Tag: J.J. Thiessen Lectures

Video

2017 J.J. Thiessen / Friesen Lecture Series (video)

Post author By CMU
Post date November 1, 2017

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) marked the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation on October 30 and 31 with a special lecture series delivered by the world’s foremost scholar on Swiss Anabaptism.

Dr. C. Arnold Snyder presented the three-part series, titled, “Faith and Toleration: A Reformation Debate Revisited.” Snyder, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, posed the question: Should dissenting religious beliefs be tolerated on religious principle, and toleration established as civic policy?

The lectures explored some of the events and debates that ensued 500 years ago when Martin Luther composed 95 theses for debate in Wittenberg, drawing some conclusions for our day.

Lecture #1: Monday, October 30

Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Toleration Doubtful
One might have thought that the central evangelical teaching that faith is a God-given, spiritual, inner, and personal matter would have led to a wave of religious toleration accompanying the Reformation. This never materialized. Instead, a tsunami of intolerance and violence swept away thousands of people into prison, exile and martyrdom. What happened?

Lecture #2: Tuesday, October 31

“Compel them to come in”: The Theology of Intolerance Examined
Protestant theologians, both Lutheran and Reformed, soon became champions of state churches that required all subjects and citizens to attend their churches and swear allegiance to state-sanctioned confessions of faith. How did these Christian theologians justify coercion, torture and even execution in the name of true faith?

Lecture #3: Tuesday, October 31

Hiding in Plain Sight: Anabaptism and Toleration in Switzerland
Anabaptism was officially outlawed in every state of the Swiss Confederation, with all Reformed pastors and civil officials under oath to report violations. Nevertheless, Anabaptist communities survived into the seventeenth century. Archival records shed important light on the phenomenon of de facto toleration that made Anabaptist survival possible in Switzerland.

Tags C. Arnold Snyder, J.J. Thiessen Lectures, John and Margaret Friesen Lecture, Lecture, Lectures, Reformation 500, video

Events News Releases

Lecture series to explore Protestant Reformation and its implications for today

Post author By CMU
Post date October 18, 2017

Acclaimed Anabaptist scholar Dr. C. Arnold Snyder scheduled to speak on campus

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) will mark the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation with a special lecture series delivered by the world’s foremost scholar on Swiss Anabaptism.

Dr. C. Arnold Snyder will present the three-part series, titled, “Faith and Toleration: A Reformation Debate Revisited.” The lectures will take place in the CMU Chapel (600 Shaftesbury Blvd.) on Monday, October 30 at 7:30 PM and Tuesday, October 31 at 11:00 AM and 7:30 PM.

Snyder, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, will ask the question: Should dissenting religious beliefs be tolerated on religious principle, and toleration established as civic policy?

The lectures will explore some of the events and debates that ensued 500 years ago when Martin Luther composed 95 theses for debate in Wittenberg, drawing some conclusions for our day.

“Dr. Snyder brings together incredible scholarly acumen, a love for the church, and an incredible ability to communicate to people at all levels,” says Dr. Karl Koop, Professor of History and Theology, and coordinator of CMU’s Biblical and Theological Studies program. “He is not afraid to explore a variety of Anabaptist issues.”

The lecture topics are as follows:

Lecture #1: “Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Toleration Doubtful” – One might have thought that the central evangelical teaching that faith is a God-given, spiritual, inner, and personal matter would have led to a wave of religious toleration accompanying the Reformation. This never materialized. Instead, a tsunami of intolerance and violence swept away thousands of people into prison, exile, and martyrdom. What happened?

Lecture #2: “‘Compel them to come in’: The Theology of Intolerance Examined” – Protestant theologians, both Lutheran and Reformed, soon became champions of state churches that required all subjects and citizens to attend their churches and swear allegiance to state-sanctioned confessions of faith. How did these Christian theologians justify coercion, torture, and even execution in the name of true faith?

Lecture #3: “Hiding in Plain Sight: Anabaptism and Toleration in Switzerland” – Anabaptism was officially outlawed in every state of the Swiss Confederation, with all Reformed pastors and civil officials under oath to report violations. Nevertheless, Anabaptist communities survived into the seventeenth century. Archival records shed important light on the phenomenon of de facto toleration that made Anabaptist survival possible in Switzerland.

“The theme of faith and toleration is at the very centre of our global context,” Koop says. “In the news every day, we’re hearing about the clash of religions… It strikes me that this particular topic is really at the forefront of the issues that we’re dealing with presently.”

Snyder holds a PhD from McMaster University. His research focuses on sixteenth-century Anabaptism. He has written and edited several books on this topic, including Anabaptist History and Theology: An Introduction (Pandora Press, 1995), and Later Writings of the Swiss Anabaptists, 1529-1592 (Pandora Press, 2017).

Snyder’s lectures are co-presented by the J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series as well as the John and Margaret Friesen Lectures.

Founded in 1978 by one of CMU predecessor institutions, Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC), the J.J. Thiessen Lectures are named in honour of a founder and long-time chairperson of the CMBC Board. The lectures seek to bring to the CMU community something of Thiessen’s breadth of vision for the church.

The John and Margaret Friesen Lectures in Anabaptist/Mennonite Studies are co-sponsored by CMU, the Mennonite Heritage Centre, and the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies. The inaugural lectures in November 2002 were delivered by Dr. Abraham Friesen (Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara), the generous donor who initiated the lecture series.

For details about this year’s lectures, visit cmu.ca/jjt.

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

Tags C. Arnold Snyder, J.J. Thiessen Lectures, John and Margaret Friesen Lecture, Lecture, Lectures

Video

J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series – The Silence of Abraham, The Passion of Job: Explorations in the Theology of Lament with Dr. J. Richard Middleton (video)

Post author By CMU
Post date October 26, 2016

The 2016 J.J. Thiessen lectures with Dr. J. Richard Middleton explored what sort of prayer is appropriate in situations of difficulty and suffering. In contrast to simply bearing suffering in silence (which is the default spirituality of many), the Bible suggests that God desires vigorous dialogue partners, who will wrestle with God, baring their heart and soul, as they seek redress. The lectures begin with lament prayer in the Psalms, then addresses the counter-example of Abraham’s silence in Genesis 22, and concludes with the book of Job as a possible response to Abraham’s silence.

Lecture 1: “Voices from the Ragged Edge” (October 25, 2016 | 11:00 AM)
In the face of violence, pain, and suffering, the lament or protest psalms offer us theologically significant models of prayer. They open space for a rich and meaningful relationship with God that isn’t resigned simply to ascribing the suffering to God’s will.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSqrBOOZQhs[/youtube]

Lecture 2: “Abraham’s Ominous Silence in Genesis 22: How the Patriarch of Israel Lost Both His Voice and His Son” (October 25, 2016 | 7:30 PM)

Arguing for the justice of God’s actions, Abraham protested vigorously over the fate of Sodom (Genesis 18). Yet a few chapters later (Genesis 22), in response to God’s instructions to sacrifice his son, he is reduced to silence. What are we to make of that transformation?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0owqIk4vg[/youtube]

Lecture 3: “How Job Found His Voice: Learning the Wisdom of Lament from a Gentile Patriarch” (October 26, 2016 | 11:00 AM)

Job’s passionate lament in response to the death of his family and his own suffering offers a possible alternative to Abraham’s silence. Indeed, while God’s first speech from the whirlwind corrects Job’s understanding of God’s justice, the second speech nevertheless affirms Job’s lament as right and proper.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRkiXmmOKNw[/youtube]

About Dr. J. Richard Middleton

Dr. J. Richard Middleton (PhD Free University of Amsterdam) is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary (Rochester, NY). He is adjunct professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (Kingston, Jamaica) and is past president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (2011-2014). He holds a BTh from Jamaica Theological Seminary and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Guelph (Canada).

Middleton is the author of A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014) and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005). He co-authored (with Brian Walsh) The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (IVP, 1984) and Truth is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP, 1995), and has co-edited (with Garnett Roper) A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue (Pickwick, 2013).

Middleton has published articles on creation theology in the Old Testament, the problem of suffering, and the dynamics of human and divine power in biblical narratives. His books have been published in Korean, French, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Tags J. Richard Middleton, J.J. Thiessen Lectures

Events News Releases

‘The theology of lament’ topic of 2016 J.J. Thiessen Lectures at CMU

Post author By CMU
Post date October 11, 2016

Award-winning scholar Dr. J. Richard Middleton scheduled to speak on campus

If you have ever been angry with God, wondered if it’s OK to ask “Why?” or had nothing left to pray, this year’s J.J. Thiessen Lectures at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) are for you.

Renowned scholar Dr. J. Richard Middleton will present the three-part series, titled “The Silence of Abraham, The Passion of Job: Explorations in the Theology of Lament.” The lectures will take place in the CMU Chapel (600 Shaftesbury Blvd.) on Tuesday, October 25 at 11:00 AM and 7:30 PM, and Wednesday, October 26 at 11:00 AM.

Middleton, Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, NY, will explore what sort of prayer is appropriate in situations of difficulty and suffering.

“Richard thinks deeply, and yet communicates straightforwardly and is extremely approachable,” says Dr. Gordon Matties, Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, who is on the organizing committee for the J.J. Thiessen Lectures. “I’m so pleased that he’s coming.

The lecture topics are as follows:

Lecture #1: “Voices from the Ragged Edge” – In the face of violence, pain, and suffering, the lament or protest psalms offer us theologically significant models of prayer. They open space for a rich and meaningful relationship with God that isn’t resigned simply to ascribing the suffering to God’s will.

Lecture #2: “Abraham’s Ominous Silence in Genesis 22: How the Patriarch of Israel Lost Both His Voice and His Son” – Arguing for the justice of God’s actions, Abraham protested vigorously over the fate of Sodom (Genesis 18). Yet a few chapters later (Genesis 22), in response to God’s instructions to sacrifice his son, he is reduced to silence. What are we to make of that transformation?

Lecture #3: “How Job Found His Voice: Learning the Wisdom of Lament from a Gentile Patriarch” – Job’s passionate lament in response to the death of his family and his own suffering offers a possible alternative to Abraham’s silence. Indeed, while God’s first speech from the whirlwind corrects Job’s understanding of God’s justice, the second speech nevertheless affirms Job’s lament as right and proper.

“Richard’s topic for these lectures is really important in our time, when people are experiencing so much fear in our world and life becomes confusing and difficult,” Matties says.

Middleton holds a PhD from the Free University of Amsterdam and is the past president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association.

His books, which include A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014) and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005), have been published in Korean, French, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

About CMU

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

Tags J. Richard Middleton, J.J. Thiessen Lectures

Video

2015 J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series (video)

Post author By CMU
Post date November 10, 2015

2015 J.J Thiessen Lecture Series
Crude Awakenings: The Faith, Politics, and Crises of Oil in American’s Century

In late October 2015 Dr. Darren Dochuk, Associate Professor in the Department of History at University of Notre Dame, spoke as guest lecturer in the 2015 instalment of the longstanding J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series.

Each of Dr. Dochuk’s three lectures focuses on a particularly momentous flashpoint in the life of North American oil and evangelicalism and pauses for reflection on what this moment meant long-term for matters of faith and society. In the process of tracking the chronology of God and black gold in the modern era, Dr. Dochuk also raises questions and curiosities pertaining to evangelicalism’s relationship to capitalism and globalization, energy and environment, notions of time and broad interests in politics.

Lecture One – Blood of the Earth: Evangelicalism’s First Encounters with Black Gold

This lecture explores the earliest rumblings of oil in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and follow the journeys of some of petroleum’s first wildcatters—those who chased subsurface wealth from western Pennsylvania to Texas and Southern California, Southern Ontario to Russia and Indonesia. Drawing on the illustrative life stories of oil titans like Lyman Stewart and Lady Dundonald and diaries of oil drillers who left their farms in Ontario to travel to oil patches around the world, Dr. Dochuk explores the relationship of evangelical Protestantism to processes of resource extraction and economic progress, modern technologies, and mechanisms of a new capitalism. With special focus on Lyman Stewart, it Dr. Dochuck also considers the effects of these dynamics on the “fight for the fundamentals,” struggles between competing theologies and economic outlooks, and theologically informed corporate leaders, that ruptured Protestantism and petroleum in the first decades of the twentieth century.

Lecture Two – Carbon Democracies: World Wars and the Rise of Wildcat Christianity

This lecture charts the rise of the North American West’s independent oil companies and the philosophy of wildcat Christianity, which gained traction amid the crises of the Depression, World War II, and early Cold War. Its purview is wide, and offer a glimpse at the range of ambitions that shaped large oil companies (those with Rockefeller connections, for instance) as they expanded into the Middle East, South America, and other oil zones of the world. Henry Luce’s charge for American oilmen to take the lead in spreading Christian democracy was but one manifestation of this confidence. But the lecture focuses particularly on the coalescence of evangelical-minded citizens, church leaders, and politicians such as evangelist Billy Graham and Alberta Premier Ernest Manning, all of whom occupied the oil-rich areas of Alberta and the American Southwest, and grew close in their transnational understanding of region and environment, imperatives for evangelization and urgencies of time, and quest to advance their own sense of Christian democracy before their dispensation of abundance expired.

Lecture Three – Power Shifts: Fuel and Family Values in the Age of Evangelicalism

Moving through the heart of the 1960s and 1970s, with some conclusions in our current moment, this lecture tracks the final steps that oil patch evangelicals followed to gain political power. Tapping the behind-the-scenes activities of men like Ernest Manning, Billy Graham, and J. Howard Pew, whose work helped bring to fruition such momentous petroleum ventures as the Great Canadian Oil Sands in Fort McMurray, Alberta, it reevaluates the “culture wars” of the period as a struggle between competing visions of fuel as well as family values. Much has been written, of course, about the conservative-liberal tensions that sparked these culture wars and led to the Republican Right’s capture of the White House in 1980. In this closing talk, Dr. Dochuk folds issues of energy and environmentalism into the mix, measures evangelicalism’s abiding connections to the oil sector and their impact on the religious movement’s political success, and revisits the Reagan Revolution as a process long in the making and still much in effect. The lecture concludes with a glimpse at more recent manifestations of evangelicalism’s relationship to crude oil, and the internal and external pressures of a new generation that have begun to undermine it in this new millennium, with America’s Century now past.

Tags Darren Dochuk, Dochuk, J.J. Thiessen Lectures, Oil

General News Lectures News Releases

2015 J.J. Thiessen Lectures to explore oil and evangelism in the 20th century

Post author By CMU
Post date October 7, 2015

CMU welcomes University of Notre Dame history professor Darren Dochuk

How have religion and oil together shaped existence for modern North Americans at the moment of their heightening authority in the 20th century?

That’s one of the questions Dr. Darren Dochuk will explore at this year’s J.J. Thiessen Lectures at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). Titled, “Crude Awakenings: The Faith, Politics, and Crises of Oil in America’s Century,” the three-part series takes place in the CMU Chapel (600 Shaftesbury Blvd.) on Tuesday, October 20 at 11:00 AM and 7:30 PM, and Wednesday, October 21 at 11:00 AM.

Dr. Darren Dochuk from the University of Notre Dame, 2015’s J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series presenter

Dochuk, Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame, will track a history of religion and oil in the 20th century, with a particular focus on “oil patch evangelism,” showing how encounters with petroleum helped shape a certain theology, a certain understanding of land and environment, and ultimately, a certain understanding of politics.

“I’m lecturing and writing very much as a historian, but I would assume that people can see the connections to our present moment,” says Dochuk, who is currently writing a book on the subject, titled Anointed With Oil: God and Black Gold in America’s Century.

“Ongoing battles about pipelines, energy, and the environment… always stir up moral critique, and in some ways, discussion and debate about theology itself—the ways in which people are to connect with, and manage, the Earth and its resources.”

Each of the three lectures will focus on a momentous flashpoint in the life of North American oil and evangelicalism and pause for reflection on what this moment meant long-term for matters of faith and society in the 20th century.

In the process of tracking the chronology of God and black gold in the modern era, the lectures will also raise questions pertaining to evangelicalism’s relationship to capitalism and globalization, energy and environment, notions of time, and broad interests in politics.

Dochuk says that his experience growing up in Edmonton, AB is one of the reasons for his interest in the subject of oil and faith.

“[Growing up,] I kind of knew intuitively that there was… a certain uniqueness to Alberta, and much of that comes out of its experiences with the boom and bust culture of oil, and the way that landscape again encourages certain religious and political practices,” Dochuk says.

“This is a way for me to revisit my own past, and revisit Alberta itself, and see if I can place that in a broader context of historical development.”

Brian Froese, Assistant Professor of History at CMU, suggested the university invite Dochuk to speak after hearing him present at a conference and reading some of his work on the intersection between oil, religion, and politics.

“The papers and articles he’s produced on that so far are wildly interesting,” Froese says, adding that Dochuk is an engaging presenter and empathetic scholar with keen insights.

“He has something provocative, in the best sense of the word, to say,” Froese says. “He really makes you think about something in a particular way.”

More on Dochuk’s lectures can be found at cmu.ca/jjt.

For information about CMU visit cmu.ca.

Tags Darren Dochuk, J.J. Thiessen Lectures

Events Lectures News Releases

CMU welcomes John Swinton for 2014 J.J. Thiessen Lectures

Post author By CMU
Post date October 8, 2014

Scottish author and professor to speak on ‘Disability, Timefulness, and Gentle Discipleship’

How might the experience of profoundly disabled people impact our understandings of God, creation, and the meaning of humanness?

Dr. John Swinton will explore that question at this year’s J.J. Thiessen Lectures at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) on October 14-15. Titled “Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefulness and Gentle Discipleship,” the three-part lecture series take place in the CMU Chapel (600 Shaftesbury Blvd.) on Tuesday, October 14 at 11:00 AM and 7:30 PM, and concludes Wednesday, October 15 at 11:00 AM.

Dr. John Swinton, Professor and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland

Swinton, Professor and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, will discuss the nature and purpose of time, and the ways in which certain forms of disability draw attention to forgotten aspects of time and timefulness.

The lectures will focus particularly on people with profound intellectual disabilities and people with cognitive disabilities such as advanced dementia. People with such life experiences perceive and live out time in ways that are quite different from the expectations of our speed driven culture.

“If we can conceptualize time differently, we begin to look at the gospel quite differently,” Swinton says.

People with profound disabilities draw attention to the significance of time and point towards the fact that true knowledge of God and faithful discipleship is slow and gentle; not bound by the assumptions of speed, worldly success, and the quickness of one’s intellect.

“One of the primary things that we learn is that by living in God’s time as opposed to the time created by our own clocks, we begin to encounter our daily practices quite differently,” Swinton says.

He adds that Christians today are “always walking ahead of Jesus.” The average Westerner walks at a pace of six miles per hour, whereas Jesus would have walked at half that speed—partly because of the heat, but partly because he understood the meaning of time. He had all the time in the world to do what God wanted him to do.

“By taking time to slow down and think about the experiences of people with dementia, we begin to discover things about God and being human that simply aren’t available (to us) when we’re walking ahead of Jesus,” Swinton says.

2014 JJT Poster Swinton is Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care in the School of Divinity, Religious Studies and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. He has a background in nursing and healthcare chaplaincy, and has researched and published extensively within the areas of practical theology, mental health, spirituality and human well-being, and the theology of disability.

Swinton says his lectures at CMU are for everyone. Through the lectures, he aims to call Christians together to engage in a more faithful discipleship.

He hopes that people who attend will walk away with an understanding that people with profound intellectual disabilities and people with advanced dementia are disciples with a God-given vocation.

“The lectures appear to be about disability, but they’re really about humanness and faithfulness,” Swinton says. “They’re actually about all of us.”

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury Campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.

For information about CMU, visit: www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:

Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

Tags J.J. Thiessen Lectures, JJ Thiessen Lecture Series, John Swinton, Lectures

General News Lectures News Releases

J.J.Thiessen Lectures Presents Beverly Roberts Gaventa

Post author By CMU
Post date October 16, 2012

October 16, 2012 – Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) welcomes Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Helen H.P Manson Professor of New Testament Literature andExegesis at New Jersey’s Princeton Theological Seminary, as lecturer for its 35th annual J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series, October 16 and 17.

Founded in 1978 at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, one of CMU’s founding Colleges, the J. J. Thiessen Lectures are named in honour of the long-time chair of the CMBC Board. The lectures seek to bring to the Canadian Mennonite University community something of J.J. Thiessen’s breadth of vision for the church.

The 2012 lectures presented by Gaventa, entitled “From Powerlessness to Praise in Paul’s Letter to the Romans,” explore apocalyptic theology in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Gaventa addresses Paul’s relentless depiction of humanity as thoroughly captive to powers by the names of Sin and Death, the action of God in radical deliverance through the peaceful invasion of Jesus Christ, the place of worship in the words and the working of Paul’s letter, and the apocalyptic character of worship in Romans.

2012 CMU’s JJ. Thiessen Lecture Series
October 16, 11:00 AM Unable to Help Ourselves
October 16, 7:30 PM The God of Peace Makes War
October 17, 11:00 AM Let All the People Say “Amen!”

Admission is free as a community service offered by CMU.
Lectures are held in the CMU Chapel at 600 Shaftesbury Boulevard (south campus).

Gaventa specializes in the Pauline epistles and in Luke-Acts, emphasizing theological interpretation. She holds an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in New York, a Ph.D. from Duke University, an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Kalamazoo College, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Christian Theological Seminary. She is also an honorary professor of New Testament atStellenbosch University in South Africa and an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church.

In addition to having written numerous articles, reviews, and lectionary resources, Gaventa is the author of several books, her most recent being Our Mother Saint Paul (Westminster John Knox, 2007), and The Acts of theApostles (Abingdon, 2003). She has served on editorial boards for a number of scholarly journals, is an editor-at-large for Christian Century, and has edited several volumes, the most recent being The New Interpreter’s Bible One Volume Commentary (with David Peterson; Abingdon, 2010).

Gaventa has lectured widely in the United States as well as in South Africa, Australia, and Europe. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the Catholic Biblical Association, Duodecim, and the American Theological Society.

For further information on the J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series, visit http://www.cmu.ca/publiclectures.html#jjt)

Tags Beverly Roberts Galenta, J.J. Thiessen Lectures