The Christian life ought to be lived at the intersection of Need and Calling. Living it there creates an appropriate tension in a fallen world, one that helps us examine our vocations for evidence of cynicism or indulged self-interest.

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Witnessing the Power of Truth and Reconciliation

Posted by  on Wednesday, April 24th 2013     

Dr. Judith Oleson

Throughout Canada’s history, generations of Aboriginal children in Quebec were taken from their families and communities and sent to Indian Residential Schools funded by the federal government and run by churches. They were denied use of their language, cultural identity and traditions, and the devastating impact of that tragic policy is still seen throughout the culture today. That’s why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has begun holding community hearings throughout Quebec with its culminating national event in Montreal, Canada.

From April 24-27, Dr. Judith Oleson, associate professor of social work and director of Gordon’s  peace and conflict studies program whose scholarship includes public apologies and racial justice, will travel with four of her students enrolled in PCS 375 Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation to Montreal. Together, they’ll participate in Canada’s National Truth and Reconciliation Event.  

Here’s what Oleson said before the trip: “By going to the TRC, we’ll have the unique privilege of witnessing testimonies of First Nation survivors of cultural genocide due to government policies. We will be able to interview both survivors and church representatives while exploring the relationship between the TRC event, public apology and meaningful reconciliation processes.  Then during the second week of May, our students will present their initial findings for the Gordon community.  It really is an unprecedented experience for those of us interested in conflict and peace studies to engage in such primary research and to hear first hand the stories of those who endured such tragedies. I have no doubt that our students—Serene King, Alex Clark, Ronesha WIlliams and Anna Soukenik—attending this important historical event with me will be deeply affected by this exchange, as I have been every time I participate in these reconciliation efforts.  We are grateful and humbled for the opportunity.”  GCSA Student Conference Fund and The Initiative for the Study and Practice of Peace provided traveling funding for Oleson and her students.


When Students of the Stage Become Colleagues

Posted by  on Wednesday, April 17th 2013     

Sabbatical is a time for new ideas, fresh experiences and ongoing scholarship. Each happened this spring for Jeffrey S. Miller, professor of theatre arts, when he returned to Minneapolis to direct a show  . . . . with former students who are now professional artists. He wrote the following response: 

Jeff Miller (c) with the cast of “Kingdom Undone.”

“Every Teacher-Artist’s Dream”    by Jeffrey S. Miller

I suspect fathers and mothers experience something similar when their kids joyfully choose to take up the professions to which they have given their lives.  Teachers certainly do when their students become their colleagues. But all the imagination in the world could not have prepared me for the deeply moving and richly satisfying experience of creatively collaborating with young artists I once badgered, criticized, prodded, cajoled, hassled, humored, reprimanded and—hopefully—nurtured when they were starting their professional journeys.  This was one of those rare moments of unexpected astonishment every teacher-artist should have, and one I will always treasure as evidence of God’s grace and confirmation.

Technically, it all started at Bethel College, now University, where I both earned my undergraduate degree and later taught in the Department of Theatre Arts.  I had plans to be a doctor but a wise professor named Rainbow, of all things, saw in me certain proclivities that would never fit with a life in medicine.  And though far too young and inexperienced, I was given an opportunity to hone my skills teaching and directing at Bethel just as I was completing graduate studies at the U of MN.  My earliest students were just a few years younger than me . . .

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Religion in the Classes of Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford

Posted by  on Tuesday, April 16th 2013     

The modern university owes much to religion’s influence throughout history. In fact, there’s a direct connection and ongoing influence, both of which have kept Tal Howard, professor of history and director of the Center for Faith and Inquiry, busy this spring.

Earlier this month, Howard gave a keynote lecture at the conference on “Religion and the Idea of the Research University” in Cambridge, England. In early May, he’ll present at a workshop hosted by Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study on a similar theme. And this July, he’ll travel to Oxford for a gathering of Templeton grantees for Templeton’s Religion and Innovation and Human Affairs grant initiative.

The initiative also made possible the upcoming conference at Gordon on November 14-16, 2013, “Protestantism? Reflections in Advance of the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation,” for which the Center for Faith and Inquiry received a grant in collaboration with Dr. Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame.  Howard’s talks and work with Noll at the conference will culminate in a new book.

New Book on Economic Growth Addresses Poverty

Posted by  on Monday, April 15th 2013     

For almost 10,000 years of recorded history, most people had to eke out a living in pain and difficulty. What was once the global norm, today’s deep poverty is almost entirely foreign to citizens in the developed world. What’s been the impact?

Stephen Smith, professor of economics, Bruce Webb, emeritus professor of economics, and their colleague Edd Noell of Westmont College, answer that question in their new book, “Economic Growth: Unleashing the Potential of Human Flourishing.” Published by AEI Press as part of its Values and Capitalism series, the authors offer “empirical evidence from the past two centuries showing the relationship between growth and human well-being, greater global income equality, and environmental improvements and sustainability. They make the case that economic growth is key to lifting societies from dire poverty to prosperity and holds the promise of sustaining unreached levels of human flourishing.”

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