Songs of Love and Sorrow: Re-Examining the Social Ethics of Music - Video Released

ICS is pleased to be able to release to the public "Songs of Love and Sorrow: Re-Examining the Social Ethics of Music," a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded video documenting a half-day conference and music performance on the relation of music and ethics that was co-organized by ICS, the Toronto School of Theology and the Royal Conservatory in April of 2010. The video highlights the work of three contemporary composers who have responded in their music to some of the most pressing social issues of our era as it considers the character of music's relationship to ethics.

• Watch the video on YouTube

Congratulations, Pam Trondson!

Pam Trondson was ICS's Director of Student Services from 1999 till 2007. Hers was a demanding position, overseeing, organizing, and executing virtually everything related to the presence of Junior Members at ICS. Indeed, the presence of many was brought about by Pam's very effective recruiting. ICS also benefited from the activities she organized: parties, retreats, a work study program and chapel. She also looked after admissions, awards, and student care.

Obviously Pam's decision to embark on another career outside of ICS created a considerable vacuum. She had become a real friend and colleague who contributed significantly. However, Pam's heart was set on ordination to ministry in the church. Thus she became a student herself. On May 1 she ended the first phase and was ordained as deacon by Anglican Archbishop Colin Johnson in an impressive service and ceremony at St. Paul's in Toronto, which was filled to capacity. Ordination as priest will follow in a year.

Henk Hart attended the ordination service and, upon learning that Pam would preach her inaugural sermon three weeks later in Newmarket, close to where he lives, decided also to attend that event at St. Paul's Anglican. Rev. Trondson is now the assistant curate at the church for the next two years, preaching twice a month, doing pastoral duties, working with children, leading in contemplation gatherings, and carrying out special projects. Clearly she will be as busy with a variety of tasks as she was at ICS and in her gracious and gifted ways will enrich the life of the congregation in which she works.

Congratulations Pam. We wish you well!

Congratulations, Allyson Carr!

On 15 June Allyson Carr made ICS history.  She became the first PhD candidate to complete all the requirements necessary to the reception of the first PhD from ICS in which ICS is the only granting institution.  She did so by defending her thesis entitled "Fiction as Philosophy: Reading the Work of Christine de Pizan and Luce Irigaray to Write a Hermeneutics of Socially Transformative Fiction-mediated Philosophy."  Along with thesis director Bob Sweetman, she was examined by Jim Olthuis and Lambert Zuidervaart and by two external examiners Doctors Jill Ross and Suzanne Conklin-Akbari of the University of Toronto.  In the thesis Allyson had the nerve to put women thinkers of very different eras (15th century and 21st century) and scholarly cultures into a conversation that allowed her to explore the ways in which fiction can be employed to further philosophical thought.  She succeeded in this delicate task in ways that made her thesis an exceptionally engaging piece to read and think about.  The degree will be conferred at our convocation in May 2012. Congratulations Allyson!

Congratulations, Dr. Lok!

Lok Wing-Kai (Peter) successfully defended his dissertation and received his doctorate at the VU University Amsterdam on July 5. His dissertation is titled “Foucault, Levinas and the Ethical Embodied Subject”. ICS Senior Member Lambert Zuidervaart served as Peter’s supervisor (“promotor”), and VU Professor Wouter Goris served as his co-supervisor (“co-promotor”) in the ICS/VU conjoint PhD degree program. Members of the reading and examining committees included ICS Senior Member Shannon Hoff and Jeff Dudiak, Professor of Philosophy at The King’s University College in Edmonton. In the words of Professor Zuidervaart’s laudatio, “Peter’s dissertation uses the work of two prominent French thinkers to develop a conception of the ethical embodied subject. The dissertation undertakes an extensive comparison between Michel Foucault’s later writings and Emmanuel Levinas’s post-ontological ethics. Peter discovers more in common between Foucault and Levinas than one might have expected. And he argues that where they differ, each can learn from the other. To take up two such prominent thinkers like this and put them into constructive dialogue is a notable achievement.” Dr. Lok currently lives in Hong Kong and teaches at Ling Lam University. The ICS community extends hearty congratulations to Peter and to his family, friends, and colleagues.

Congratulations, Dr. DeMoor!

Michael DeMoor successfully defended his dissertation and received his doctorate at the VU University Amsterdam on July 4. His dissertation is titled “Brandom and Hegel on Objectivity, Subjectivity and Sociality: A Tune beyond Us, Yet Ourselves.” ICS Senior Member Lambert Zuidervaart served as Michael’s supervisor (“promotor”), and VU Professor Peter Koslowski served as his co-supervisor (“co-promotor”) in the ICS/VU conjoint PhD degree program. Members of the reading and examining committees included ICS Senior Member Shannon Hoff and Paul Franks, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. In his laudatio to conclude the ceremony, Professor Zuidervaart remarked: “Michael’s dissertation offers a lucid and thorough exposition and critique of a leading American philosopher. Many scholars would think twice before tackling a thinker as protean and complex as Brandom or Hegel. To have addressed both of them, to have done this well, and to have done so as a reformational philosopher is indeed a wonderful achievement.” Dr. DeMoor currently serves as Assistant Professor of Social Philosophy in Politics, History, and Economics at The King’s University College in Edmonton. The ICS community extends hearty congratulations to Michael and to his family, friends, and colleagues.

Junior Member Jelle Huisman Welcomes His Son

Congratulations to Junior Member Jelle Huisman and his wife Janneke, on the birth of their son Laurens, on June 20th. Big sisters Marijke, Judith and Femke are delighted with their new baby brother! We thank God that all went well with mother and child and we pray for God's blessing on Laurens.

Doug Blomberg in Australia

This month, Senior Member Doug Blomberg will be speaking in Darwin, Australia at the International Transforming Education Scholarly Symposium sponsored by the International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education (IAPCHE). Doug will present the opening keynote speech, titled "Where is the Wisdom We Have Lost in Knowledge?", and will partner with Professor Dinkarlal in the final plenary session to draw together the themes discussed in the symposium. Later in the week he will also be presenting a paper titled "20/20 Vision for 2020 Schooling: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World" at the International Transforming Education Conference. This conference is being organized by the National Institute for Christian Education.

Art in Public - Lambert Zuidervaart

Senior Member Lambert Zuidervaart's latest book, Art in Public: Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2011), has received a strong review in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. To read this review, visit http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=24011.