Online Faculty Lunch & Learn Series

This session will present the thesis of Dr. MacSwain's forthcoming book of this title. Drawing on the work of Austin Farrer, Sarah Coakley, Rowan Williams, Stanley Hauerwas and others, the book explores the provocative idea that perhaps the best evidence for God is found not in the conventional "theistic arguments" of natural theology, but in transformed holy human lives. In this Lunch & Learn, Dr. MacSwain will address the "hagiological" argument (or argument from holiness) and some of the important questions it raises.

Like most languages, Biblical Hebrew uses body parts metaphorically. However, a passage can be seriously misunderstood if we put our English definition onto the Hebrew idiom. A billboard example of this is in the “first great commandment” Jesus teaches. Hebrew simply does not use the word “heart” the same way English does. So what did Jesus mean? What are the greatest and second-greatest commandments? Attend this Lunch & Learn with Dr. Wright to find out!

Paul wrote his now famous letter to Rome in Corinth in the wake of a sustained and brutal challenge to his continuing authority in the Corinthian assembly. This challenge was not based on a theological disagreement—as it would be in Galatia—but on the question of status: the Corinthians were Paul's social and cultural betters. Paul worried that he would face a similar and even more robust challenge in Rome, an anxiety that materially shaped what was to be his magnum opus.

In the United States and around the world, there have long been calls to reform criminal justice systems in ways which victims, perpetrators, and society at large are restored. Father Cogill will discuss the success and failures which South Africa experienced as it tried to find a balance between, truth, justice, and reconciliation as it attempted to heal from the deep trauma of Apartheid. Focusing on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Father Cogill will explore how Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s understanding of forgiveness impacted the direction of the Truth and Reconciliation process in its desire for a restorative rather than retributive justice.

Lent was traditionally the season for baptismal preparation, and so as Lent winds down, we will look at the catechumenate (newly revised in the 2022 edition of the Book of Occasional Services) as a means of preparation for Christian initiation. We will look at the broad outlines of the process, with a bit of history and a bit of theology as our lenses. We will also discuss some practical considerations, so that busy parish clergy can imagine what it might be like to implement the catechumenate in their parish next year. Bring your experiences and questions for a lively discussion with Dean Turrell.

Many Anglicans refer to the phrase "lex orandi, lex credendi" ("praying shapes believing") to point to the centrality of the Book of Common Prayer to our theological heritage. This session will explore how the Prayer Book is also a lens for understanding our history. In particular, Dr. Bogert-Winkler will examine the ways a crisis around the Prayer Book in Ireland in the 1650s illuminates some of the central issues that led to the formation of the first Lambeth Conference in 1867. 

Join Dr. Kenneth Miller Apr. 18 for “The Hymn Since 1982” an online faculty Lunch & Learn, which will be delivered at 12:00 p.m. (CDT). In this session, Dr. Miller will discuss some of the developments in congregational singing since the hymnal's publication. What has happened to the poetic genre of the hymn text since then, and contemplate trends with which future supplements and hymnals may have to wrestle.

This presentation will be a slice of the Pastor in Literature course offered this term at the seminary. Cather’s 1927 novel, set in New Mexico shortly after the Mexican-American war, portrays the labors of two French missionary priests. This session will focus on one scene in which the protagonist experiences a sense of sadness and futility about his ministry, and how deliverance from accidia comes to him from an unexpected quarter. The reading of the scene will bring the teaching of Ignatius Loyola on “consolation and desolation” to bear on this common form of ministerial discouragement.

Dr. David Stark’s forthcoming book, Moving Mountains: Preaching that Confronts Confederate Monuments, examines the ways these monuments (mis)construe the past and proclaim a troubling vision for the future. In this session, he will offer an analysis of the preaching strategies written into Confederate monuments, highlight best practices from case studies of monument counter-proclamations, and offer insights drawn from naming commission reports and clergy interviews about the values and leadership needed to work for change.

David Livingstone called upon the British Church to help end slavery and the slave trade in Central and East Africa, but left open the question of what would become of freed slaves. In response, freedom villages were established and provided a missionary springboard. The stories of Mbweni, Freretown, and Rabai give us a glimpse into that missiological paradigm, offering a compelling example of the Church's witness. 

This session will explore several of the remarkable women whose lives have shaped the nature of the church, as well as how the church has responded to the lives and vocations of women. We will look at the remarkable number of women named in Romans 16, and at Paul’s complex rhetoric concerning women in church. We will look at the North African prophet and martyrs Perpetua and the pregnant slave Felicity, who died in Carthage at the beginning of the third century. Next, we will explore the remarkable life and career of the Empress Pulcheria, who presided over the Council of Chalcedon. In the western church, we will examine the remarkable English abbess Hild of Whitby, instrumental in the conversion of Northumbria, and the twelfth-century religious woman Christina of Markyate. Finally, we will conclude with that most underestimated of Henry VIII’s wives, Catherine Parr, who against all odds, “survived” to shape the church in the English Reformation. 

Dr. Andrew Thompson's recent book, Reconsider the Lilies: Challenging Christian Environmentalism's Colonial Legacy, addresses the problem of whiteness in the Church's environmental work. In this session, he will discuss the main arguments and proposals of the book, as well the importance and challenges of white Christians engaging responsibly with the voices of scholars of color.