NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Reflections from the Mexican-United States border by members of the Vanderbilt University community who spent a week traveling the area open the fall semester of community programming offered by Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Members of the public are invited to attend two community breakfasts and a four-part Relevant Religion class taught by the editor of The Spire, the divinity school’s magazine.
The first event is a 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. community breakfast on Thursday, Sept. 14, titled “Transversing Our National Wound: Reflections from the U.S./Mexico Border.” Speaking will be Viki B. Matson, assistant professor of the practice of ministry and director of field education, and Alice W. Hunt, associate dean for academic affairs and assistant professor of Hebrew Bible. Matson and Hunt were part of a Vanderbilt group who recently spent eight days on the border, facing personal, political and theological issues which they will discuss. The breakfast will be held in the refectory of Vanderbilt Divinity School at 411 21st Ave. S. The cost is $10, and reservations are required in advance. For more information or to register, call 615-936-8453 or go to www.vanderbilt.edu/divinity/breakfasts.html on the Internet.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 25, and continuing each Monday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. until Oct. 16 will be a Relevant Religion class on “The Relevant Religious Questions in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson.” The class, taught by Vanderbilt Divinity School registrar and editor of The Spire Victor Judge, will examine how Dickinson’s words about life, love, death, eternity and God are incarnated in contemporary theological questions about the human condition. The classes will be held at the Laskey Building of the Scarritt-Bennett Center, 1008 19th Ave. S. The cost is $50 for four classes. For more information or to register, call 615-936-8453 or go to www.vanderbilt.edu/divinity/rel_religion.html on the Internet.
The future of the black church will be the focus of another community breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2. Victor Anderson, associate professor of Christian ethics, African American and Diaspora studies, and religious studies, will speak on “Farewell to Innocence: Can the Black Church be a Moral Light in its Contestations with Difference?” Anderson will argue that the answer to the question will determine whether the black church continues to have moral relevance. The breakfast will be held in the refectory of Vanderbilt Divinity School at 411 21st Ave. S. The cost is $10, and reservations are required in advance. For more information or to register, call 615-936-8453 or go to www.vanderbilt.edu/divinity/breakfasts.html on the Internet.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu