War, poverty, multi-faith education and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans will all be addressed this spring through programming at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Community Breakfasts
Vanderbilt will hold three community breakfasts during the spring semester. The 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. breakfasts in the Reading Room at Vanderbilt Divinity School are open to the public, provided they pre-register at (615) 936-8453 or http://www.vanderbilt.edu/divinity/breakfasts_register.php. The cost is $10.
The lineup:
Thursday, Jan. 21: Four divinity school students and John Thatamanil, assistant professor of theology, will report on their experience at the 2009 Parliament of the World‘s Religions in Australia.
Thursday, Feb. 11: Juan Floyd-Thomas, associate professor of black church studies, will speak about the efforts of the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan to develop an alternative to President Johnson‘s Great Society programs in the 1960s. Sullivan‘s Opportunities Industrialization Center stressed economic justice and represented a reinterpretation of the African American social gospel tradition.
Thursday, March 18: Students and faculty who participated in a trip to New Orleans to study race and poverty in America will speak on “Finding God in New Orleans,” led by Graham Reside, executive director of the Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership for the Professions at the divinity school.
Relevant Religion course
The Relevant Religion series offers a multi-dimensional view of a topic from one of Vanderbilt Divinity School‘s professors. The cost is $10 for three classes to be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3201 Hillsboro Road. The classes are at 7 p.m. on three consecutive Tuesdays, March 23, March 30 and April 6. To register, call (615) 936-8453 or go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/divinity/rel_religion_register.php.
This semester‘s course is “Religion, War and Reconciliation” and will be taught by C. Melissa Snarr, assistant professor of ethics and society.
The 20th century was one of the most violent on record and new forms of terrorism and warfare continue to define the beginning of the 21st century. This series will explore the role of religion – specifically Christianity and Islam – in contemporary warfare and peacemaking.
The Vanderbilt Divinity School is one of only four university-based interdenominational institutions in the United States, and the only one in the South.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu