Back from Chicago

Mindy and I returned from Chicago Tuesday evening.  Given the events of the night, we wished we stayed one more day, but time and money would not allow.  I won’t go into all the details, but I did get to hear some interesting papers.  On Saturday, I began the conference with going to the Philosophy of Religion section.  The theme was “Evolutionary Theory and Religion.”  Papers included:

Are Evolutionary/Cognitive Theories of Religion Relevant for Philosophy of Religion?
Greg Peterson, South Dakota State University

Christian Engagements with Evolutionary Accounts of Morality
Neil Arner, Yale University

Evolution, Special Divine Agency, and the God-of-the-Gaps
David Corner, California State University, Sacramento

Evolutionary Alternatives for Philosophy of Religon: Looking Past Evolutionary Psychology to a Wider Field of Possibilities
Nathaniel Barrett, Boston University

I spent some of the afternoon visiting the career center and tracking down persons with whom I wanted to connect.  That afternoon, I went to the Mysticism Group which has several papers on the “Stages of Mystical Development.”

Sunday I went to the “Special Topics: Theological Illiteracy and Its Effect on the Enterprise of Theological Education,” which was very interesting.  The description sums it up well:

Theological educators observe that entering students come to seminary without formation in specific denominational and religious traditions.  As a result, these students are theologically illiterate in their own tradition and yet aspire to ministry or other forms of leadership in those same traditions.  What is the effect of this theological illiteracy on the enterprise of theological education?  This panel seeks to explore implications for how we teach, how we form leaders, and how we define our mission as theological educators.  It seeks to explore questions such as: How do scripture courses function when students no longer know Bible stories?  How do field educators place persons in ministerial settings when students know nothing about church polity or history?  How do we do theology or religious education when would-be pastors need basic understanding of a tradition?  How can we teach iterreligious dialogue when students know other traditions but not their own? 

After lunch I went to hear the “Christian Spirituality Group” and finally met Philip Harrold, who teaches at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and taught at Winebrenner prior to my arrival.  His departure opened the door for me to work and subsequently, pay my bills. I was glad to have some time to get to know him a bit and I can see why his students loved taking his courses.  The Christian Spirituality Group discussed the New Monasticism.  I was intrigued by a question raised by one of the speakers.  Is the New Monasticism really monasticism?  At times, the lives of the New Monastics do not look much different from the lives of others.  Is the term simply being used as another way of saying one is a, “committed Christian.”  Does it then imply that others are not committed? 

That afternoon I heard the last half of a discussion which included Euan Cameron (Union Theological Seminary) and Hans J. Hillerbrand (Duke University) on “The Reformation and Early Modern Christianity: Current Issues, Trends, and Challenges.”  That evening, Mindy and I caught dinner at Miller’s Pub and headed back to the Palmer House where I finished tweaking my paper for Monday.

On Monday afternoon, I gave my paper for the joint meeting of the Eastern orthodox Studies Group and the Mysticism Group.  This was the first paper I’ve delivered at a conference of this type before.  As a junior scholar it was a learning experience that I very much appreciated.  I was able to see some very good papers delivered.  Derek Michaud of Boston University had the paper closest to mine.  He spoke on “The Patristic Roots of John Smith’s True Way or Method of Attaining to Divine Knowledge.”  Joseph Molleur of Cornell College gave a great paper on “A Hindu Monk’s Appropriation of Eastern Orthodoxy’s Jesus Prayer: The ‘Inner Senses’ of Hearing and Seeing in Comparitive Perspective.’  His paper will be up on the mysticism group’s website at some point, I’ll post a link to it here.  I delivered my paper, “A Connecticut Valley Yankee in a Cappadocian Court: Jonathan Edwards, Eastern Christianity, and the ‘Spiritual Sense.’”  I think it went over well, though in hindsight I would have added several points; I also would not have been able to fit it all in under 25 minutes.   Lastly, but not least, was the incredibly sharp and well-known Sarah Coakley of Harvard University.  Her paper on “Gregory of Nyssa on the Spiritual Senses: A Reconsideration” represents her ongoing work.  She is an extremely impressive scholar and had I not been a presenter I would have been at the sessions just for her paper alone.  I was glad to have the chance to share a table with all of them and I hope to do so again.  I will be sending my paper to the Mysticism Group to be posted on their website as well, that is, after I tweak it and get my footnotes in order.

Afterward, Mindy and I took the rest of the evening to see what had changed in our old haunts.  We lived in Chicago for 6 1/2 years.  We went to Tucci Benucch, which was a favorite of ours when we lived there.  It is now called Frankie’s, but they still have the same menu and chefs.  We shared a bottle of wine and then went over to Borders and Ghirardelli (for hot chocolate).  We picked up popcorn from Garrett’s and walked back up to Millennium Park to see the new additions.  On Tuesday, we slept in a little, finished our business in Chicago and then headed back to make a full night of election coverage with some pizza.