Faith in the Academy Lunches

Join us at the Campus Club for lunches every third Thursday of the month for discussion and fellowship.

Meeting time: 11:45am to 1:00pm

If you would like to eat lunch on a cash paying basis but are not a member of the Campus Club, please stop at the Campus Club desk for a guest pass, under our name, The Christian Faculty Network. You may also check there for our specific meeting room for the month. Often we will be meeting in one of two rooms, 411 or C.

Fall 2009 Schedule

• September 17, Loren Abraham, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Architecture; as well as operating his own private company. He was a founding member of the US Green Building Council.
  “Christian Discipleship, Theo-centric Environmentalism and asking the difficult question, e.g. Are you living God’s perfect plan for your life?”
  As one of the early proponents of "Sustainable design" and a seasoned educator in the area of Sustainable Building Practices, Loren argues that what is needed is an attitude of reverence and obedience that places God at the center of His Creation where He ought to be. He will argue for a fundamental commitment to Stewardship that promotes ecological, human and long term economic health while at the same time maximizing benefits to society rather than simply limiting damage. As he discusses his life’s work he will present a vision of an “Architecture of Hope” – hope for a future – one of abundance for all of Creation and an Architecture of Light (and understanding). In his work he has tried to reinvent the way we make things and builds. He attempts to set the idea of sustainability within a theological context that aims to reclaim the future by re-envisioning design within a stewardship model. Loren will also present a brief overview of the “Ark-Angel Project” which is the culmination of his professional and personal life experience and the outgrowth of his desire to live “God’s perfect plan for his life”, by demonstrating the impartial compassion of Christ in an endeavor to be the “hands and feet of Jesus” to the “least of these.”
• October 15, Laura Koch, Associate Vice Provost and Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics, in the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost;
  “Strengthening Faith through Art and Antiquities”
  “My remarks will focus on how teaching in Florence, Italy for the past 6 years and my travels to Egypt and Greece have allowed me to delve deeper into my own faith. I will also talk about my struggle to maintain a balanced view of religion in my teaching, having become a more tolerant Christian.”
• November 19, Jasper Hopkins, Professor, Philosophy;
  "Observations on 46 years of teaching Philosophy of Religion."
• December 17, Tom Sullivan, Sr. Vice Pres. & Provost;
  topic-forthcoming

Spring 2009 Schedule

• January 22, Heather Thompson Buum, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine;
  "Faith and Medicine".
  She will touch on her own personal faith and how it impacts her in the practice of medicine as well as teaching.
• February 19, Bill Doherty, Professor, Family Social Science;
  “Engaging Your Audience”.
  He will share how, in his many community presentations, he has designed a methodology that truly engages adult learners and motivates them to pursue transformational objectives. This presentation will especially aid CFN members as they think about making community presentations.
• March 26, Calvin Sun, Assistant Professor, Pharmacy - Research & Grad Prog;
  “Chinese Ministries”.
  He will be describing to us the ministries on or around campus that serve Chinese students and scholars.
• April 16, Lanny Schmidt, Regents Professor, Chemical Engineering & Mat Sci;
  "Faith and Science and the Book of Job".
  A fundamental question of those of us in academia is how faith and science relate. Are there fundamental contradictions and how do we resolve them? Science is constantly changing, while faith remains the same. From his perspective the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, provides some answers.
• May 7, David Weertz, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy & Admin;
  "Tempered radicals: Reexamining roles of Christian scholars in a secular academy ".
  "Tempered radicals are people who want to succeed in their organizations yet want to live by their values or identities, even if they are somehow at odds with the dominant culture of their organizations. Tempered radicals want to fit in and they want to retain what makes them different. They want to rock the boat, and they want to stay in it" (Meyerson, 2001, p. xi). Christian scholars in the secular academy may often feel like "tempered radicals," as they attempt to live out their faith and succeed in a secular academic marketplace. In this talk, he will draw on a conceptual framework by Greg Boyd to help scholars consider strategies for effectively serving the Kingdom of God while succeeding in the Kingdom of the Academy.
• June 25, Ron Larson, Professor, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan;
  “Revisiting 'God of the Gaps'”.
  Ron is a UMN grad, a leading Chemical Engineering researcher and member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has recently published "Revisiting 'God of the Gaps'" as well as "The Genetic Code and the Origin of Life" in the Journal of the American Scientific Association. Although design arguments for the existence of God are sometimes dismissed as "God of the gaps" apologetics, reasons for rejecting them based on the history of science, philosophy, religion, and pragmatism are not as compelling as is often implied. He argues that using multiple evidences of design in nature, with regular updates to accommodate new findings, can be a sound and convincing approach to apologetics.