NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Catholic theologian James Alison, who has been called “one of today’s most lucid and exciting writers on our relationship with the divine,” will deliver two lectures at Vanderbilt University on Thursday, Feb. 23, and Friday, Feb. 24.
The events are free and open to the public.
Alison has lived and worked in Britain, the United States and South America and is the author of several books, including On Being Liked; Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay; The Joy of Being Wrong, Original Sin Through Easter Eyes; Raising Abel, The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination; and Knowing Jesus.
Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Religion and Culture; Office for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Life; and Office of the University Chaplain are co-sponsoring Alison’s lectures. For more information, please call 615-322-3330 or
e-mail glbtoffice@vanderbilt.edu
Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m., Vanderbilt Divinity School, Room G-23
“Original Sin and the Possibility of Learning: Towards a Properly Theological Understanding of Natural Law”
Alison will attempt to make the case for how a strong understanding of Original Sin, understood backwards from Christ’s resurrection, makes it possible for us to develop a proper theological understanding of Natural Law as our normal way of grasping the link between Creation and the New Creation.
Friday, Feb. 24, noon, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Room G-23
“Ecclesial Learning and the Gay Question: Notes on the Process of Discovering Ourselves as Having Got Something Wrong”
Alison will apply some of what he has talked about in the previous lecture to contemporary church discussion about gay matters.
Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
Princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu