Greetings from Lenoir-Rhyne College and the Center for Theology as we begin the seventeenth year of service in providing a rich program of continuing education for the college, the community, and the church at large. This year’s program will include:
- Monthly Colloquia: First Thursdays (except when the college is not in session; see schedule below), 4:00 p.m., Bears’ Lair of College Cromer Center.
- Special Course: “Environmental Ethics,” FALL SEMESTER 2007, Monday evenings 7-9:00 p.m., beginning August 25th, Newton Room of St. Andrews Lutheran Church. Instructor: Larry Yoder
- Theologian-in-Residence: The Center for Theology is co-hosting, with the L-R Chaplaincy program, Dr. Robert Jensen as Theologian in Residence, October 19-22. Dr. Jensen will be lecturing at the conclusion of a Vespers service, which begins at 7:30 on the evening of Sunday the 19th at St. Andrews Lutheran Church. The title of his lecture is “An Ecumenical Theologian Speaks to the Church in the Modern World.” On Monday evening at 7:30, in the Centrum, Father Jay Scott Newman, Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina, will respond to Dr. Jensen’s Sunday night address …and Dr. Jensen will make a response to Father Newman. Throughout the class days of Monday and Tuesday, Dr. Jensen will meet with various L-R classes. He will be the guest preacher at chapel on Wednesday the 22nd, 9:20 a.m. in the Choral Room of the Music Building. Dr. Jensen has taught at Luther College, Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary, St. Olaf College, and Princeton Seminary.
- Aquinas/Luther Conference, Friday, October 31. A one-day conference, on the day of observance of the Festival of the Reformation, with the theme: “Pastoral and Priestly Formation.” Fr. Jay Scott Newman will present a Roman Catholic perspective, Pr. Amy Schifrin will rehearse a Lutheran view, and Fr. Patrick Henry will render the pattern for the Eastern Orthodox. Lenoir-Rhyne Chaplain Andrew Weisner will again offer summary remarks.
- Weekly Preaching Seminar for Pastors: Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. (when classes are in regular session).
- The Hein Fry Lectures of the ELCA: The Center for Theology is one of the sponsoring units at Lenoir-Rhyne in hosting the Hein-Fry lectures for 2009. The event is Friday, April 3, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. in Belk Centrum. The topic is "Hearing the Word: Lutheran Perspectives on Biblical Interpretation." The speaker is Dr. Esther Menn of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Dr. David Ratke of Lenoir-Rhyne will be the respondent, and is serving as representative host for the event. The Center for Theology is co-sponsor from Lenoir-Rhyne.
The program of the Center continues in the following dimensions:
- Monthly Colloquia –On the first Thursday of the month (unless college schedule alters, as with January 8 and March 12, which are second Thursdays), an ecumenical group gathers in the Bears’ Lair of the Cromer Center at 4:00 p.m. Discussion centers around papers mailed in the week prior for reading and examination.
The first such Colloquium is scheduled for September 4th. Dates for the colloquia, in addition to September, are: October 2, November 6, and December 4, 2008; and January 8, February 5, March 5, and April 2, 2009. To receive the monthly papers in advance of the meetings, simply let us know you’d like papers mailed to you. If you have an e-mail address, please share it with us, so that we may save postage whenever the paper is available electronically. Each session meets from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., in the Bears’ Lair.
- Special Course. For the past eleven years, the Center for Theology has offered, normally during the Fall semester, a course to area clergy and laity at no cost except for textbooks. Bishop McDaniel taught courses in the Lutheran Confessions (Fall 1997), Reformation Theology (Fall 1998), and Science and Religion (Fall 1999). I have taught Ancient Christian Theology (Fall, 2000), an introductory course on The Christian Faith (Fall 2001), American Religion (Spring 2003), the Christian Perspective (Fall 2003), a study of “Selected Works of C. S. Lewis” (Fall 2004), “Ethics: A Study of Major Ethical Theories in the Western Philosophical Tradition,” which Marianne co-taught with me (2005), “The Life and Teaching of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” (Fall 2006) during the centennial year of the birth of German theologian/martyr. Last fall we studied “Modern Theology,” a survey of European and American Christian theology from the beginning of the modern era to the present time.
This fall, for the 12th such course, we are studying Environmental Ethics as a survey of issues concerning the global environment, especially how various philosophical approaches address the political, economic, humanitarian, and ecological factors in the mix.
Join us on Monday evenings at 7:00-9:00, in Newton Hall at St. Andrews Church, for this stimulating course. Invite your friends. There is no charge except for the textbook and copying various hand-outs across the course. The text will be Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, by Joseph R. DesJardins. The text is available in the Lenoir-Rhyne bookstore.
You can register for the course by calling Beverly Hefner at 828-328-7376 or through e-mail at hefnerb@lrc.edu. The course began on Monday evening, August 25th, and continue Monday evenings through the semester, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Annual Aquinas/Luther Conference. The sixteenth annual Aquinas/Luther Conference is slated for October 31. The highlight of each year, these unique explorations of Aquinas and Luther provide a forum for growth in understanding Christianity. Over sixty internationally distinguished scholars have served as leaders, and people of widely varying educational backgrounds and vocations regularly attend and demonstrate interest. (Over 200 people attended last October!) This fall’s event, October 31, 2008 – again a one-day conference addresses a key topic in today’s churches and religious life: Aquinas and Luther on Preparation for Pastoral Ministry/Priestly Formation
The subject matter of the conference this year turns to the teaching, nurturing, and formation of pastors and priests, a question at the heart of ordained ministry for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.
As indicated above, Fr. Jay Scott Newman will present a Roman Catholic perspective, Dr. Amy Schifrin will rehearse a Lutheran view, and Fr. Patrick Henry will render the pattern for the Eastern Orthodox. Lenoir-Rhyne Chaplain Andrew Weisner will again offer summary remarks. All four presenters are themselves both academic scholars and ordained, practicing pastors in their respective traditions.
The conference day (October 31) is Friday only – for Lutherans, it is the day of the Festival of the Reformation. This schedule makes the conference especially congenial for pastors and laity who live within driving distance.
You can register for the conference by calling Beverly Hefner at 828-328-7376 or through e-mail at hefnerb@lrc.edu. There is no cost for participants this year. On-site registration begins on Friday morning (31st) at 8:30, in the foyer of the Belk Centrum on campus. Morning prayer (Matins) begins at 9:00.
Weekly Preaching Seminar. Each Tuesday afternoon throughout the year (when regular classes are in session), at 1:00 p.m., area pastors meet in one of the seminar rooms of the Center for Theology (in the Russell House) to study the lessons for the coming Sunday. Pastors of all denominations, especially those using the Revised Common Lectionary 1992 Consultation on Common Texts, are welcome to attend without cost.
I wish to express my gratitude to each of you for your prayers, contributions, and personal participation over the past years. As we go forward together, the continued support of our friends is vital. The college expects the Center for Theology to raise $10,000 annually for operating costs, apart from endowment yield. I am happy to report that the endowment currently stands at close to $500,000.
I invite you to consider helping either in the current operation or in the long-range endowment growth, which we hope eventually will totally support the program. Please join or continue in the growing number of those whose patronage makes possible the continuing efforts of the Center to provide thoughtful theological and ethical reflection as we live at the beginning of the Third Millennium of the Christian faith.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Rev. J. Larry Yoder, PhD, STS
Director
