Reflections on Religion

Spyridon Antonopoulos, founder and director of the vocal ensemble Psaltikon, gives a pre-concert lecture on Byzantine chant, the sacred music of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical rite, and explores its written and oral traditions.

Denise Buell, Cluett Professor of Religion and Dean of Faculty at Williams College, draws from recent studies in microbiology and early Christian texts to offer contemporary ways of thinking about health and environmental responsibility. She suggests that current thinking about the human as a microbiome has early Christian antecedents. She uses the example of amulets worn for healing and protection to illustrate early Christians' relationships with the non-human environment and to demonstrate how the feminist perspective is changing what is relevant in the study of early Christian texts.

Rev. Luc Bonaventure Amoussou, S.J., is an International Visiting Jesuit Scholar at Holy Cross. Originally from Benin and the West Africa Province, he recently earned his Ph.D. in biblical studies at University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. His studies focus on the intersection of religion and politics. In this lecture, Amoussou takes a closer look at a popular proverb long used to support the idea of separation of Church and State: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matthew, 22:21) What was the true intent of Jesus' words 2,000 years ago? Are they an apt defense for the modern dichotomy between religion and politics?

Paula M. Kane, a Holy Cross alumna and former trustee, speaks about her recent book "Sister Thorn and Catholic Mysticism in Modern America." Margaret Reilly, known as Sister Thorn, was a stigmatist and mystic who became a controversial figure among the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Peekskill, New York in the early 20th century. Kane discusses the concepts of stigmata, suffering and sanctity that frame Sister Thorn's life and legacy. Kane is associate professor and Marous Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, discusses the Book of Revelation’s world of vision and ask whether it proclaims God’s word as a word of liberating justice or as a word of vengeance and destruction.

Robert A. Maryks, Visiting Scholar at the Jesuit Institute at Boston College, discusses the immediate and long-run causes of the 18th-century suppression of the Society of Jesus. 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuits.

Robert Audi, the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, draws on epistemology, ethics and metaphysics to argue that moral wrongs and natural disasters are rational under God. He is author of 16 books, including "Moral Perception" (Princeton University Press, 2013) and "Rationality and Religious Commitment" (Clarendon Press, 2011).

Kenneth Parker is associate professor of historical theology at Saint Louis University. In this talk, he uses his own experience and the teachings of Vatican II to explore four metanarratives of Christian history that shape our understanding of the Church today.

An International Visiting Jesuit Scholar with the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture for the Fall 2011 semester, Rev. Francis Britto, S.J., draws connections between current trends in Christianity and the basic tenets of Hinduism. Fr. Britto, a native of India, is a professor at Sophia University, Tokyo.

The author of two books on Gandhi, Rev. George Pattery, S.J., was an International Visiting Jesuit Scholar at Holy Cross in the Fall 2011 semester. Pattery is a native of India and former Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Calcutta and Bangladesh.

A panel of experts on liturgy — including Joanne Pierce, associate professor of religious studies at Holy Cross; Edward Foley, Capuchin, Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality and professor of liturgy and music at the Catholic Theological Union; and Rev. John Baldovin, S.J., '69, professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College — discuss coming changes to the liturgy of all English-spoken Masses and the implications for clergy and all practicing Catholics.

James McCartin, an alumnus of Holy Cross and associate professor of history at Seton Hall University, explores the themes in his recent book Prayers of the Faithful: The Shifting Spiritual Life of American Catholics.

Rev. Lloyd Baugh, S.J., the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture's International Jesuit Visiting Fellow for the spring 2011 semester, examines the Jesus film genre from late-19th century silent pictures to Mel Gibson's controversial Passion of the Christ to illustrate that the same Gospel scene can take on very different meanings, according to the subtexts at work in the films.

Co-editors of the recent book, "The Papacy since 1500: From Italian Prince to Universal Pastor," Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history at Holy Cross, and Rev. James Corkery, S.J., associate professor of theology at the Milltown Institute, Dublin, Ireland, talk about the major changes in the Papacy over the last half-milliennium.

Florence Hsia, associate professor of the history of science at University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about her book "Sojourners in a Strange Land: Jesuits and Their Scientific Missions in Late Imperial China" as part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts. Janine Shertzer, a physics professor at Holy Cross, is the respondent.

Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., president of Fairfield University and an expert in the field of 19th-century British history, commemorates the September 19 beatification of John Henry Newman with a talk about Newman and his contemporary, and sometimes adversary, Henry Edward Manning.

Mahmoud Ayoub is professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the Hartford Seminary and professor emeritus at Temple University.

Dermot Quinn and Rev. Ian Boyd, of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith and Culture at Seton Hall University, reflect on the British convert and writer's two American tours and his 1930 visit to Holy Cross. The event was sponsored with the G.K. Chesterton Society of Worcester.

Rev. Sidney Griffith is professor and chair of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America.

Trent Pomplun, associate professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland, talks about his book, "Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Tibet," as part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts..

Fr. Corkery, an Irish Jesuit who participated in the General Congregation and helped draft some of its statements, discusses the larger context for the Congregation and its outcomes in the keynote speech of the Alumni/ae Colloquium, "Sent to the Frontiers: Jesuits, Alumni/ae and the Work of the Church," on September 26, 2009.

Paul Mariani, professor of English at Boston College and author of Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life, speaks about the Jesuit poet, his work and its significance for understanding Jesuit life and mission, both in his time and now. Respondent Thomas M. Landy, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, talks about what Hopkins can teach us about educating students at Holy Cross.

James Keenan, S.J., who holds the founder's chair in theology at Boston College, speaks on Jesuit casuistry and comparative forms of moral reasoning. His talk traces the development of casuistry, from John Mair to Francesco de Toledo and Robert Parsons. Respondent Helen Whall, professor of English, cites case studies of ethical issues in Shakespeare plays.

Marvin Meyer was one of the foremost scholars on early Christianity and texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. He was Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, where he also directed of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.

William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology, and Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, debate at Holy Cross.

William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology, and Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, debate at Holy Cross.