Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- Feb. 19, 2008 Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
BETHANY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY HOLDS INAUGURAL
FORUM
(Feb. 19, 2008) Elgin, IL -- Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., will host an Inaugural Forum titled, "Hearing Scriptures of Peace," on March 30-31. The forum celebrates the recent call of Ruthann Knechel Johansen as president of the seminary, and celebrates the role of the seminary as a resource for the church and the world.
Bethany Theological Seminary is the graduate school and academy for theological education for the Church of the Brethren.
The forum will include worship services, lectures, panel discussions, and small group sessions. Three plenary speakers and six Church of the Brethren panelists will represent various theological perspectives.
Plenary speakers will be Scott Appleby, historian of religion from the University of Notre Dame; Rachel Gartner, rabbi and campus minister at Earlham College; and Rashied Omar, scholar of religions and a Muslim imam from South Africa.
Church of the Brethren panelists will include Scott Holland, associate professor of Theology and Culture and director of Peace Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies at Bethany; Craig Alan Myers, chair of the Brethren Revival Fellowship and pastor of Blue River Church of the Brethren in Columbia City, Ind.; Amy Gall Ritchie, director of student development at Bethany; Roger Schrock, pastor of Cabool (Mo.) Church of the Brethren and former mission staff for the denomination; Daniel Ulrich, associate professor of New Testament Studies at Bethany; and Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, associate professor of Preaching and Worship at Bethany.
The forum will open on March 30 at 1:30 p.m. with a plenary session featuring Appleby, who will speak about Christian scriptures of peace. President Johansen will share reflections on "Hearing Scriptures of Peace" at an evening worship service on March 30, which will include a performance of Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time." On March 31, Gartner will present a morning plenary on Jewish scriptures of peace, and Omar will interpret Muslim scriptures of peace at an afternoon plenary.
The registration fee is $50, or $65 after March 1. College and seminary students may register for a discounted rate of $25, or $40 after March 1. Ministers will receive .7 continuing education units. Register at www.bethanyseminary.edu/forum. For more information contact coordinator Mary Eller at 800-287-8822 ext. 1825 or inauguralforum@bethanyseminary.edu.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing 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 traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts almost 130,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.
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For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
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