Patterson Lounge, Laird Hall

With a Shamble and a Moan: Zombie Apocalypses in American Culture

wilson-admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:38:54 +0000

With a Shamble and a Moan: Zombie Apocalypses in American Culture

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 - 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

wilson-admin Wed, 09/23/2015 - 11:38

Evening: With a Shamble and a Moan: Zombie Apocalypses in American Culture
4 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Zombies bring about the end of the world over and over again in popular culture. These monster tales provide not only visions of a dystopian end, but also say much about current moment's humanity and inhumanity.

Kelly J. Baker is a freelance writer with a religious studies PhD who covers higher education, gender, labor, motherhood, American religions, and popular culture. She has regular columns at the Chronicle for Higher Education's Vitae project, Women in Higher Education, Killing the Buddha, and Sacred Matters. She’s written for The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The Manifest-Station, the Washington Post's Faith Street, and Brain, Child. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930, and The Zombies Are Coming!: The Realities of the Zombie Apocalypse in American Culture. When she’s not writing essays or wrangling children, she’s hacking away at collection of essays on apocalypses in America tentatively titled “The End of Us.”

Supported by the Orr Forum, proud sponsor of the Return of the Apocalyptic lecture series
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Waiting for the End of the World: Apocalypse in the Beatus of Liébana

wilson-admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:27:49 +0000

Waiting for the End of the World: Apocalypse in the Beatus of Liébana

Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - 8:00 am to 9:30 am

wilson-admin Wed, 09/23/2015 - 11:27

Patterson Lounge, Laird Hall

ORR FORUM

Tue. Sept. 29 - Waiting for the End of the World
Dr. Wendell Smith
12 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Waiting for the End of the World: Apocalypse in the Beatus of Liébana

An eighth-century Spanish monk named Beatus of Liébana wrote theCommentarium in Apocalpysin, the seed text that established the language, and a great deal of the imagery, with which the Middle Ages understood the Apocalypse. For the Apocalyptic tradition founded by Beatus, what did imagining the end of the world have to do with Christian debates about whether Jesus Christ was human? To what extent were representations of the impending end of the world simply a metaphor for life as a minority Christian in a land ruled by Muslims? And what can the Beatus manuscripts’ vision of Armageddon tell us about how we imagine the world will end today?

Wendell P. Smith is Associate Professor of Spanish at 91ɫ��Ƭ. His research interests include the genre of chivalric romance and colonialism, and how these intersect with the tri-cultural (Christian/Muslim/Jewish) environment of Medieval and Early Modern Spain. His work on Beatus of Liébana grows from a recent article on the ideological implications of global cartography entitled "'Ver mundo': Enchanted Boats, Atlases and Imperial Magic in the Second Part of Don Quijote." When not at his computer, he likes to run trails with his Australian Shepherd, Mia, and garden.

Supported by the Orr Forum, proud sponsor of the Return of the Apocalyptic lecture series

Sustainability in the Liberal Arts: Good for the Planet, Good for the Student

wilson-admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:05:06 +0000

Sustainability in the Liberal Arts: Good for the Planet, Good for the Student

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 8:00 am to 9:00 am

wilson-admin Wed, 09/23/2015 - 11:05

Patterson Lounge, Laird Hall

Tue. Oct. 27 – A Greener Education
Dr. Mara Donaldson

Sustainability in the Liberal Arts: Good for the Planet, Good for the Student
12.p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Sustainability, understood as an action plan in response to climate change, is becoming a comprehensive and transformative model for liberal arts colleges throughout the United States. In this presentation and discussion we’ll look at several of these models and talk about the opportunities and challenges colleges face in making sustainability a defining characteristic of a liberal arts education.

Sacralizing the Secular: Bill McKibben and the Ethics of Sustainability
4 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Bill McKibben has been a prophetic voice for climate change for more than thirty years. As a writer, environmentalist and climate change activist, he has inspired college students across the country to become involved in environmental studies courses, campus sustainability initiatives, and more recently in divestment from fossil fuel protests. In many ways their passion and commitment to education and change makes them, in the words of a colleague, “the most religious students on campus.” Yet, this new religiosity is not tied to a particular religious tradition; many, in fact, are critical of religion; they are “spiritual, not religious.” In this presentation, I will talk about some of the reasons for McKibben’s influence, the impact these students are having on transforming their living and learning environments, and several of the challenges and controversies involved in this new, “engaged spirituality” movement.

Mara E. Donaldson (Wilson, ’71) is Professor of Religion at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. Her areas of expertise include Religion and Modern Culture, Religion and the Arts, and Environmental Ethics. She has served on the Center for Sustainability Steering Committee and the Sustainability Investment Task Force. She is currently working on an essay about Bill McKibben’s influence on college students.

Supported by the Global Citizens Fund, proud sponsor of Confronting Climate Change

Everything is Connected: Pope Francis and Integral Ecology

wilson-admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:01:02 +0000

Everything is Connected: Pope Francis and Integral Ecology

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 - 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

wilson-admin Wed, 09/23/2015 - 11:01

Patterson Lounge, Laird Hall

Everything is Connected: Pope Francis and Integral Ecology
4 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Throughout his recent encyclical Laudato Si’ Pope Francis insists that “everything is connected”: humankind is connected to the ecosystems in which we live, and social problems such as poverty and technological development are connected to our misuse of the natural environment. Although richly drawing on the Christian tradition, Francis points us in radical new directions by asking us to re-imagine what it means to be human in light of our place in the natural world.

Matthew Shadle is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. His expertise is in the tradition of Catholic social teaching and in Christian ethical thought on war and peace and economic justice. He has published The Origins of War: A Catholic Perspective (Georgetown, 2011) and articles in several theological journals. He and his wife live in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Supported by the Global Citizens Fund, proud sponsor of Confronting Climate Change