"Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture and Performance Series" is an ongoing lecture workshop and conference series within the Buffalo/Niagara Region. It is designed to foster conversations about important issues involving the relationship between Christianity and culture. It promotes cooperation and understanding across religious, gender and ethnic lines.
All lectures are free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Canisius College Institute for the Global Study of Religion and the Ecumenical Community of Western New York. For a copy of the brochure please click, Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture and Performance Series 2009-2010.
2010 Events
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Columbia University
God in the White House
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 • 7:30 PM
Richard E. Winter '42 Student Center,
Grupp Fireside Lounge
Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, has been teaching at Columbia since earning his PhD from Princeton University in 1985. He has also taught in the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and at Yale, Princeton, Rutgers, Drew, Emory and Northwestern universities. He has lectured at such places as the Chautauqua Institution, the Commonwealth Club of California, the New-York Historical Society and to audiences around the country. A frequent guest on television interview shows, an award winning documentary fi lm-maker, Balmer is also a prolifi c author whose many books explore the contours of American Christian history.
Professor Balmer is best known for his award winning Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, published by Oxford in 1989 and now in its fourth edition. Not only did this book win many awards but its companion, three part documentary by the same name, which Balmer wrote and narrated for PBS, was nominated for an emmy and won the Gabriel award in 1993. Professor Balmer’s most recent book, and subject of his lecture at Canisius is God in the White House: A History: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008.
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Claremont University School of Religion
Peter Canisius Distinguished Lecture
Religion and Mental Illness
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 • 7:30 PM
Richard E. Winter '42 Student Center,
Grupp Fireside Lounge
Rosemary Radford Ruether is professor of feminist theology at the Claremont Graduate University’s School of Religion. She holds a PhD in Classics and Patristics from the Claremont Graduate University and a dozen honorary doctorates.
A prolific writer, she has taught theology at the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley, at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, at Northwestern University, at Howard University and at Princeton, Harvard and Yale Universities.
Dr. Ruether has written books on theology, on ecofeminism, and on Christian history. Her work has been translated into Spanish and German. Her most recent book, Many Forms of Madness: A Family’s Struggle with Mental Illness and the Mental Health System, is a memoir written collaboratively with her son David. The book tells the story of her family’s experiences with our system of providing care for the mentally ill.
Earlier the same day Dr. Ruether will also be guest speaker at the invitation only, Faith & Intellectual Life luncheon forum.
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University of Birmingham
Postcolonial Biblical Criticism: The Unfinished Journey
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 • 7:30 PM
Lyons Hall, Room 118
R.S. Sugirtharajah is professor of Biblical studies at the University of Birmingham in England. He is Sri Lankin by birth and was educated both in India and the UK. He is author and editor of numerous books and articles in Biblical studies. Professor Sugirtharajah’s most recent work is Troublesome Texts: The Bible in Colonial and Contemporary Culture (Sheffi eld Phoenix Press, 2008) where he highlights his well known theses on postcolonial biblical criticism. He is probably best known, however, for his now classic publication: Voices from the Margins: Interpreting the Bible from the Third World, which was published by Orbis in 1995 (newest edition 2007) and won the Catholic Book Award. A frequent speaker at academic conferences across the world, Professor Sugirtharajah has been honored by several articles and two books that explore his contributions to biblical studies.
Past speakers include:
- Rev. Francis Clooney, S.J., Harvard University
- Afro-Semitic Experience
- Rabbi David Novak, University of Toronto
- Lawrence Cunningham, Notre Dame University
- The Disputation by Hyam Maccoby, starring Theodore Bikel
- Michael Breault, writer and producer of Nothing Sacred
- William Cain, S.J., writer and producer of Nothing Sacred
- Luke Timothy Johnson, Emory University
- Tony Campolo, Eastern University, St. David's Pennsylvania
- Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, Kolel Center in Toronto
- Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Fordham University
- Fr. Dean Brackley, S.J., University of Central America in El Salvador
- Dr. Ronald Sider, Palmer Theological Seminar
- Dr. James Cone, Union Theological Seminary, NYC
- Elizabeth Johnson, Fordham University
- Dr. John Dominic Crossan, Depal University
- Dr. Martin Cook, Air Force Academy, Boulder, CO
- David Robinson, national director of Pax Christi
- Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University
- Rev. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., Director of Ignatius Productions
- Linda E. Thomas, Lutheran School of Theology
- Dolores C. Huerta, co-founder and VP Emeritus of United Farm Workers of America
- A Blessing to One Another: John Paul II and the Jewish Community
- Gustav Niebuhr, Syracuse University
- Joseph Grieboski, Director of Institute on Religion and Public Policy
- Rev. John Pawlikowski, University of Chicago
- Lisa Sowle Cahill,Boston College