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At a Glance - Times and Locations of all the events
Session 1: Eros and Christian Spirituality
Although agape has often been identified as the most "Christian" form of love and hence central to spiritual practice and reflection, eros (desire, sometimes associated wih sexuality or the longing for the beloved) has also been the subject of much attention in the spiritual traditions of Christianity. This session focuses on key historical figures from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries who treat eros in various ways: in its relation to agapic love; as central to suffering and mystical annihilation; in the pedagogy of mystical union; or as the integrative factor between philosophy, theology and experience.
Presider: Douglas S. Hardy (Nazarene Theological Seminary)
Jacob Sherman (Cambridge University)
"A Sexier Ontological Argument?: Eros, Philosophy and Ascent in Saint Anselm"
Juan Sanchez (Florida International University)
"Song of Songs and the Mystical Pedagogy of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross"
Timothy P. Muldoon (Boston College)
"Ordered Affection: Sexuality and Ignatian Spirituality"
Bo Karen Lee (Princeton Theological Seminary)
"Oh, Happy Dying": Desire and Annihilation in Madame Jeanne Guyon's Commentaire au Cantique des Cantique de Salomon"
Alexandra Pleshoyano (University of Sherbrooke)
"Eros, Chaos and Cosmos. Etty Hillesum: A Footprint of Christian Spirituality"
Session 2: The New Monasticism
The term "new monasticism" was coined by theologian Jonathan Wilson in his book Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World (1998). Wilson was inspired by moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's call for "the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. . . . We are waiting for another - doubtless very different - St. Benedict." During the last decade, numerous North American Christians (including many evangelicals as well as mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics) have formed communities that profess to represent a new monastic movement. This session will examine this phenomenon from historical, theological, and sociological perspectives and assess its relationship to earlier monastic traditions.
Presider: Evan B. Howard (Spirituality Shoppe)
Brian Campbell (Emory University)
"Raven's Bread and the Contemporary Hermit Revival: Negotiating Identity and Practice"
Philip Harrold (Trinity School for Ministry)
"The 'New Monasticism' as Ancient-Future Belonging: Imagination and Memory in the Emerging Church"
Martha McAfee (Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology)
"Neo-Monasticism: It's New, but Is It Monastic?"
Session 3: Spiritual Practices in the Reformed Tradition
(co-sponsored with the Reformed Theology and History Group)
Presider: J. Todd Billings (Western Theological Seminary)
Matthew Myer Boulton (Harvard Divinity School)
"John Calvin: Mystic and Monastic"
Belden Lane (Saint Louis University)
"Nature and Desire: The Double Irony of Reformed Spirituality"
Tim Hessel-Robinson (Brite Divinity School)
"Eros in Puritan Eucharistic Spirituality"
Elizabeth Ford (Graduate Theological Union)
"Spiritual Writing as Protestant Practice: Sarah Edwards's Experience of Grace, in Her Own Words"
Adrian Weimer (Harvard University)
"The Everyday Rituals of Affliction in Puritan Spirituality"