The One Hundred Eightieth Meeting

Uncategorized

AMERICAN THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Midwest

The One Hundred Eightieth Meeting October 27, 2017

McCormick Theological Seminary 5460 S. University Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60615 773.947.6300

2:45 p.m.

Registration and Afternoon Refreshments, Common Room

3:15 p.m.

Afternoon Session, Common Room
Greetings from McCormick Theological Seminary by Dr. David Crawford, Interim President

Costly Wonder: Towards a Political Theology of Urban Ecology

Dr. Lea Schweitz, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Religion & Science Lutheran School of Theology Chicago
Director, Zygon Center for Religion & Science

Response

Dr. Jennifer Leigh Baldwin
Psychotherapist and Independent Scholar in Systematic Theology

5:00 p.m.

Reception, Buchanan Lounge

5:30 p.m.

Dinner and Business Meeting, Buchanan Lounge

7:00 p.m.

Evening Session, Common Room

Learning Discipleship: Bonhoeffer’s Struggle to Follow Christ in Nazi Germany

Dr. Reggie Williams, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics McCormick Theological Seminary

Response

Rev. Kwame Pitts, Campus Pastor
Lutheran Campus Ministry and Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park STM candidate, Chicago Theological Seminary

Executive Committee

Jennifer Leigh Baldwin, President Jacqueline M. Braeger, Vice President Mladen Turk, Member at-Large Paul Parker, Secretary/Treasurer

http://www.americantheologicalsociety.org/

TO ATTEND

Professors and other scholars in the field of religious studies are warmly invited to attend the ATS-Midwest semi-annual meetings, and if qualified to become members of the Society. As a guest, visitor or long-time member of the Society, please join your colleagues for a critical and cordial theological discussion.

REGISTRATION

To register for an ATS-M semi-annual meeting, please call, write or email Paul Parker and state your intentions by the medium most convenient to you: office phone (630) 617-3559; paulp@elmhurst.edu; or Department of Religious Studies–Box 26, Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126.

Because the host institutions of the Society’s semi-annual meetings provide significant support, there is no registration fee. There is, however, a fee of $25 for dinner and refreshments.

This Session

Since 2009, for the first time in human history, and in all likelihood for the rest of human existence, more people live in cities than rural areas. Christians—and human survival—must take this into account. The first paper is by one of the Society’s past-presidents, Dr. Lea Schweitz, who will draw from her current research to begin building an ethic of urban ecology. Then the Society’s current president, Dr. Jennifer Baldwin, will offer a formal response before opening the discussion to the Society. Baldwin’s areas of specialization are traumatology, psychokinesiology, and religion and science. After dinner, the second paper is by Dr. Reggie Williams who will address aspects of Bonhoeffer’s theological and moral life that are both historical and perennial. Williams explores the role that Bonhoeffer’s Christian faith played in his recognition of “the problem of racism and in inspiring his resistance to the Nazis…. and white supremacy….” Today, one might ask similar questions about Christianity in America with respect to racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, Islamophobia, and the inequality of wealth and power. Rev. Kwame Pitts—a pastor, scholar and activist—is uniquely qualified to begin the Society’s discussion of Bonhoeffer’s continuing relevance.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The American Theological Society gathers as an intentionally collegial community of scholars who are engaged in the critical and creative examination of the depth and breadth of religion as it influences and is influenced by culture. For more information about the Society, go to www.americantheologicalsociety.org.

DESCRIPTION

The American Theological Society (Midwest) has convened semi-annually since the early 1920’s to present and receive scholarly papers on crucial issues of religion and culture. The Society meets twice a year–on the last Friday of April and the last Friday of October–in greater Chicago at colleges, seminaries and universities. The Society has often reached beyond its local members to invite international scholars and others from across the United States to present papers and to participate in its semi-annual meetings. At the same time, the Society

calls attention to the work of local scholars whose theological thinking about religious phenomena has shaped their lives and scholarship. The Society is a community of scholars who speak and listen to one another.

DUES

Annual membership dues are $20 for members and $10 for associate members to be paid to the Treasurer,

Paul Parker, each year at the fall meeting—this meeting. And if you have not paid dues for the previous year, you may attend to the oversight at any meeting or at any time through the U.S. Postal Service. Please write your check to “ATS c/o Paul Parker.” Your attention to this is appreciated.

LOCATION, DIRECTIONS, AND PARKING

Maps and parking instructions are available at MTS’s website: http://mccormick.edu.