wfn.org | Newsline: Bethany Seminary holds Presidential Forum in March

[cobnews <cobnews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- Feb. 12, 2009
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director
800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org

BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY TO HOLD PRESIDENTIAL FORUM IN MARCH

(Feb. 12, 2009) Elgin, IL -- Bethany Theological Seminary will host a Presi dential Forum titled "Weaving Wisdom's Tent: The Arts of Peace" on March 29 -30 at its campus in Richmond, Ind. Bethany is the Church of the Brethren s eminary and graduate school.

The Presidential Forum will focus on spirituality, art, and peacemaking, an d will include plenary sessions, workshops, small group reflection, present ation of student papers, and a concert.

Plenary presenters will be author and poet Marge Piercy, conflict resolutio n scholar and practitioner John Paul Lederach, and artist Douglas Kinsey. I n a session on "Examining Peace and the Lack of It Through Poetry," Piercy  will read poems that deal with peace and war, personal attitudes, and spiri tual disciplines. She is the author of 17 novels and is a teacher, lecturer , and performer. In a plenary on "The Poetics of Building Peace," Lederach  will present ideas on the art, soul, and poetics of peace building. He is p rofessor of International Peacebuilding with the Joan B. Kroc Institute for  International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Kinsey will l ead an exploration of the representation of justice in the visual arts in a  session on "Art About Justice." He is professor emeritus at the University  of Notre Dame in the department of Art and Art History.

The Manchester College A Capella Choir will perform Sunday evening. Manches ter College in North Manchester, Ind., was the first school in the US to of fer a degree in Peace Studies, and much of the repertoire performed by the  choir will carry this theme. Debra Lynn, associate professor of Music, is t he director. James Hersch will be the featured guest artist.

A variety of workshops will address subjects such as "Peace in Our Fragment ed Lives and Culture: Approaching the Bible and its Interpretation as a Sou rce of Shalom" led by Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, Bethany's associate professor of  Preaching and Worship, and Steven Schweitzer, associate professor of Old T estament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Goshen, Ind.; and "Do ing Conflict Well: Reflection, Practice, Art," led by Celia Cook-Huffman, d irector of the Baker Peace Conflict Transformation Center at Juniata Colleg e in Huntingdon, Pa., and Bob Gross, executive director of On Earth Peace.

The forum is made possible through gifts to special funds and endowments, i ncluding the John C. and Elizabeth E. Baker Peace Endowment, the Nancy Rose nberger Faus Music Education and Performance Endowment, the Founders Lectur e Endowment, the Ora Huston Peace Lecture Endowment, and the Stephen I. Kat onah Endowment for Faith and the Arts.

The event is limited to 150 participants. The registration fee is $70, or $ 30 for students. After March 1 the fee will increase to $80, or $40 for stu dents. A continuing education credit of .7 is available. Participants make  their own lodging arrangements. Go to www.bethanyseminary.edu/lists/lt.php? id=MkkFUFYBCUkFCkhVUFAB for online registration.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts more than 125,000 members across the  United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nig eria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org