Dr. Leslie Baynes (MSU Religious Studies) introduces guest lecturer Dr. Michael Ward in Glass Hall Tuesday evening
A standing-room only crowd enjoyed Dr. Michael Ward’s talk on his acclaimed book Planet Narnia last week. While people gathered, they heard “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s suite “The Planets” as a sort of non-verbal, sublimal introduction of what was to come. Dr. Ward asked several key questions before addressing the Chronicles of Narnia themselves: What symbolic meaning did the planets of the pre-Copernican system convey? How did Lewis appropriate that meaning? Was he the sort of man who would hide a planetary “code” in his books? It was obvious from the many good questions the audience asked Dr. Ward that they greatly enjoyed what he had to say. And many stayed after his lecture to buy one of his books and to have the author autograph it.
Dr. Michael Ward explains C. S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Planets
I just learned recently that Jim Moyer has been selected for the Missouri State Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university’s highest honor in teaching. A professor in Religious Studies, who was chair of the department for more than two decades, it is hard to imagine a teacher more deserving than Jim. In the past, Jim has received university and college teaching awards, and in 1999 he was selected for Missouri State’s Outstanding Advisor Award, followed by an Outstanding Advisor Award from the Missouri Academic Advising Association. With Victor Matthews, also of the Department of Religious Studies, Jim is the author of a popular textbook, Old Testament: Text and Context,which has just appeared in the third edition. In addition to work that he has done year after year to raise the standard of teaching in Religious Studies, in 2009-2010 Jim was chosen as a Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning and he has continued to mentor new faculty from across the university in the years since. If you don’t have a few minutes to talk, don’t ask Jim how things are going in his classes, because he is bound to have a story or two to tell you about something new that he is trying to improve the success of his current students. His enthusiasm for helping students is undiminished even after a distinguished career dedicated to that over more than four decades.
Nicki Donnelson, Missouri State Communications, interviewed Dr. Michael Ward for the Missouri State Journal on KSMU. The interview was broadcast on KSMU this morning and will be aired on various stations around town, but you can listen to the interview now!
Dr. Michael Ward, author of "Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis" and "The Narnia Code"
Dr. Michael Ward, one of the world’s foremost C. S. Lewis scholars, will speak at Missouri State on Tuesday, 10 April, at 7:30 p.m. in Glass 101. His talk will be about “The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God: C. S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Planets”.
Millions of people have been captivated by C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia—but some questions about them have been difficult to answer. Why are there seven books? Why are only three of them obviously structured around biblical narratives? Many have attempted to discover the organizing key, the “secret code,” of the Chronicles, but it has remained a mystery—until now. Michael Ward reveals the single subject that links all seven novels. He explains how Lewis structured the series, why he kept the code secret, and what it shows about his understanding of the universe and the Christian faith. Scholars have hailed Ward’s discovery as the most ground-breaking work ever done on the Chronicles of Narnia, and once you know it, you will never read them in the same way again.
Dr Michael Ward (St Peter’s College, University of Oxford) is the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and author of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press, 2008). He presented the BBC television documentary, The Narnia Code (2009), and lived for three years in Lewis’s Oxford home, The Kilns, as resident warden. He has lectured on Lewis, Tolkien, and the Inklings all over the United States.
This event is sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies and the College of Humanities and Public Affairs.
Flyer for Dr. Michael Ward's talk on 10 April 2012
Tuesday evening in Meyer Library, Professor James Broucek, an instructor in the Department of Religious Studies, discussed the major trends and turning points in the ongoing discussion of legitimate warfare in Islam. Introduced by Dr. Martha Finch, professor in Religious Studies, Professor Broucek talked about “The Just War Tradition in Islam” to students, faculty, and community members.
Dr. Martha Finch at the event, "The Just War Tradition in Islam"
What does it mean to “fight in the path of God”? In response to the assertion that Islam’s sacred texts inevitably radicalize pious Muslims, Professor Broucek emphasized the diversity of judgments concerning legitimate warfare in the tradition of Islamic law. Muslim scholars have disagreed about whether or not Muslims have an individual obligation to fight wars, if offensive wars can ever be just, and who counts as a noncombatant. These disagreements stem from divergent readings of Islam’s sacred texts, prompted by changing historical circumstances. Muslim terrorists represent a contemporary response to the classic question of how to fight in the path of God. But they, like all Muslims struggling to live in submission to God, express judgments that are based on selective interpretations–not pure, unmediated transmissions–of classic texts.
Professor James Broucek explains the "Just War Tradition in Islam" Tuesday evening in Meyer Library
Professor Broucek specializes in Islam and modern Islamic political thought in the Middle East.
Jared Chatfield at Qumran, hiking near the Calcolithic temple and overlooking the Dead Sea
At the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies reception on Saturday evening, 10 March, in Dallas, Jared Chatfield won one of two student paper awards. It is worth $100 in books from Eisenbrauns. I had been tipped off so I was next to Jared when the award was announced, and was the first to congratulate him.
He is doing well in the Southwestern Seminary Ph. D. program in archaeology. This summer he will be doing an archeological survey at Gezer under the direction of Eric Mitchell.
Jared received his Bachelor’s degree at Evangel and his M.A. degree here at Missouri State University in Religious Studies in May, 2010.
Everyone is invited to attend a free, public lecture on Tuesday, 13 March at 7:00 p.m. in Meyer Library 101, about “The Just War Tradition in Islam” by Professor James Broucek.
What does it mean to “fight in the path of God”? Professor Broucek, an instructor in our Religious Studies Department, will discuss the major trends and turning points in the ongoing discussion of legitimate warfare in Islam. Professor Broucek specializes in Islam and modern Islamic political thought in the Middle East.
On Saturday, 3 March, two of our Religious Studies professors, Micki Pulleyking and Ken Elkins, spoke at the Girls4Good Conference, “Women and Girls: Then and There, Here and Now,” held at Central High School. Dr. Pulleyking’s session was titled “Women in Religion,” and Mr. Elkins talked about “Women in the Holocaust.”
The conference, organized and produced by Central High School students and supported by the Bezos Scholars Program and Ozarks Public Broadcasting, featured, among others, Dr. Nancy D. O’Reilly as the keynote speaker and Senator Roseann Bentley on “Women in Politics.” According to their website, www.girls4good.org, “Girls4Good is a high school grassroots movement that seeks to level the playing field. Through discussion, community involvement, and global projects, we are searching for solutions to our worlds greatest inequality.”
Dr. Micki Pulleyking speaks to a crowd of attendees at the Girls4Good Conference
Ken Elkins, center, at the Girls4Good Conference meeting and answering questions with conference attendees after his talk
Dr. Micki Pulleyking, left, talking with a Girls4Good Conference attendee
Andreas Weiß, an international exchange student from Salzburg, Austria where he studied Catholic theology and philosophy and who is currently attending classes at Missouri State University, was recently published in the Austrian journal, Die Furche. His article, “Gott regiert mit” (“God reigns with him”), draws upon what he studied in our Religious Studies classes and concerns the role of religion in American politics.
According to Mr. Weiß, the central role that religion plays in U.S. politics is seen as unusual from a European perspective: “God and religion still play a major role in American politics, even though the separation of church and state is an official part of the U.S. constitution. This is not only a strategic tool of politicians, but expected by many American citizens – the president seems to be not only a political leader, but also the central person who is responsible for the country and its divine mission. The ‘Nation under God,’ which has affirmed a trust in God on its dollar bills since 1956, obviously cannot ignore God in political issues.”
It is a privilege to hear an author revisit a good book. Such was the case on Thursday February 16, 2012 when historian Julie Byrne described what she might have done differently in O God of Players: The Story of the Immaculata Mighty Macs. Published in 2003, it chronicles the triumph of the first women’s basketball team to win a national collegiate championship, the Immaculata College Mighty Macs. Ten years later, Byrne discussed the challenges of “borrowed memories” (a problem for oral historians) and the ramifications of the church sex abuse crisis for American Catholic history. Profiled in a February 11, 2012 News-Leader story, Byrne spoke to a packed auditorium in Meyer Library.
Julie Byrne, author of "O God of Players" at Meyer Library Thursday, 16 February 2012
The audience was especially eager to hear former Lady Bears Coach Cheryl Burnett talk about Byrne’s book. She did not disappoint. Sharing stories about the coaches and athletes featured in O God of Players, Burnett offered an insider’s perspective on the saga of women’s basketball. She expressed her appreciation for the vitality of Catholic women’s basketball in Philadelphia. Also present for the lecture was Burnett’s predecessor Reba Sims, the very first coach of the Lady Bears.
Cheryl Burnett, former Lady Bears coach and presently Development Director at Missouri State University
Byrne expressed appreciation for the interest in women’s basketball. As she later wrote on her Twitter feed, “I had not known what another precocious hotspot of girls’ hoops SW MO was and is!”
The lecture was sponsored by the College of Humanities and Public Affairs and the Department of Religious Studies.
