We have reached our maximum capacity of 150 participants for the Presidential Forum. We are sorry if you did not have the opportunity to register.  We hope you will continue to visit Bethany's website and consider attending future events. Thank you for your interest!

Bethany Theological Seminary will host "Weaving Wisdom's Tent:  The Arts of Peace" March 29-30, 2009.  The event will focus on spirituality, art, and peacemaking, and will feature three plenary sessions, six workshops, and a concert by the Manchester College A Capella Choir.  Author and poet Marge Piercy, conflict resolution scholar and practitioner John Paul Lederach, and artist Douglas Kinsey are the scheduled plenary session presenters.

The Forum at a Glance:

	In her plenary session "Examining Peace and the Lack of It Through Poetry," Marge Piercy will be reading poems from several different books that deal with peace and war, our own attitudes, our spiritual disciplines, and how we may bring them to bear.  Ms. Piercy is the author of 17 novels and has been a featured writer on NPR, PBS, and NBC, and a teacher, lecturer and performer at over 400 universities around the world.
	In "The Poetics of Building Peace," Dr. John Paul Lederach will present his ideas on the art, soul, and poetics of peace building.  Dr. Lederach is Professor of International Peacebuilding with the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.  He works as a practitioner/scholar in conflict mediation, with extensive experience in North and Latin America, Africa, and Southeast and Central Asia.
	Dr. Douglas Kinsey will lead an exploration of the representation of justice in the visual arts in his plenary session "A Painter's Reflections on Art About Justice."  He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame in the deparment of Art and Art History, and has had over 70 solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad.

 

The Manchester College A Capella Choir will perform Sunday evening.  Manchester College was the first in the U.S. to offer a degree in Peace Studies, and much of the repertoire performed by the choir carries this theme.  Dr. Debra Lynn, associate professor of Music, is the director.  James Hersch will be featured as guest artist.

• "Peace in Our Fragmented Lives and Culture:  Approaching the Bible and its Interpretation as a Source of Shalom", led by Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, associate professor of Preaching and Worship at Bethany, and Steven Schweitzer, associate professor of Old Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Goshen, Ind.
• "Doing Conflict Well:  Reflection, Practice, Art", led by Celia Cook-Huffman, director of the Baker Peace Conflict Transformation Center at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa., and Bob Gross, executive director of On Earth Peace, an organization focusing on peace and conflict resolution based int the Church of the Brethren.
• "What You See is What You Get", led by David Radcliff, executive director of New Community Project, a Christian nonprofit organization focused on earth care and global justice, and Kay Guyer, a high school senior from Woodbury, Pa.
• "Theopoetics", led by Scott Holland, associate professor of Peace Studies and Public Theology and director of Peace Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies at Bethany, and Travis Poling, a Master of Divinity Student at Bethany.
• "Creation, Fall and Redemption in Wood", a workshop on visual art led by Sally Stewart, retired art teacher and supervisor of art for the Johnstown, Pa. city schools.
• "Music, Peace, and Praise", led by Outspoken, a worship band comprised of students from Bridgewater College (Va.).

The Forum also will include times for small group reflective conversations and presentation of student papers.

Weaving Wisdom's Tent:  the Arts of Peace is possible because of the generosity of many friends of the Seminary, expressed through their gifts to special funds and endowments, including the John C. and Elizabeth E. Baker Peace Endowment, the Nancy Rosenberger Faus Music Education and Performance Endowment, the Founders Lecture Endowment, the Ora Huston Peace Lecture Endowment, and the Stephen I. Katonah Endowment for Faith and the Arts.

Forum registrants are limited to 150 attendees.  We have reached our maximum capacity of 150 participants for the Presidential Forum. We are sorry if you did not have the opportunity to register.  We hope you will continue to visit Bethany's website and consider attending future events. Thank you for your interest!