Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 6, 2006|Volume 35, Number 5

Theologians and scholars to speak
at Divinity School convocation

An expert on the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew and first-century Palestinian Judaism is among this year's lecturers at Yale Divinity School's annual convocation and reunions.

John P. Meier, holder of the William K. Warren Foundation Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, will join three other featured speakers at the gathering being held Monday-Thursday, Oct. 9-12, on Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, 409 Prospect St.

Meier will deliver the three-part Kent Shaffer Lectures on the topic "On the Danger of Making Jesus a Christian: The Test Case of Law and Morality." The lectures will be given at 10:30 a.m. in Marquand Chapel on Oct. 10, 11 and 12.

The Notre Dame scholar is currently working on the fourth and final volume of his series "A Marginal Jew." He has also written six other books as well as over 50 articles for peer-reviewed or solicited journals or books.

The 2006 Lyman Beecher Lectures will be given by Thomas G. Long, a Presbyterian minister and the Bandy Professor of Preaching at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. His three lectures on the theme "Preaching from Memory to Hope" will be presented in Marquand Chapel at 4 p.m. on Oct. 9, 10 and 11.

Long has published a number of books on preaching and biblical interpretation, including a widely-used textbook, "The Witness of Preaching," and "Beyond the Worship Wars: Building Vital and Faithful Worship," which assesses the current tensions between contemporary and traditional worship. His recent book "Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian" explores how people speak of God outside of church.

Maxwell E. Johnson, a Lutheran minister and professor of liturgy at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver the Institute of Sacred Music's Aidan J. Kavanagh Lecture on the topic "The Loss of a Common Language: The End of Ecumenical-Liturgical Convergence?" at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 10 in the Institute of Sacred Music's Great Hall.

Johnson has published some 12 books and specializes in the study of early Christian liturgies and the rites of Christian initiation and the liturgical year. He has also written on ecumenical issues, including the topic of Mary and the saints, as well as the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The Francis X. Cheney Lecture at Berkeley Divinity School will be given by Regina Schwartz, professor of religion and literature at Northwestern University. Her lecture, on the subject "Toward a Sacramental Poetics," will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 in Marquand Chapel.

Schwartz, author of "The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism," edited the collection "The Book and the Text: The Bible and Literary Theory" and co-edited "The Postmodern Bible," which helped broaden biblical studies to literary approaches. Most recently, she edited the volume "Transcendence: Philosophy, Literature and Theology Approach the Beyond." Her book on John Milton's theodicy and poetics, "Remembering and Repeating," won the Milton Society of America's James Holly Hanford Book Award.

All the lectures are free and open to the public. Further information is available at www.yale.edu/divinity/convocation/index.shtml.

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