God, Science, Sex, Gender
Conversations with Interdisciplinary Voices about Christian Ethics
Tuesdays, March 6, April 3*, & May 1, 6:30-8:30pm
Join us for a timely and expansive dialogue on Christian ethics and human sexuality, sexual diversity, and gender. In three facilitated sessions, we will discuss perspectives and research from science, literature, theology, and biblical studies.
Too often, conversations on sexuality and gender devolve into the repetition of party lines and defensive postures or become limited to particular biblical scholarship and denominational ideology. These discussions will consider an interdisciplinary body of scholarly research published in a collection of essays from the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies, theology, and ethics. The essays were presented at a conference held at Loyola University Chicago. They reveal how faith and reason can illuminate our contemporary understanding of human sexual and gender diversity.
| * In preparation for the April 3 session, Mary Bednarowski and Bill McDonough, the instructors for the evening, encourage participants to: 1) choose one chapter from each section of the book to read; 2) come up with a question that intrigues you as a fruitful question to pursue in your own life and work; 3) choose one paragraph from each chapter you read that you value and treasure; 4) choose one paragraph from each chapter that puzzles you in some way; 5) bring a copy of the paragraphs along with your question to give to the instructors. This will be the basis for the third session on May 1. Know that your presence and contribution are valuable. Please come even if you are unable to complete the assignment or if you missed the first session. Contact Wisdom Ways at 651-696-2788 if you would like a copy of the book. |
Facilitators:
Mary Farrell Bednarowski is professor emerita of religious studies at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Her research has focused on American religious history and literature, theological creativity, multiple forms of women's leadership, and the surprising capacity of religions for self-renewal in changing historical contexts. Her books include New Religions and the Theological Imagination in America, The Religious Imagination of American Women, and Twentieth-Century Global Christianity (editor).
William (Bill) McDonough, Associate Professor of Theology at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, teaches Christian ethics and coordinates St. Catherine’s Master of Arts in Theology Program. He is especially interested in virtue ethics and the relationship of ethics and spirituality. His latest written work is on what the Christian tradition has to learn about sin and conversion from Alcoholics Anonymous.
Patricia Beattie Jung, editor of the discussion text, God, Science, Sex, Gender, is Professor of Christian Ethics and Health and Welfare Ministries at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. A prolific researcher, writer, and scholar in Christian ethics, she has taught at Loyola University (Chicago), Wartburg Theological Seminary (Dubuque), Lutheran Theological Seminary (Hong Kong), and Concordia College (Moorhead). Patricia will only be present at the first session.
Recommended text: God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics, edited by Patricia Jung and Aana Marie Vigen. University of Illinois Press (2010).
WHEN: Tuesdays, March 6, April 3, and May 1, 6:30-8:30pm
COST: $20/series, $10/session - made possible by generous donors
