GroshLink

As you've probably noted by the volume of postings regarding the Anabaptist movement (e.g., Power of Forgiveness Preview, Lessons of Love, From the Buggy to the Byte, Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits, Bush Fever: Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential Election), I've taken advantage of a number of the offerings provided by Elizabethtown College's Young Center

Over the course of the past several weeks, I've had brief conversations with Ron Burwell, Messiah College's Sociology Department chair and coordinator of the Brethren-in-Christ Profile (note:  overall I'm excited about the findings), and Musa Mambla, Provost of Theological College of Northern Nigeria who gave a presentation on the relationship of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria (Praise God for the choice of the path of reconciliation/forgiveness by the followers of Christ!). I blessed to learn that they both have positive connections with IFES/IVCF which extend back a long way. Looking forward to following-up with them.  I'm meeting with Don Kraybill, the Senior Fellow of the Young Center later today. Pray for opportunities for partnership to emerge.  Hoping to arrange a presentation series by him in Pittsburgh on the Amish, Forgiveness, and From the Buggy to the Byte (at CMU).  Maybe I should encourage book discussions of his recently updated The Upside-Down Kingdom on campus and as part of Adult Education. Upon a quick review, the new discussion questions at the back of the book and the on-line study guide appear to be quite helpful.

I'll be in Carisle to get-to-know Bob Ives, the interim teaching pastor of Elizabethtown Brethren-in-Christ and Stephen Hague, the director of the John Newton International Center for Christian Studies right next to Dickinson College. I may also take the opportunity to visit a few bookstores in Carisle: Banner of Truth, Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, Whistle Stop Book Store.

But the girls day will be made by free Rita's Ice after a hair trim. I became familiar with real Pennsylvanian Italian water ice in 'da Burgh. Hope there's one near you. While I'm at it, I'll pick-up a free one to top off a stimulating day of conversation before joining the family for a meal at Elizabethtown Brethren-in-Christ.

Last night I had the opportunity to preview The Power of Forgiveness at Elizabethtown College. Wow! Still processing through my response, particularly as to how I would introduce the concept of evil and critique self-help/positive thinking, when I schedule a discussion of this quite provoking piece after it shows on PBS this fall.

The evening began with some jokes to warm-up the audience, Don Kraybill declared E-town a major city due to it's hosting one of the 25 prescreenings of the film and Martin Doblmeier commented that his mom knew he was successful when Oprah expressed interest in the piece.   Through 7 short stories of personal and collective forgiveness, Doblmeier intends to make the point that forgiveness in itself runs counter to our culture and there is not conformity of thought by those who think about forgiveness. Some highlights of the material presented included:

1. U. of Wisconsin Madison's Bob Enright's educational material which seeks to plant forgiveness beginning in primary education and workings way up through Irish schooling, a long-term approach hard to imagine in the U.S., but after the film we learned there was interest in Milwaukee!

Michael Murray welcomed the attendees to F&M's 11th Annual Philosophy Symposium: Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Love, briefly sharing his enthusiasm for next year's collaboration of Biology, Philosophy, and Psychology.  We then quickly moved to Eleonore Stump's, Philosophy, St. Louis University, presentation Love By All Accounts.  Below are some notes.  I found the whole conference quite stimulating (more posts en route), but this talk was most helpful for me personally.  In particular, the consideration of Aquinas' understanding of Love.

Eleonore opened by comparing two popular competing accounts of love:

Looking forward to hearing Eleonore Stump, Philosophy, St. Louis University, speak on Love By All Accounts at a faculty conference on Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Love sponsored by Franklin & Marshall College's (F&M) Philosophy Department. For more on check out Stump, check out Looking into the Mirror of Evil: A Review of the Moral Philosophy of Eleonore Stump. She's posted a few pieces on her faculty page and here's the link to Aristocracy and Obligation: The Medieval Lists of Almsdeeds. This conference looks to be quite stimulating, I've also heard positive reviews of the work of Jeffrey Schloss, Biology, Westmont College, who will be addressing The 'Matter' of Love: Evolution, Religion, and the Internalization of Altruism. Let the conversations flow forth to greater insight, understanding and love directed in a helpful manner!

Beginning on December 3, I'll be co-facilitating an Adult Elective based on Randy Newman's Questioning Evangelism. Looking forward to working with Jim and starting afresh at a new location. I had the opportunity to hear Randy at our Baltimore/Washington fall conference. Check out the notes below. They're very rough. I'll try to sharpen them up in the future.

Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential Election (Donald B. Kraybill, Elizabethtown College; Kyle C. Kopko, The Ohio State University; April 2007 Mennonite Quarterly Review)

What are we going to see on Election Day? A good turnout, but nothing will compare to the 2004 Presidential Election in which some declared The Amish are caught up with Bush fever while others reminded us God never lost an election.

It was chilly as the heating system malfunctioned in the Pietist Center, but Don Kraybill offered to generate a lot of hot air :-) I have a lot of notes and I apologize that they drift into a more listing form toward the end, but its all worth the read. Next presentation in the series: Bush Fever: Amish & Old Order Mennos in the 2004 Presidential. ... incredible material for tomorrow!

Why is it that the world over people have believed in a God, a super God? Why do we believe in anything? Why believe in superhuman agents (gods)? Why is there a naturalness to religious belief? About 160 people packed in Stahr Auditorium at F&M to learn about the relatively new field of the cognitive science of religion from Justin Barrett, author of Why Would Anyone Believe in God? and Senior Research Fellow for the new Centre for Cognition and Culture which will support a multi-disciplinary research project on the Cognitive Science of Religion at the University of Oxford's School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. Here are some notes: