View - and Register for - Our Educational Events
If you wish to register for any of these interesting educational events, you can register and where appropriate pay online by clicking the "register and pay" icons below or you can print out the registration form and send it with a check or your credit card information to: Educational Outreach Events, c/o Yvette Law, Hartford Seminary, 77 Sherman Street, Hartford CT 06105.
If you have any questions, please call Yvette Law at 860-509-9555 or email her at events@hartsem.edu.
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Winter/Spring 2009
God’s Word in Greek: Reading the Gospel of Matthew
With the Rev. Edward F. Duffy
Tuesdays, January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, and June 9, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“God's Word in Greek” is an annual continuing education workshop. This workshop will conduct monthly translation sessions of selected texts from the New Testament, this term continuing the reading of “The Gospel of Matthew.” Participants will be encouraged to fine tune their New Testament Greek reading skills as well as explore the readings in light of their faith understanding. Reading the Greek text together with other colleagues will enhance understanding of New Testament issues. Participants should have basic proficiency in New Testament Greek; at least a one-year course in basic Greek should suffice.
The Rev. Edward F. Duffy is adjunct professor of New Testament Greek at Hartford Seminary. He is minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Fairfield, CT. From 1994 to 2004, he was minister of the First Congregational Church in Litchfield. He received his B.A. from Princeton, an M.A. in musicology from Columbia, and the Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He completed his Ph.D. in 2000 from the Graduate Theological Foundation. His dissertation was a translation and commentary on Didymus the Blind's Job commentary.
Cost: $120
Reflections, Book Signing, and Reception
Paradoxology: Spirituality in a Quantum Universe
With Miriam Therese Winter
Tuesday, February 3
7 p.m.
When Miriam Therese Winter came to the final chapter of her latest manuscript, she realized she had been wrestling with far more than a book. Here was the trajectory of her heart's journey. The world of the Spirit in which she had been so deeply rooted had morphed into a chaotic and unpredictable quantum reality, and she was immersed in it. Yet she was strangely comforted, for the quantum spirit of the living God remained the thread of continuity in this world of flux. Miriam Therese will share some of her insights regarding that quantum Spirit and a new paradigm, which she calls paradoxology.
Copies of Paradoxology may be purchased at the Seminary bookstore in advance (860-509-9527) or the evening of the celebration. You also may order the book through the Seminary online bookstore, www.hartfordseminarybookstore.org. Miriam Therese will sign copies during the evening.
Miriam Therese Winter, a Medical Mission Sister, is professor of liturgy, worship, and spirituality and director of the Women’s Leadership Institute at Hartford Seminary. She has published a number of books and recorded more than 200 of her original songs.
Cost: Free
Book Signing and Reception
Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl
With Susan Campbell
Tuesday, February 24
7 p.m.
By the age of twelve, Hartford Courant columnist Susan Campbell had been flirting with Jesus for some time, and in her mind, Jesus had been flirting back. So, one Sunday morning, she walked to the front of her fundamentalist Christian church to profess her love for Jesus and to be baptized. But from the moment her robe floated to the surface of the baptistery water, she began to question her fundamentalist Christian faith. In a new memoir, "Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl," Campbell examines the place of women, both in her faith tradition and in society today. In this program, Campbell, a graduate of Hartford Seminary with a Master's in Ministry in Daily Life, will reflect on the journey from fundamentalism to feminism.
Copies of Susan’s book may be purchased at the Seminary bookstore in advance (860-509-9527) or the evening of the celebration. You also may order the book through the Seminary online bookstore, www.hartfordseminarybookstore.org. Susan will sign copies during the evening.
Susan Campbell is an award-winning columnist at the Hartford Courant. Her work has been recognized by the National Women's Political Caucus, New England Associated Press News Executives, the Society for Professional Journalists, the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and the Sunday Magazine Editors Association. Her column about the shootings at Connecticut lottery headquarters in March 1998 was part of The Courant's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage. The mother of two adult sons, she has a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland, and a master’s degree from Hartford Seminary.
Cost: Free
Preaching and Teaching About Homosexuality in the Christian Churches Today
A workshop with The Rev. Dr. Frank Kirkpatrick
Thursday, February 26
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This workshop will explore how the issue of homosexuality can be handled creatively, faithfully and with sensitivity to differing views by congregational leaders and pastors. We will look at the Biblical arguments for and against homosexuality and what modern Biblical scholarship is saying. We will also explore how the historic teachings of the Christian churches are being used today within the polities of various church traditions; how moral theology or religious ethics treats the issue, and how findings from modern science are being used to illuminate the debate. The understanding of the various authorities for belief and practice in the Christian community will be examined as they apply to this topic The particular case of the Episcopal Church in the United States and its relationship to the Anglican Communion will be used as a case study for our exploration and discussion based on the book The Episcopal Church in Crisis: How Sex, the Bible, and Authority Are Dividing the Faithful.
Frank Kirkpatrick is Ellsworth Morton Tracy Lecturer and Professor of Religion at Trinity College in Hartford. A graduate of the college (majoring in Religion), Kirkpatrick has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University. He specializes in three areas: the philosophy of religion, Christian social ethics, and the history of Christian thought in the West. Kirkpatrick is the author of the recently published “The Episcopal Church in Crisis: How Sex, the Bible, and Authority Are Dividing the Faithful.”
Cost: $30 (includes lunch)
Justice and the Shari’a in Contemporary Society: Conflict or Co-existence?
With Yahya Michot
Thursday, March 5
7 p.m.
Many, in the West, would consider applying Islamic Law (Shari’a) in today’s world as a regression to medieval times. But what is in fact the Shari’a? A legal code based exclusively on ancient scriptural sources? A way of life, societal as well as personal, through which Muslim communities still pursue their ideal of justice? Such questions deserve to be revisited and help one to understand how, for example, a Turkish scholar could, in the 17th century, seek to curb the Ottoman sultan’s despotism by a strict implementation of Shari’a Law. Many more recent initiatives of similar nature also could be mentioned.
Yahya Michot is Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary. He is editor of the Muslim World journal and director of the Seminary’s International Ph.D. program. Previously, Michot was Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University in Great Britain and a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He joined Oxford after serving as director of research and lecturer at the Institut Supérieur de Philosophie at Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Since 2000, Michot has participated in more than 40 international conferences. Recently he spoke on “Islam and modernity” at a course on strategic issues for senior Defense officers of the United Kingdom and participated in the 5th Doha Conference on Interreligious Dialogue in Doha, Qatar.
Cost: Free
A Drumming Circle
With Jan Gregory
Mondays, March 16 and 30, April 13 and 27, and May 11 and 18
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Those who are interested in participating in African hand drumming should enroll in this facilitated drumming circle.
African djembe drums, along with other African hand percussion, will be used. When you register, please indicate whether you will bring your own drum or will need to borrow one.
Drummers will build upon basic skills and learn more complex rhythm sets including rhythms from Belize. Each rhythm set will have easy and more difficult parts to fit all levels of skill.
The instructor/facilitator will be Jan Gregory, owner of the Renaissance Center: A Conservatory of Music in Southbury, and Director of Music Ministry, Congregational Church of Easton, UCC.
Cost: $120
A Day of Respect: Welcoming People with Disabilities
With William C. Gaventa
Monday, March 16
9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Co-Sponsor: The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities
Supporting Sponsors: the Office of Protection and Advocacy and the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Connecticut Health Center
Faith communities can change the way people with disabilities, and their families, are perceived and received in society. This workshop will reawaken faith communities to welcoming and including people with disabilities and their families. In a society where people with disabilities and their families, the elderly, and other devalued populations are more and more being treated and spoken badly of and where this mistreatment is growing and becoming more tolerated the sense of belonging is crucial. Faith communities that offer the gift of belonging can play a major role in safeguarding the lives of devalued people in a materialistic society. This conference is for faith communities who want to learn more about including persons with disabilities in faith communities. The conference will include opportunities for faith communities to share stories about their experiences with including people with disabilities, explore resources for adapting curriculum; and addressing theological issues in pastoral roles and as religious educators.
Participants will receive a “how to” DVD: Believing, Belonging, Becoming: Building Welcoming Faith Communities as well as other handouts and literature.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Faith communities are asked to use services on Friday, March 13, Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15, 2009 to incorporate members of their congregations with disabilities, and their families, in activities that support worship and religious education.
William Gaventa serves as Director of Community and Congregational Supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, and Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The Boggs Center is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey and is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
As writer and author, he is Editor of the Journal of Religion Disability, and Health, editor of the newsletter for the Religion and Spirituality Division of AAIDD, Adviser for the Spiritual and Religious Supports Series-Exceptional Parent Magazine, and columnist for Insight, the national newsletter of the ArcUSA. His writings include journal articles, book chapters, monographs, resource collections, booklets, and four edited books.
Cost: Free
Book Signing and Reception
Threefold Blessings
With Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo
Tuesday, March 17
7 p.m.
Co-Sponsor: The Women’s Leadership Institute at Hartford Seminary
Hartford Seminary will honor Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo with its Distinguished Alumna Award at an evening reception. Janet and Vicky are authors of the recently published Prayer Shawl Companion.
The Prayer Shawl Companion is a collection of stories, patterns, and prayers by shawl makers from across the country and around the world. Although there are 38 beautiful shawls for all occasions, it is more than a pattern book and can be enjoyed by knitters and non-knitters alike. As the prayer shawl ministry grew out of Janet & Vicky's time at the first Women's Leadership Institute, it is fitting that this book honors the ministry's origins.
The evening will include remarks by Janet and Vicky, and several shawls will be on display. Copies of their book may be purchased at the Seminary bookstore in advance (860-509-9527) or the evening of the celebration. You also may order the book through the Seminary online bookstore, www.hartfordseminarybookstore.org. Janet and Vicky will sign copies during the evening.
Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo, graduates of the first class of the Women's Leadership Institute at the Seminary, are co-founders of the Prayer Shawl Ministry and the accompanying website, www.shawlministry.com. Janet, a Special Education Tutor, lives in Farmington. She attends St. Patrick & St. Anthony Church in Hartford, is a member of the Women of Hope Committee, and coordinates the Prayer Shawl Ministry there. Vicky lives in Berlin with her husband and two sons. She works as an Administrative Assistant and is the webmistress for the Prayer Shawl Ministry website.
Cost: Free
The Mystery of Paul
With Wayne A. Meeks, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 2
6:30 p.m.
In this jubilee year celebrating the contribution of the Apostle Paul to Christianity, it is well to be reminded that for many Christians through the ages, even in Paul’s own time, that contribution has been puzzling and even, for some, both Christians and non-Christians, offensive. In an essay written some thirty years ago, Wayne Meeks called Paul “the Christian Proteus,” evoking Homer’s description of the strange demigod who defied capture by changing at will into any shape at all: lion, serpent, leopard, water, tree. Inspired in part by that metaphor, the Israeli-French filmmaker Abraham Ségal has produced an extraordinary account of “The Mystery of Paul,” inviting us to confront the multiple forms that Paul’s interpreters have imagined and still debate, and the consequences, both grand and horrible, that those interpretations have had in the history of western culture. Ségal pays special attention to the key role played by interpretations of Paul in the long history of conflict between Christians and Jews. He comments, “As the purpose of my previous Film ‘The Abraham File’ was to permit a dialogue between the children of Abraham with a perspective of peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, the purpose of ‘The Mystery of Paul’ is to facilitate dialog on essential issues between Jews and Christians.” In this program, we will show the film, followed by a commentary by Dr. Meeks.
Wayne A. Meeks is Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies, Yale University, where he taught from 1969 until 1999. He was Chairman of the Department 1972-75 and Director of the Division of the Humanities of the University 1988-91. Earlier, he taught at Indiana University and Dartmouth College. He has served as president of the two leading professional societies in his field, the Society of Biblical Literature (1985) and Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (2004–5). He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala and is a fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is best known for his publications on the writings of the apostle Paul and on the Fourth Gospel, for his investigation of the social history of earliest Christianity, and for work on the formation of early Christian morality.
Cost: $10
The New Atheism: Denying God and History
With The Rev. Dr. Borden Painter
Wednesday, April 15
7 p.m.
Three recent best sellers make the case for atheism: Sam Harris, The End of Faith, Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason; Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion; and Christopher Hitchens, God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything. Each book uses historical evidence to support the conclusion that the only rational and moral choice for us is atheism. The lecture will focus on these historical arguments and make the case that in their zeal for atheism the authors have distorted or ignored the historical record.
The Rev. Dr. Borden Painter is Professor of History, Emeritus, at Trinity College where he taught European history (1964-2004), served as Dean of the Faculty (1984-87) and twice was Interim President (1994-95, 2003-04). He earned his B. A. at Trinity, his M. Div. from General Theological Seminary, and his Ph. D. at Yale University. He is a priest in the Episcopal Church.
Cost: $10
Interfaith Talent Night
Performances by Hartford Seminary students
Thursday, April 23
7 p.m.
An evening celebrating the talents of our Hartford Seminary students. Enjoy dance, music and performance art. Hartford Seminary has students from across the country and throughout the world. Join us as they demonstrate their diversity on stage.
Already booked are a pianist, Indonesian musicians, and a woman who presents interreligious dialogue as performance art.
Cost: Free
The Megachurch Phenomenon
with Scott Thumma
Monday - Tuesday, June 8 and 9
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Imagine a congregation where 10,000 people gather each week for worship, where church budgets are 15 million dollars a year and where thousands of people volunteer for programs weekly. Welcome to the world of megachurches. Scott Thumma, co-author of "Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches," is offering a graduate level course in megachurches from June 8 through June 12, 2009. Within this five-day course, he will offer a self-contained two-day continuing education program. The first day provides an overview of the megachurch phenomenon: The number and location of megachurches across the United States, common characteristics, and how they function. The second day will focus on his latest research on who attends these congregations and the quality and depth of their spiritual lives. Both days will include extensive small group reflection and discussion on the application of practical strategies derived from these successful churches. This program will be valuable to religious and lay leaders as they envision new ideas to enhance the vitality of their own faith communities no matter what the size.
Scott Thumma is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research and Director of Distance Education. He specializes in research on Megachurches, Homosexuality and Religion, Religion and the Internet, and Congregational Studies. Prior to his appointment at Hartford Seminary, Thumma had a social and religious research consulting firm. The company, Congregational Consultants, was used by numerous churches, denominational leaders and secular organizations to study aspects of their organizations.
Cost: $200
To register for events, you can register and where appropriate pay online by clicking on the "register and pay" icon or print out the registration form and send it with a check or your credit card information to:
Educational Outreach Events
c/o Yvette Law
Hartford Seminary
77 Sherman Street, Hartford CT 06105
Past Events
Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment
With J. Brent Bill
Tuesday, October 21
7 p.m.
How do you discover God’s will for your life – every day? Join Quaker minister and author, J. Brent Bill, as he reads from his book Sacred Compass and talks about a fresh and deeper way of living a God-directed life. Drawing on the quiet beauty of the Quaker path, Bill will show how spiritual discernment is more about sensing God’s gracious presence than it is about making the right decisions.
J. Brent Bill is a Quaker minister and author. He is the executive vice president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations and has been a local church pastor, seminary instructor, book review editor, and denominational executive.
The Practice of Reconciliation Leadership
With Virginia Swain, MA and Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D
Thursday, October 30
6:30 p.m.
The best of our humanity is needed now from people from all faith traditions to address the leadership crises in community, institutional, national and global arenas. This presentation highlights and appropriates participants’ unique gifts and special calling to be Reconciliation Leaders for the United Nations General Assembly 2009 International Year of Reconciliation. Reconciliation Leadership is a distinct vocation, requiring reflection time first for new knowledge of one’s own values, gifts and talents. It arises from one’s integrity, special calling and skillbuilding in learned behaviors, a philosophy of life to be at peace in oneself and in service to our planet – acting locally or globally. You will be introduced to the personal, interpersonal, group, systemic and global competencies of Reconciliation Leadership as well as its historic, visionary and pragmatic approaches for community institutional and global challenges. A case study of Reconciliation Leadership at work in the Philippine Peace Process and with American Muslims post 9/11 will be presented. Reconciliation Leadership is a trademarked service of the Center for Global Community and World Law and has been taught at the United Nations under the sponsorship of the Under-Secretary-General for the Least Developed Countries.
Sarah Sayeed is a Program Associate at the Interfaith Center of New York, and was formerly an assistant professor at Baruch College, School of Public Affairs. Sayeed graduated from Princeton University in 1990 and earned her doctorate in communications from the Annenberg School for Communications where she specialized in public health communication. She has been involved in interfaith dialogue for several years and has also received a certificate in Reconciliation Leadership. She is currently a board member of the Muslim Consultative Network and Women in Islam, Inc. and is the author of numerous articles relating to women, Islam, and communications.
With work experience on five continents, Virginia Swain is the Co-Founder and Director of the Center for Global Community and Institute of Global Leadership. Swain’s inaugural project at the United Nations, A Celebration for the Children of the World: A Model for Global Community was later developed in dozens of local and global projects into a Peacebuilding Process of Reconciliation for Political Will and a Global Mediation and Reconciliation Service. She is the author of A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace.
Virginia and Sarah have co-authored two articles entitled “Reconciliation as Policy: Moving beyond the Victim–Perpetrator Lens in the United Nations Secretariat and Member States” and “Leadership and Practice to Reconcile Challenges in a Post-September 11th World”.
