tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35210737520304828482024-03-11T23:24:06.141-04:00ICS NewsEvents, Announcements and Happenings at the Institute for Christian StudiesHéctor A. Acero Ferrerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14923852775420733399noreply@blogger.comBlogger810125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-28253950895180283782024-03-05T11:27:00.001-05:002024-03-05T13:49:35.560-05:00Prayer Letter: March 2024<div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, March 4 - Friday, March 8:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />We continue to accept program applications through the remainder of this term and into the summer. Please keep in your prayers potential students who may be juggling much as they wrap up current studies and consider what their next steps may be, those students who are considering going back to school for the first time in a while, and those students from whom we have already received program applications. We pray that these students may find their way to ICS and that we may provide a hospitable environment for them to ask deep questions about God, the world, and their callings. <br /><br />Senior Member Rebekah Smick recently gave a paper entitled "<b>Augustine's hermeneutic of <i>decorum</i> in humanist art theory</b>" at the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies at Victoria University in the University of Toronto as part of its Working Group 2023-24 on The Arts in the Post-Tridentine Era: Histories and Historiographies in Transition. Rebekah will also be a speaker and panelist at the concluding colloquium of the Working Group in mid-April. We pray in gratitude for this opportunity for Rebekah to be in close conversation with other colleagues in her field, and we pray that the preparation involved in the colloquium will continue apace. <br /><br />This academic year, the CPRSE has counted on the active engagement of two Research Assistants, Junior Members Julia Henderson and Todd Dias. While Julia has helped to lead our public outreach events, such as conferences and symposia, Todd has been hard at work editing a number of submissions to our <b><a href="http://www.groundmotive.net/2024/03/listening-at-union-station-unearthing.html" target="_blank"><i>Ground Motive</i> blog</a></b>. Please join us as we pray in thanksgiving for the contributions of Julia and Todd to the initiatives of the CPRSE as well as to the academic life of ICS. <br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, March 11 - Friday, March 15:</span></h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />This week is March break for most of our MA-EL students. Please keep these students in your prayers, that these days may allow them time for rest, friendship, and family amid their busy semesters of work and study.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Rebekah Smick is also in the process of co-editing with Andrew Spicer volume five of the forthcoming eight-volume Bloomsbury T&T Clark series <i><b>Sources and Documents in the History of Christian Art</b></i>, edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona of Georgetown University. The volume is scheduled to come out by the end of 2024. Please keep Rebekah in your prayers as she collaborates to bring this project to completion.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Please keep the work of the Academic Council in your prayers this term. In addition to the regular work of considering courses and academic policies, some of our faculty will be offering Reflective Practice Reports on their research and teaching, as well as participating in status reviews. Pray with us that these meetings, which make up an integral part of our communal academic life, and all the work and conversations involved therein might prove fruitful and celebratory.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, March 18 - Friday, March 22:</span></h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />In one month, the CPRSE team will be travelling to Waterloo, ON for the spring conference “<b><a href="http://news.icscanada.edu/2024/03/conference-registration-now-open.html" target="_blank">Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization</a></b>.” Offered as a collaboration between ICS and Martin Luther University College, this conference will feature keynote speakers James K.A. Smith and Kristin Kobes Du Mez, as well as workshops and conversation sessions led by Shalem Mental Health Network, Citizens for Public Justice, and several of our Senior Members. Please save the date, keep an eye out for more information, and pray for all those involved in planning and execution of this event.<br /><br />Our <a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/summer-courses" target="_blank"><b>summer courses</b></a> have now been publicly posted! Visit our website to find out more about how you can join an online class with Senior Members Edith van der Boom, Neal DeRoo, or Gideon Strauss; or with ICS alums Andrew Tebbutt or Dean Dettloff (course TBA). There’s also still time to join our <a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank"><b>ART in Orvieto program</b></a> in Italy with Rebekah Smick this July. Please keep our Recruitment Team in your prayers as they seek to connect with potential students looking for the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees, further education, and professional development in the vocations to which God has called them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Please keep the Academic Office and the Academic Program Review Committee in your prayers as they work on the annual academic policy compliance report and the rolling three-year academic plan for presentation to the Academic Council, and as they prepare for comprehensive program reviews that are to take place during the 2024-2025 academic year. These efforts require close attention to detail as well as big-picture collaborative thinking in line with our ongoing educational mission, so we pray for energy and inspiration for all involved.<br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, March 25 - Friday, March 29:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The Academic Council next meets on March 25. Please pray for the work of the Academic Council as they consider together matters of academic policy, and in particular for those Senior Members who will be enjoying their annual Reflective Practice Conversations with the council over the course of this term. Please also keep its Education Policy Committee in your prayers as it considers new course proposals for the expansion of ICS's curriculum.<br /><br />There’s still time to apply for <b><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank">ART in Orvieto 2024</a></b>! The application deadline is <b>March 31</b> for this three-week summer studies program in art, religion, and theology. Financial aid is available for graduate students, working artists, and K-12 teachers - and there are even a few early bird scholarships left for the next 5 applicants! To get more information or apply, visit <a href="http://icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank"><b>icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto</b></a>, or email <b><a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu">recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</a></b>. Please also pray that interested participants will find their way to this year’s program, and please share news of this wonderfully rich learning opportunity with everyone you know!<br /><br />The application deadline for our MA-EL program is coming up on <b>April 1</b>. Visit <b><a href="http://icscanada.edu/academics/educational-leadership" target="_blank">icscanada.edu/academics/educational-leadership</a></b> to learn more, or email <b><a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu">recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</a></b> with your questions. This program is a key way in which our educational mission at ICS directly serves other Christian educators in Ontario and around the world. Please keep the program instructors, current students, and potential students in your prayers particularly as they discern whether to join the MA-EL.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-47118399328895061832024-03-05T11:26:00.002-05:002024-03-05T12:32:43.102-05:00The Power of "With"<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: medium;">And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.</span></b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></i></span></div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: right;"><b>—Matthew 28:20</b></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The word “with” can be used to imply many different things. It can suggest potential proximity—“Put this book with the others”—or accompaniment—“Let me go there with you.” It can connote hipness, as when Grampa Abe Simpson vociferously complains, “I used to be with it, but then they changed what ‘it’ was!” It can imply agreement and comprehension—“I’m with you so far”—or even a deep solidarity—“I will stand with you in your struggle for justice.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />With all these different uses and connotations of the word “with,” how might we understand the way that the resurrected Jesus uses the word when he says to his disciples, “I am with you always,” words he utters moments after he has charged them with the task of spreading his <i>shalom</i> way to the ends of the earth?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />In the song “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements (one of my favourite rock bands from the 1980s) there is a cheeky line that always makes me chuckle, where singer Paul Westerberg intones: “Jesus rides beside me, but he never buys any smokes.” While I resonate with this image of Jesus as a steadfast travel companion on the road trip of life, I hope and trust that he is more than someone who is simply ‘along for the ride,’ mooching my last cigarette to boot! (In my case, as a non-smoker, the cigarette would have to be metaphorical.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Perhaps it might help if we connect Jesus’ promise at the end of the gospel of Matthew to a claim made near the beginning of that same gospel, where the angel, echoing Isaiah 7:14, tells Joseph that the child Mary carries is the promised Messiah, the one who will be called “Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us” (Matt. 1:23)? Once we make this connection, we begin to discern the mysterious contours of this very powerful “with,” and the way Jesus’ promise includes but also moves beyond simple companionship.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The very word “with,” I think, says something about the nature of divine power itself, this messianic possibility that Jesus promises to make available to us. As ICS Emeritus Professor Jim Olthuis suggests in his book <b><i><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781666737929/dancing-in-the-wild-spaces-of-love/" target="_blank">Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love</a></i></b>, the power of this “with” is not a dominating or oppressive power, not an “over,” but rather a power that comes alongside us and empowers us—much like Jesus did, incognito, when he joined his erstwhile unwitting disciples on the road to Emmaus. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Jim calls this power “withing,” and describes it as the way humans are uniquely called to image a Creator who desires to be with and love creation:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>As God is with-us (Emmanuel), so we are to be-with others, </i>cum amore<i> (with love). “Withing” (power-with rather than power-over) is our gift and calling, be(com)ing the unique selves we are through relationship with other persons (intersubjectivity), with creation and all its creatures (solidarity), and with God (spirituality). In and with the impetus of love’s promise, we live-with, work-with, wrestle-with, suffer-with, celebrate-with the whole family of earth’s creatures, all of creation, and God. (xvi-ii)</i></b></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Jim later describes “withing” as “a celebrating-with and suffering-with without submission or domination, a being-with in which we are true to ourselves even as we exist in connection with each other” (87).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />How wonderful is this “with,” this divine connection that empowers us to connect—with the earth and all its creatures, with each other, and with God? How different it is from the kind of power we all too often seek, the power to dominate and control others, the earth, and even God? I ponder how deeply different is the way toward which our Messiah’s promise points us.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Shalom, friends!<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ron Kuipers</span></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-38161516067721345432024-03-05T11:25:00.002-05:002024-03-05T11:25:31.143-05:00Join an Upcoming ICS Open Class!<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f3a75903-7fff-e953-3edb-82c83903de1f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Curious about whether our online seminars might be a good fit for your learning style? Know someone who wants to learn more about ICS courses? Join us for one of our "<b>O</b><b>pen Classes</b>" on the following dates:</span></p></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>March 14, 2pm ET - <b><a href="http://courses.icscanada.edu/2023/10/issues-in-phenomenology-spirituality.html" target="_blank">Issues in Phenomenology: Spirituality</a></b><br /><br /></li><li>April 2, 10am ET - <b><a href="http://courses.icscanada.edu/2023/10/god-in-flesh-and-blood-revolutions-in.html" target="_blank">God in Flesh and Blood: Revolutions in Christology</a></b><br /><br /></li><li>April 3, 10am ET - <a href="http://courses.icscanada.edu/2023/10/aristotle-aquinas-and-scholastic.html" target="_blank"><b>Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Scholastic Approach to the History of Philosophy</b></a></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To RSVP to any of these sessions, please email <b><a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu">recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</a></b>. </div></span></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-42099142214567791922024-03-05T11:24:00.003-05:002024-03-05T11:24:34.773-05:00Open Positions at The King's University<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Our colleagues at The King’s University in Edmonton are hiring for two teaching positions: a <a href="https://www.kingsu.ca/public/download/files/241448" target="_blank"><b>Visiting Assistant Professor for Justice Research & Public Education</b></a> and a <a href="https://www.kingsu.ca/public/download/files/235791" target="_blank"><b>Faculty Position in Sociology</b></a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Please visit their <a href="https://www.kingsu.ca/about-us/careers" target="_blank"><b>Careers page</b></a> to find out more information about either of these positions. </span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-46820584245062207342024-03-05T11:24:00.000-05:002024-03-05T11:24:05.098-05:00New Article by Edith van der Boom<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Senior Member <a href="https://faculty.icscanada.edu/evanderboom" target="_blank"><b>Edith van der Boom</b></a> has published an article in the March 2024 issue of the <i>International Journal of Christianity and Education </i>(28.1) titled "<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20569971241231583" target="_blank"><b>Participating in God’s redemptive work: A cyclical model for learning and assessment</b></a>." You can read the abstract below and access the article <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20569971241231583" target="_blank"><b>online</b></a> via Sage Journals.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Abstract</span></b></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;">With the goal of working towards decolonizing educational practices, this article considers the Indigenous medicine wheel as inspiration for a cyclical model for learning and assessment. Many current assessment practices highlight individual achievement rather than ongoing and relational learning. This article suggests using a Learning Wheel as a tool to engage students in conversation about learning and assessment. The purpose of assessment would be to inform students’ learning. The goal of learning would in turn equip students to be mindful of learning that engages in real-world issues to partner in God’s redemptive work.</span></i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-23115281782011475422024-03-04T13:51:00.001-05:002024-03-11T11:22:21.026-04:00Conference Registration Now Open<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://luther.wlu.ca/events/beyond-culture-wars/index.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="650" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kxdO2r7-Ay2UOcdze0rilhqzkF6OuqNrqXm3jUtnLA3FoT4DP3ipfRg8zsXw5UoFzHgN4fZy4c9DDUs6-4OnoFM6skz2yULy-CbTYBNvgng_RuituQGaxhrj_vJ8IHcShH8lNpciHRssvruLQ8wQ-IkM2p-x70QmMSK1-ijRQI4P0O8hIHSql_33962a/w580-h177/Apr2024%20Conference.png" width="580" /></span></a></div><div><span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://luther.wlu.ca/events/beyond-culture-wars/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">REGISTER NOW</span></a></b></div></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Registration is now open for our </span>April 18–20 conference in collaboration with <a href="https://luther.wlu.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Martin Luther University College</b></a> on the topic: “Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization.” </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Some of our community partners include Citizens for Public Justice, Shalem Mental Health Network, and Vision Ministries Canada.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>This event will be hosted in person at the campus of Martin Luther University College (Wilfrid Laurier University), and our <u>plenary sessions will be made available online.</u> This event will be an education and discussion forum for faith communities, and for the larger public, to counter the ‘culture wars’ mentality and explore together more positive and mutually beneficial ways of relating religion to the broader society. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Keynote speakers are <a href="https://kristindumez.com/" target="_blank"><b>Kristin Kobes Du Mez</b></a>, (April 18 at 7:00pm) and </span><a href="https://jameskasmith.com/" target="_blank"><b>James K.A. Smith</b></a> (April 19 at 7:00pm). There will also be several workshops and conversation sessions from our community partners, as well as ICS and Luther faculty (we are in the process of scheduling these sessions now). </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Please visit <a href="https://luther.wlu.ca/events/beyond-culture-wars/index.html"><b>https://luther.wlu.ca/events/beyond-culture-wars/index.html</b></a> to register and find more information. </span></div><p><br /></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-90580963404030750522024-02-07T17:20:00.002-05:002024-02-08T13:05:37.807-05:00Prayer Letter: February 2024<div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, February 5 - Friday, February 9:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On February 5, Senior Member Neal DeRoo gave an online lecture titled "The Case for a Phenomenological Politics" as part of a lecture series on "Critical and Political Phenomenology in Debate" put on by FernUniversität in Hagen, the Husserl Archives Cologne, and the philosophy department of TU Darmstadt. Neal's lecture was based on the work in his last book, <i><a href="https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531500054/the-political-logic-of-experience/#:~:text=The%20Political%20Logic%20of%20Experience%20argues%20that%20experience%20and%20phenomenology,the%20phenomenological%20method%2C%20and%20politics." target="_blank"><b>The Political Logic of Experience</b></a></i>. Please join us in giving thanks for this wonderful opportunity for Neal to connect with international colleagues in conversation and debate.<br /><br /><b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">ICS is hiring! </span></i></b>We are currently on the lookout for a Project Manager for an upcoming Capital Campaign. If you or anyone you know would be suited to this position, please <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/employment-opportunities/project-manager" target="_blank">visit our website</a></b> for details on how to apply. Also please share this news widely and keep our search in your prayers as we look for the right candidate to fill this role.<br /><br />February is tax receipt month at ICS. Please pray particularly for the Finance and Advancement offices as they lead the process of preparing the receipts for our donors and students. This is quite a time-consuming task and needs to be finished by the end of February. We ask for God’s sustaining grace for all involved.<br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, February 12 - Friday, February 16:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Please keep the work of the Academic Council and its various committees in your prayers this term. In addition to the regular work of considering courses and academic policies, some of our faculty will be offering Reflective Practice Reports on their research and teaching, as well as participating in status reviews. Pray with us that these meetings, which make up an integral part of our communal academic life, and all the work and conversations involved therein might prove fruitful and celebratory.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Our <b>MA-EL Open House</b> is taking place online on <b>February 15 at 4:15pm ET</b>. This Open House will feature a presentation from Edith van der Boom, a conversation with current students in the program, and a question and answer time. Anyone interested in attending this event can RSVP to Brenna Wehrle at <a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu"><b>recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</b></a>. Please pray that teachers and school administrators who would benefit from this program may find opportunities to apply. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Final grades for fall 2023 courses are due from our Senior Members on February 16. Please pray for the Senior Members as they engage the work of students in their courses, that they may be able to provide rich and meaningful feedback on students’ research and projects as the students continue their learning journeys.<br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, February 19 - Friday, February 23:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s Family Day and Reading Week at ICS! There will be no classes this week, which will provide a welcome opportunity for Junior and Senior Members alike to focus their attention on various readings and to concentrate on their current research projects. May they find joy and inspiration in their studies this week!<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Please keep our Recruitment Team, led by Recruitment Coordinator Brenna Wehrle, in your prayers as they work on promoting the various ICS programs of study and courses for the upcoming <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/summer-courses" target="_blank">summer</a></b> and fall semesters. We pray for creativity and vision as we pursue a promotional strategy that will seek out and connect with potential students looking for the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees, further education, and professional development in the vocations to which God has called them.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We give thanks this week for all the hard work of the Library and Scholarship Committee, our Librarian Anita Siraki, and the volunteers for the ongoing project with our Hamilton library collection. We’ve had to temporarily stow away the collection in order to enable renovations in response to flooding that happened late last year. This is a large-scale undertaking, but the first stages of the project are complete, the renovations nearly finished, and we look forward to getting the books back on the shelves soon! Please pray with us that the remaining tasks involved in this process will go quickly and smoothly when the time comes. <br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, February 26 - Thursday, February 29:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />On <b>February 26</b>, the ICS community will welcome <b>Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat</b> for the Winter Term installment of the Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Symposium. In her presentation, “<b><a href="http://news.icscanada.edu/2024/02/sylvia-keesmaat-presenting-at-scripture.html" target="_blank">Seeds of Resistance and Healing: Grounding the Bible</a></b>,” Dr. Keesmaat will lead participants as they reflect on the link between the Bible and creation. Please pray for Dr. Keesmaat, the planning team, and all participants that this event be a space for fruitful dialogue and fellowship. <br /><br />There are still a few remaining $500 early bird scholarships available for <b><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank">ART in Orvieto 2024</a></b>, and we continue to accept applications to the program until March 31. Please pray that interested artists, teachers, and students of the arts will find their way to this year’s program, and please share news of this wonderfully rich learning opportunity with everyone you know!<br /><br />This month, the CPRSE team together with Senior Member Neal DeRoo will be hard at work organizing the <b>spring conference:</b> “<a href="http://news.icscanada.edu/2024/02/save-date-conference-with-james-ka.html" target="_blank"><b>Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization</b></a>” taking place <b>April 18th-20th</b>. Continuing ICS’s partnership with Martin Luther University College, and marking the start of a new collaboration with Vision Ministries Canada, this conference will be an opportunity to reflect on the role Christianity can have in addressing the polarization in North America. The conference will feature keynote speakers <b>James K.A. Smith</b> and <b>Kristin Kobes Du Mez</b>, as well as several workshops and conversation sessions. Please save the date, keep an eye out for more information, and pray for all those involved in planning and execution of this event.</span></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-8332435410926900362024-02-07T17:20:00.000-05:002024-02-07T17:20:13.225-05:00What Might These Words Still Take from Us?<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><i><b>But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>—Luke 1:29 (NRSV)</b></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />In my ICS seminar on Ludwig Wittgenstein, I use an essay by Stanley Cavell that attempts to explain the intimate link that Wittgenstein posits between the meaning of words and the way we learn to use them. To illustrate this relationship between meaning and use, Cavell describes his infant daughter’s efforts to learn the word ‘kitty’: Witnessing her petting the family cat and saying the word ‘kitty’, he assumes she has learned the word, yet his conclusion is thrown into doubt when later he sees her stroking a furry pillow saying the same thing.<br /><br />Cavell finds himself forced to conclude that, although she is well on her way, his daughter has yet to learn the word ‘kitty’; she has yet to master the various ways the linguistic community into which he is welcoming her do and do not use that word. He makes the point rather provocatively:<br /><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>Kittens—what we call ‘kittens’—do not exist in her world yet, she has not acquired the forms of life which contain them. They do not exist in something like the way cities and mayors will not exist in her world until long after pumpkins and kittens do; <i><u>or like the way God or love or responsibility or beauty do not exist in our world</u></i>; we have not mastered, or we have forgotten, or we have distorted, or learned through fragmented models, the forms of life which could make utterances like ‘God exists’ or ‘God is dead’ or ‘I love you’ or ‘I cannot do otherwise’ or ‘Beauty is but the beginning of terror’ bear all the weight they could carry, express all they could take from us.</b></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><b style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Cavell, <i>The Claim of Reason</i>, p. 172-73)</span></b></div></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Cavell’s gloss (the part I italicized) leapt from the page the moment I read it roughly twenty years ago. His words caught me completely off guard, and so I pondered them. Was he right to draw the tragic conclusion that most of us today merely go through the motions, simply mouthing empty platitudes when we use words like ‘God’ and ‘love’ and ‘beauty’, and that we do not let these words demand anything too deep or personal from us? A troubling thought, indeed.<br /><br />In <i><b>My Bright Abyss</b></i>, which I have just finished reading, the poet Christian Wiman wonders whether the decay of religious belief among educated people in the West has caused this decay of language, or whether it is the other way around: “[D]o we find the fire of belief fading in us only because the words are sodden with overuse and imprecision, and will not burn?” (p.124)<br /><br />How different is Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel’s greeting and announcement in Luke 1:28? Mary gives herself permission to be troubled and perplexed by the angel’s words—to let them hit—leading her to ponder “what sort of greeting this might be.” In her book <b><i>Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories</i>,</b> Debie Thomas describes Mary’s response to Gabriel as “holy bewilderment.” She suggests that Mary’s holy bewilderment models for us a way to take distance from the all-too-settled dogmatic certainties and platitudes we have come to accept, the dead words that no longer burn, and search for ones that do. She thus finds Mary’s bewilderment to resonate with her own faith journey as she deals with the suffering, vicissitudes, and ambiguity that daily life visits upon us all:<br /><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>What an interesting shock reality has been. Who knew that my life with God would actually be one long goodbye? That to know God is to <i>unknow</i> God? To shed my neat conceptions of the divine like so many old snakeskins and emerge into the world bare, vulnerable, and new, again and again? (p. 5–6)</b></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />I believe Thomas has hit on something important here, something of what Jesus meant when he told us to become like little children, filled with a child’s “sense of wonder, this excess of spirit brimming out of the body” (to quote Wiman once more) (<i>My Bright Abyss</i>, p. 160). Yet I do not think our Messiah’s admonition means that we must completely shed our first religious language. The demand we face, rather, is to prevent this first language, the basis for everything that follows, from becoming a dead letter. We must strive to maintain its original spiritual charge and vitality, so that it remains a trustworthy language that helps us love reality with the faith and hope that the restoration and renewal of all that is and has been broken is possible.<br /><br />While the task of maintaining such spiritual vitality is a task we share as a community of faith, graced by God, I remain convinced that no human words, from the most inspired spiritual poetry to the most capacious and systematic theology, will ever be able to contain the profound divine mystery and charge that suffuses and transcends creation. So, the job of preventing these words from becoming settled certainties, the job of maintaining their ability to demand something from us by connecting us to the divine mystery they always fail to express, remains perpetually before us. Yet use these words we must, for as Wiman (again!) reminds us: “At some point you have to believe that the inadequacies of the words you use will be transcended by the faith with which you use them.” (p.141)<br /><br />And in this way, perhaps, we may welcome God (not to mention love and beauty, or kittens) into our world again.<br /><br />Shalom,<br /><br />Ron Kuipers </span><br />admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-52594762879402006362024-02-07T14:55:00.000-05:002024-02-07T14:55:30.331-05:00Save the Date: Conference with James K.A. Smith and Kristin Kobes Du Mez in April 2024<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kxdO2r7-Ay2UOcdze0rilhqzkF6OuqNrqXm3jUtnLA3FoT4DP3ipfRg8zsXw5UoFzHgN4fZy4c9DDUs6-4OnoFM6skz2yULy-CbTYBNvgng_RuituQGaxhrj_vJ8IHcShH8lNpciHRssvruLQ8wQ-IkM2p-x70QmMSK1-ijRQI4P0O8hIHSql_33962a/s650/Apr2024%20Conference.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="650" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kxdO2r7-Ay2UOcdze0rilhqzkF6OuqNrqXm3jUtnLA3FoT4DP3ipfRg8zsXw5UoFzHgN4fZy4c9DDUs6-4OnoFM6skz2yULy-CbTYBNvgng_RuituQGaxhrj_vJ8IHcShH8lNpciHRssvruLQ8wQ-IkM2p-x70QmMSK1-ijRQI4P0O8hIHSql_33962a/w580-h177/Apr2024%20Conference.png" width="580" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />On April 18–20, 2024 the Institute for Christian Studies will collaborate with <a href="https://luther.wlu.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Martin Luther University College</b></a>, <a href="https://vision-ministries.org/" target="_blank"><b>Vision Ministries Canada</b></a>, <a href="https://shalemnetwork.org/" target="_blank"><b>Shalem Mental Health Network</b></a>, and <a href="https://cpj.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Citizens for Public Justice</b></a> to present a conference on the topic: “Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization.”</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Hosted at the campus of Martin Luther University College (Wilfrid Laurier University), this event will be an education and discussion forum for faith communities, and for the larger public, to counter the ‘culture wars’ mentality and explore together more positive and mutually beneficial ways of relating religion to the broader society. To accomplish this goal, “Beyond Culture Wars” will engage a wide variety of academic and community voices in seeking to raise awareness and understanding across sectors through facilitated dialogue, knowledge mobilization, and community cooperation.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The conference will feature keynote speakers <a href="https://jameskasmith.com/" target="_blank"><b>James K.A. Smith</b></a> and <a href="https://kristindumez.com/" target="_blank"><b>Kristin Kobes Du Mez</b></a>, as well as several workshops and conversation sessions.</span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Please save the date and keep an eye out for more information in the coming weeks.</span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-826242405889164622024-02-07T14:54:00.008-05:002024-02-08T13:22:43.442-05:00New Book by Cal Seerveld, and a Recent Interview<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2024/02/encouraging-faith-manifestoes-for.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="823" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACiNjuAeK60mJ9Y4TEyGxsR5_tMExr7t8RXKjZNJYifpMMkJMR6QAPy2-4Qhy9mwdDthr4QqDVHAT0zUQeJQl2l5YQtMU8XaRAYgDKlITQy1nK_KIR1cqNYFaoYkwBqbsXxqXNBJYlvmoC2yeEDZfAXMnb1RXZsfSLAeoaYMGAvDm9YOs3hQVxctjhyax/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-07%20at%202.31.29%20PM.png" width="207" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">ICS Senior Member Emeritus Calvin Seerveld has just published the first volume in a new series called <i>Tough Stuff from the Bible, Tendered Gently</i> with Paideia Press<i>. </i>The first volume's title is: <i><b><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2024/02/encouraging-faith-manifestoes-for.html" target="_blank">Encouraging Faith Manifestoes for People with Open Ears: Biblical Narrative History</a></b></i>. This volume is a collection of 18 Biblical meditations interpreting both Old and New Testaments. They are a compilation of what was spoken to mostly local congregations in the Toronto, Ontario area of Canada, between 1977 and 2011, by Cal. You can read more about the volume and get a copy for yourself <a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2024/02/encouraging-faith-manifestoes-for.html" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Also, earlier in November 2023, Cal gave a live-translated interview on a Brazilian show entitled <i>Entre Amigos Internacional</i>, hosted by Rodolfo Amorim, Bruno Maroni, and Guilherme Iamarino. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You can watch the video below or find it on Youtube here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgSJ3RkXaA"><b>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgSJ3RkXaA</b></a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VrgSJ3RkXaA" width="547" youtube-src-id="VrgSJ3RkXaA"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><br /></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-3657374380672897552024-02-05T10:58:00.000-05:002024-02-05T10:58:02.477-05:00New Book by Lambert Zuidervaart: Adorno, Heidegger, and the Politics of Truth<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://sunypress.edu/Books/A/Adorno-Heidegger-and-the-Politics-of-Truth" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="293" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYu77SYsKo8LBci4tNaEMEMWQ3YzATbZr7xS0SkL02gyLoeaTmQa9v1_P5FJZ-pe0lSz0sWWYbcyKohHYhg_1kelRBiMDBEAXR4d4mnlsjGh_6dXItwom5iogNfaKo5SjSMS2L0nd2vYl85YmLD9tDTbe4i7E_Qcne7ZcQ_hGwhAcLn-ltLVQxpv6LxdjU/s320/lzcver.jpeg" width="213" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Senior Member Emeritus <a href="https://faculty.icscanada.edu/lzuidervaart" target="_blank"><b>Lambert Zuidervaart</b></a> has published a new book on the German social philosopher Theodor Adorno, titled <i><b><a href="https://sunypress.edu/Books/A/Adorno-Heidegger-and-the-Politics-of-Truth" target="_blank">Adorno, Heidegger, and the Politics of Truth</a></b></i> (SUNY Press, 2024). The front cover features the image of a recent sculpture by Lambert’s wife, artist Joyce Recker, titled "Longing for the Wholly Other" (2021). </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Lambert says this book completes a project begun more than forty years ago, when he wrote, and Joyce typed, a dissertation on Adorno’s aesthetics under the supervision of Calvin Seerveld (ICS) and Johan van der Hoeven (VU Amsterdam). He talks about the background and contents to his new book in the blog post "<a href="https://sunypress.edu/Blog/2024/Hope-for-Truth-in-a-Post-Truth-World" target="_blank"><b>Hope for Truth in a Post-Truth World</b></a>," which is on the SUNY Press website.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Adorno, Heidegger, and the Politics of Truth</i> provides a critical and creative reconstruction of Adorno's conception of truth and shows its relevance for contemporary philosophy, art, and politics. It also rounds out the trilogy of books Lambert has published on the topic of truth since he retired in 2016. The other two books are <i><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262036283/truth-in-husserl-heidegger-and-the-frankfurt-school/" target="_blank"><b>Truth in Husserl, Heidegger, and the Frankfurt School</b></a><b> </b></i>(MIT Press, 2017) and <i><b><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Social-Domains-of-Truth-Science-Politics-Art-and-Religion/Zuidervaart/p/book/9781032378039" target="_blank">Social Domains of Truth</a></b></i> (Routledge, 2023). </span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-20005285192456478452024-02-03T16:05:00.000-05:002024-02-03T16:05:03.209-05:00Sylvia Keesmaat Presenting at Scripture Faith & Scholarship Symposium on Feb 26<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdKyKxfD3GrKAipscAmHvSb_r3ZXKDNHWDm_h78rzzQi0MQR-eJyMRdWgJhuMCHWplf39FTxqXZ3tYkTL8p1ItIQxpc75ri8Zl47c8UtYMx2Au5dwuGXgrDsxlPdbgEuUQeTNZl4CstQqEMpE_NH7P0dAnZ9WxUmJObZu0p-sklVFrlwf4gP3yDCYYH-9/s1080/Heading.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdKyKxfD3GrKAipscAmHvSb_r3ZXKDNHWDm_h78rzzQi0MQR-eJyMRdWgJhuMCHWplf39FTxqXZ3tYkTL8p1ItIQxpc75ri8Zl47c8UtYMx2Au5dwuGXgrDsxlPdbgEuUQeTNZl4CstQqEMpE_NH7P0dAnZ9WxUmJObZu0p-sklVFrlwf4gP3yDCYYH-9/w262-h262/Heading.png" width="262" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Presenter:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.bibleremixed.ca/sylvia-keesmaat" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.bibleremixed.ca/sylvia-keesmaat" target="_blank"><b>Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat</b></a></div></span></div><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Title:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Seeds of Resistance and Healing: <br />Grounding the Bible</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Date and Time:</b></div></b><div style="text-align: left;">Monday, February 26, 2024 at 2:00pm</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Location (Hybrid):</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>1. </b>Knox College, Classroom 3 (59 St. George St., Toronto)</div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>2. </b>Online via Zoom: <b><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85114751182">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85114751182</a></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">From creation to new creation, the lament of the land to the grief of God, the Bible narrates the desire of the Creator to inhabit and rejoice in the wondrous and diverse creation that surrounds us. How does such a desire shape our response to the crisis of our age? And how does creation help us to understand the story of the Creator?</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Join us online or in person for this semester's Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Symposium with Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat. Details about the location and the link to join via Zoom are included above. Please email <a href="mailto:cprse@icscanada.edu"><b>cprse@icscanada.edu</b></a> to if you have any additional questions. Hope to see you there!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Presenter Bio:</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr. Sylvia C. Keesmaat is a biblical scholar, activist, and farmer. She obtained her doctorate at Oxford University, studying with N.T. Wright, and was a Senior Member in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics at ICS from 1994-2004. She has most recently taught as an Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity College, Toronto School of Theology, as well as for the Creation Care Studies Program in Belize.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylvia is the co-author, with Brian Walsh, of <i><a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/romans-disarmed/321930" target="_blank"><b>Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice</b></a></i> (Brazos Press, 2019) and <i><a href="https://www.ivpress.com/colossians-remixed" target="_blank"><b>Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire</b></a></i> (IVP, 2004). She is also the author of <i><a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/paul-and-his-story-9781441152879/" target="_blank"><b>Paul and His Story: (Re)Interpreting the Exodus Tradition</b></a> </i>(Bloomsbury, 1999). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylvia is the past co-chair of the Bishop's Committee on Creation Care for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. She speaks frequently on topics related to the Bible and economic justice, climate catastrophe, gender justice, and Indigenous justice.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylvia founded her online teaching platform <a href="https://www.bibleremixed.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Bible Remixed</b></a> in 2021 to help nurture a community of Jesus followers who are deeply rooted in the biblical story, and who are becoming a community of welcome, healing and nurture for those people and creatures who suffer most from the violence of our world. She offers online courses throughout the year that are open to all on a pay-what-you-can basis.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">From 2016 to 2023 Sylvia held an heirloom tomato seedling sale every spring on her farm. She also speaks to horticultural societies and other groups about permaculture, forest gardening and pollinator insects.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylvia lives at <a href="http://www.russethousefarm.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Russet House Farm</b></a>, an off-grid permaculture farm in the Kawartha Lakes on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg, with her husband, Brian Walsh, and a fluctuating number of people and animals.</span></p><div><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-4692677500866864532024-01-17T11:32:00.003-05:002024-01-17T13:12:49.440-05:00Prayer Letter: January 2024<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, January 8 - Friday, January 12:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Please pray for our Junior and Senior Members as <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/winter-courses" target="_blank">online classes resumed this week</a></b>. We pray especially for Junior Members’ encouragement, connection, and insightful engagement in their studies. In addition to various guided readings and thesis writing and projects taking place this term, please pray for each of the following courses:<br /><br /></span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">On Tuesdays at 10:00am, Nik Ansell will be teaching about the implications of the human embodiment of Christ in his course: <i><b>God in Flesh and Blood: Revolutions in Christology</b></i>. Please pray for Nik and the students as they draw on contemporary New Testament scholarship in order to engage the exegetical and theological issues at the edge, and at the heart, of contemporary Christology.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Also on Tuesdays, starting at 2:00pm, this year’s Interdisciplinary Seminar will address the topic: <b><i>Philosophical Inquiry and the Practices of Everyday Life: An Interdisciplinary Seminar on Philosophizing in a Time of Crisis</i></b>. Please pray for the seminar leaders, Gideon Strauss and Neal DeRoo and the students in the course as they explore the implications of philosophical inquiry for the everyday practices of philosophers as well as the implications of our everyday concerns for philosophical practices, with particular attention to the relevance of our political circumstances for this exploration.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">On Wednesdays, starting at 10:00am, Bob Sweetman will teach his course: <b><i>Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Scholastic Approach to the History of Philosophy</i></b>. Pray for Bob and the students as together they examine the role philosophy or theology's history plays in the conceptual constructions of scholastic thinkers.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">On Thursdays at 10:00am, sessional instructor Michael Buttrey teaches his course: <b><i>What Were the Women Up To? Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch</i></b>. Please pray for Michael and his students as they attend to the important work of these four philosophers and the ways they revolutionized the fields of ethics and analytic philosophy.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Also on Thursdays, starting at 2:00pm, Neal DeRoo will teach his course: <b><i>Issues in Phenomenology: Spirituality</i></b>. Pray for Neal and the students as together they look at the notion of spirituality introduced by Hegel, and developed by Husserl, Derrida, and others; examining the implications of this account of spirituality for understandings of religion and oppression.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">On Thursdays, starting at 6:00pm, Nik Ansell will teach his course: <b style="font-style: italic;">Meaning/Being/Knowing: The Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Implications of a Christian Ontology</b>. Pray for Nik and the students as together they examine the roots and developments of an integral ontology throughout the Reformational philosophical tradition.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Pray also for the instructors and students partaking in our two MA-EL courses which will begin this week and meet regularly throughout this semester:<br /></span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Transformative Teaching: The Role of a Christian Educator</i></b> with Edith van der Boom, and<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>How to Finance a Vision: Setting Direction and Managing Change within Financial Limitations</i></b> with Gideon Strauss.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, January 15 - Friday, January 19:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />We want to extend a deep and heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated during our Advent campaign and throughout 2023! We were blown away by your generosity during this Advent season in particular. Your faithful and generous gifts of prayer and financial support, month by month and year by year, have been a blessing to us and continue to bolster us in our daily work of providing Christian education. We give thanks to God for each of you, and we start 2024 filled with hope and strength to face what the new year brings.<br /><br />Irene Suk, the wife of former ICS President John Suk, was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. On January 20, at 11 am, at Lawrence Park Community Church, there will be a "Farewell" gathering for Irene. A few friends and family members will speak, and hopefully Irene will speak too. There will be fine music, a solo or two, a prayer and a scripture reading. This will be followed by an open house in the Fellowship Hall. You can find information on how to join in person or online at <a href="https://www.lawrenceparkchurch.ca/events/farewell-irene/2024-01-20"><b>https://www.lawrenceparkchurch.ca/events/farewell-irene/2024-01-20</b></a>. Please pray with us for Irene, John, and their friends and family during this time. <br /><br />Please pray this week for the Chair and ICS Chancellor, Dr. Pamela Beattie, as she leads the discussions at the ICS Senate meeting (via Zoom) on Saturday. Please also pray for Gideon Strauss, our Academic Dean, and all the external and internal Senators as they consider the issues on the agenda. Pray too that all will go smoothly technologically and the meeting will be as fruitful as possible.<br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, January 22 - Friday, January 26:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Dr. Samson Makhado, ICS alum and honourary doctorate recipient, will be having back surgery on January 22 to replace some missing cartilage. Doctors believe there is a good chance of success, but a fairly long period of physical therapy will follow. Please join us in keeping Dr. Makhado and his family in prayer during this operation and throughout his time of recovery.<br /><br />New book alert! <i><b><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2024/01/gestures-of-grace-essays-in-honour-of.html" target="_blank">Gestures of Grace: Essays in Honour of Robert Sweetman</a> </b></i>is now available for purchase through Wipf & Stock! Please join us in prayers of thanksgiving for Joshua Harris and Héctor Acero Ferrer’s editorial work, the writing efforts of the numerous contributors, and the many academic gifts of Bob himself. This is the latest volume in the CPRSE’s <i><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/research/book-series" target="_blank"><b>Currents in Reformational Thought</b></a></i> book series, and you can get a copy for yourself via the publisher’s website.<br /><br />Please pray this week for our Junior Members who still have outstanding work to be submitted from their fall courses. The deadline for submission is on Friday of this week, so we ask for clarity and creativity as they complete their various assignments, and for dexterity as they balance the work of this semester and last.<br /><br /><br /></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Monday, January 29 - Wednesday, January 31:</span></h3><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Our MA and PhD program application deadline is February 1st. Please pray that potential Junior Members may find their way to ICS, that they might discern how ICS can support them in considering the big questions they want to explore, and that they will be able to compile their applications in time to start their programs in the fall. For more details, you can email Brenna at <b><a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu">recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</a></b>.<br /><br />The <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank">ART in Orvieto 2024</a></b> early bird deadline is January 31. This deadline is for applicants to the program to receive a $500 scholarship to attend the program, funded by the Ruth and Ines Memorial Fund for Artistic Education. We continue to accept ART in Orvieto applications until March 31. Please pray that interested artists, teachers, and students of the arts will find their way to this year’s program, and please share news of this wonderfully rich learning opportunity with everyone you know!</span><br />admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-55712803819969648822024-01-17T10:30:00.000-05:002024-01-17T10:31:36.495-05:00Silence Divine<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>“…and after the earthquake a fire,</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>but the Lord was not in the fire;</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.”</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>—I Kings 19:12 (NRSV)</b></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />Do you recall the wonder you experienced as a child, that time when your eyes would not pass over so many things, but instead would alight upon and tarry over them? When you would search forever for a four-leaf clover, or sharpen your focus during that brief instant before the crystalline formation of a snowflake melted in your hand?</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />One of the tragedies of adulthood is our propensity to lose touch with this childlike sense of wonder, for there is a salutary reverence in this kind of attention, this silent posture of listening that opens us to the deep mysteries of God’s cosmos. As adults, the plans we make and the routines we follow dig deep mental ruts from which we find it hard to break free, even momentarily. Yet the health of our hearts and souls, not to mention our bodies and minds, demands we take regular sabbaticals from these everyday routines.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />There are many places in scripture that seem to recognize this spiritual need to escape the noise of grownup life. Perhaps this is why, during Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, Moses would set up “the tent of meeting” for “everyone who sought the Lord” far away from the main camp (Exodus 33:7). Perhaps this also explains why Mary, instead of helping her sister Martha with the domestic chores, “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying” (Luke 10:39). Or why the gospels report that, when the crowds pressed in on him, Jesus himself “would withdraw to deserted places and pray” (Luke 5:16).</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The poet Christian Wiman expresses this spiritual need eloquently and insightfully in his memoir, <b><i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/my-bright-abyss-by-christian-wiman.html" target="_blank">My Bright Abyss</a></i></b>, while reflecting on Patrick Kavanagh’s poem “<a href="https://www.journeywithjesus.net/poemsandprayers/1287-having-confessed" target="_blank"><b>Having Confessed</b></a>.” In that poem, Kavanagh counsels us to remain within our souls, to stay in “the unconscious room of our hearts,” where God might find us, and for this reason also worries about our efforts to view our souls consciously and abstractly, “from the outside.” The real issue at stake in Kavanagh’s poem, Wiman tells us, is “that the link not be broken, that every intellectual growth remain rooted in that early experience of ultimate insight, ultimate unknowingness, every word about God both responsive and responsible to the silence that is its source.” (pp. 78-79)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Perhaps, then, “the sound of sheer silence” by which Elijah finally sensed God’s passing presence is the same sound the melting snowflake makes as it kindles childlike wonder? Yet how might we ensure that the words of our faith remain rooted in this divine silence? Thankfully, the first step, if the poet Mary Oliver is to be believed (she is), is deceptively easy to take:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>…just</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>pay attention, then patch</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>a few words together and don’t try</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>to make them elaborate, this isn’t</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>a contest but the doorway</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>into thanks, and a silence in which</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>another voice may speak</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>—From “Praying”</b></span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />I wish you all God’s rich blessings for the New Year, friends. May it be filled with moments of silent wonder, allowing your life to radiate outward from this deep connection to our Maker and Healer! <br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Shalom,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Ron Kuipers <br /></span><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-36947522157907861632024-01-10T13:36:00.000-05:002024-01-17T10:30:43.464-05:00In Memoriam: Wietse Posthumus<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>by Robert Sweetman</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9pjELuvb_0g6EjA0dcjkBBznEcwKMI0Q-WYtddw9N6mjOUsIwa3qlOAjhPw3fRGW0nTEOUkUHGSmyNncovpHZ_-kYbVDK7cpSjAndyPHcqnrln4Et2ftOFr5P9dMVSwhPIS6pln8hCCDYmlglNkP2g2BkhsSLGnEm8tJpFwvOyshJ8VFDhXKzeZH_ZdY/s600/wposthumus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="480" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9pjELuvb_0g6EjA0dcjkBBznEcwKMI0Q-WYtddw9N6mjOUsIwa3qlOAjhPw3fRGW0nTEOUkUHGSmyNncovpHZ_-kYbVDK7cpSjAndyPHcqnrln4Et2ftOFr5P9dMVSwhPIS6pln8hCCDYmlglNkP2g2BkhsSLGnEm8tJpFwvOyshJ8VFDhXKzeZH_ZdY/w200-h250/wposthumus.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://obituaries.thestar.com/obituary/wietse-posthumus-1089218989" target="_blank">Wietse Posthumus (1938-2023)</a></b> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">meant a great deal to a great many people and to the organizations they built and tended, not least the Institute for Christian Studies. The spiritual antennae he inherited and made his own shine forth in one respect: they picked up and transmitted deep into the bones the conviction that change for the good demanded organization so as to achieve effective corporate action. In a complex society, that meant the formation of institutions that could collect and store the gathered wisdom of those called to and involved in our world’s different occupations and sectors, institutions that could harness and deploy the human energy and know-how such wisdom let loose in the world. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>But institutions needed to be built right, he had been taught, and in response to the right Spirit and its promptings. What was needed was discernment and that demanded knowledge as well as spiritual feelers. For him that meant law school, which gave him a deep understanding of the internal structures of institutions and the processes whereby they exist and act publicly. It was in and through this acquired expertise that he would serve the Reformed churches of his allegiance as well as ICS.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>When Wietse began adult life, that Kingdom seemed very close. It was the 1960s: a wonderfully optimistic age in which anything seemed possible. The just society and world peace were surely just around the corner. Something of that optimism drove people like Wietse. The Kingdom in our generation could easily have been their motto. This optimism was helped by the certainty that the norms which enabled human flourishing were simple and unchangingly available. Churches were to look like “x,” lovers like “y,” marriages like “z,” And this had been so, it was said, since the very dawn of Creation.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The parents of the post-WWII immigrant generation of Dutch Calvinists had set up churches and schools across Canada. Wietse and his generational cohort, the children of that immigrant generation, busied themselves with the next level of Christian institution-building: a labour union, businessmen’s associations, political action groups, a farmer’s federation, an art gallery, a publishing venture, Christian day schools, as well as a university-level institution like ICS. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>There was something Marian to Wietse’s service. He stored up experiences in his heart and contemplated their implications in life-transforming ways. When ICS Senior Members started discussing sexual orientation and biblical faithfulness in the 1980s, Wietse was a board member at ICS and he was worried about the damage this would do. It seemed a bridge too far, to muddy clear water, potentially fatal, and he was not going to let that pass unopposed. Nevertheless, he continued to follow the discussion and when Hendrik Hart published his <i>Morning Star</i> book explaining how he worked with Scripture and came to the readings he did, Wietse read it with great care, and it changed his mind. He became friends with Henk and learned to cherish what Henk had to give. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>Ever generous with his thought and his emotional engagement, he was also generous with his time and wealth. For example, he and Kathryn hosted celebrations of ICS volunteers that became legendary at ICS both at his home and at the Madison just down the street, in which it rained food and drink as a partying hobbit would have it and the decibel level of the merrymaking was nothing short of prodigious. When ICS contracted with Morris Greidanus to serve as interim president while ICS searched for a new candidate, Wietse and Kathryn opened their home to Morris and Alice who stayed in a semi-independent space on the third floor.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>Wietse’s presence at First Christian Reformed Church in Toronto, where I too am a member, was also felt strongly. He wrote the church bylaws and would often offer words both thoughtful and pyrotechnic whenever it was needed by the congregation. Over the last two decades he became an occasional commentator after services when a message or prayer had touched him in some way, and a sage voice when the congregation was faced with difficulties.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>So I conclude with one last vignette of Wietse the churchgoer. I will never forget the Easter he spent in the hospital as part of his difficult recovery from surgery. I was the elder of service, so I brought the elements to Wietse and the liturgy for the Lord’s Supper we had used to celebrate the sacrament at the congregational Easter Service. We were out of the bread we had used but someone had brought hot crossed buns for the coffee and there was still one left, so we took it along with wine. His wife Kathryn, at least one of the children, my wife Rosanne, and I gathered around his bed and we went through the liturgy. He couldn’t eat the bread but he took a piece anyway to dip in the wine and sucked the liquid out with relish. Then he looked up with a glint in his eye and confessed, “I think I deserve another.” He proceeded to dip the bread again. That iconoclastic act had it all: his both-feet-in dynamism, his stubborn faith even <i>in extremis</i>, and a moment of pure mischief—it felt like holy ground. I find it easy to imagine Our Lord saying to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and ushering him into his blessed reward.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">* * *</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span> </span>Wietse developed deep relationships with ICS faculty members and staff throughout his life. He served on the AACS Board of Trustees from 1972-73, again from 1984-87, and also served on the ICS Board of Trustees from 1993-99. At the request of the family, donations may be made in Wietse's memory to the Institute for Christian Studies at <b><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/support">www.icscanada.edu/support</a></b> or by phone at <b>416-979-2331 ext. 223.</b></i></span></p></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-60447794146985210472023-12-07T11:58:00.002-05:002023-12-12T11:20:16.487-05:00Prayer Letter: December 2023<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, December 4 - Friday, December 8:</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr. Samson Makhado was recently admitted to the hospital and is scheduled for spinal surgery in the coming days. Dr. Makhado received an MWS degree from ICS in 1994 and an <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEr-BR514a0" target="_blank">honourary doctorate from ICS</a></b> in 2012, and he is known to many around the world for his extensive work in Christian education and with the Association of Christian Schools International, particularly in South Africa. Please join us in praying for a successful surgery and speedy recovery for Dr. Makhado.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Irene Suk, the wife of former ICS President John Suk, was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. In the face of this extremely difficult news, the family asks for the supportive thoughts and prayers of the ICS community. Please join us in praying for peace and comfort for Irene and the Suk family as Irene undergoes an operation and first round of treatments in the near future.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On December 7, we will be hosting an <b>online Open House for our MA and PhD programs</b>. This will be a prime opportunity for potential students to “visit” ICS and hear firsthand from Junior and Senior Members about what an ICS education entails. This event will take place 6:00-7:30pm ET and is designed to introduce students to these programs and to answer questions about studying at ICS. Please pray that God will establish the work of our hands as we reach out to potential students that there will be interest in joining ICS in one of these programs. If you are interested, or know someone who is, please email Brenna at <b><a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu" target="_blank">recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</a></b>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, December 11 - Friday, December 15:</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;">ICS Board Chair Marci Frederick has been diagnosed with lymphoma. While the lymphoma is treatable, the treatment will likely be aggressive. Please join us in praying with Marci: that she might be able to complete all the precursor testing and procedures so that the chemotherapy can begin this Monday, that all involved will be carried by the Spirit of God and the love of Christ, that Marci and her family and colleagues will know calmness of spirit, and that Christ will be made known through all of this.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Our next <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/events" target="_blank">ICS Philosophy on Tap event</a></b> will take place on <b>Wednesday, December 13 at 8pm ET</b>. This event will take place online and will feature ICS Senior Member Nik Ansell discussing the topic: "Philosophical Realism and Ripley's 'Believe It or Not' Versus the Resurrection." Everyone is welcome, especially undergraduate students—no philosophy background required. Email <a href="mailto:recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu"><b>recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</b></a> to RSVP and get the Zoom info, and pray with us for a lively time of discussion among attendees!<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the final week of fall classes before the Christmas break and <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/winter-courses" target="_blank">courses in the winter 2024 term</a></b> are scheduled to start the week of January 8. Please pray for our Senior Members and instructors as they teach their final sessions and as they prepare for their teaching next term. Pray also for our Junior Members and students as they work to finish up readings and other assignments and as they turn their attention toward their term papers and projects. Please also pray along with us that the holiday break will enable everyone to rest and recharge, and bring all of us back energized for the new year and all it may bring.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, December 18 - Friday, December 22:</span></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The ICS offices will be closed during the Christmas holidays from December 23 to January 1. Please pray for the ICS staff, Senior Members, Junior Members, and loved ones as we celebrate this joyous season. We pray for health and safety for all those planning to travel near and far over the holidays, and we pray that this may be a time of rest and reflection for the whole ICS community. <br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Starting in October, the work of ICS’s CPRSE has been enriched with the contributions of Junior Members Julia Henderson and Todd Dias in their capacity of Research Assistants. Julia and Todd have focused their energy on the Centre’s blog and podcast, both of which will be relaunched in early 2024. Please join us as we pray in thanksgiving for Julia and Todd’s contributions to the public outreach of our institution.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Please pray with us in gratitude for the work of the Academic Council this past semester. The members of the council have spent the past few months reviewing academic policies and hearing reports on the work of the Library and Academic Office for presentation to the Senate at their winter meeting. The Academic Council in particular will continue to host Reflective Practice Reports from our Senior Members in the new year. Please pray for each of the members of the Academic Council as they continue their work into the new year, that they will have wisdom and clarity of thinking, and for Edith van der Boom as she chairs the council in their academic programming and policy deliberations.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This calendar year has been a time of fruitful partnerships for ICS’s CPRSE. Between January and May, our team collaborated with the Canadian Interfaith Conversation and Martin Luther University College in putting together the SSHRC-funded conference, “Our Whole Society: Finding Common Ground in a Time of Polarization.” Between June and October, we worked closely with the Society for Ricoeur Studies as ICS hosted SRS’s 17th Annual Conference, “Ricoeur in Practice.” We pray in thanksgiving for these partnerships as well as for all the people who made them possible. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, December 25 - Friday, December 29:</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><br />May the blessings of love, joy, and peace be yours as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour this Christmas week.</span></i></b></h3><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/support/advent-appeal" target="_blank">Our Advent Appeal</a></b> is under way! ICS supporters should have received the appeal package in the mail (if not, it should arrive soon), and we hope you enjoy reading the latest issue of <i><b><a href="https://perspective.icscanada.edu/" target="_blank">Perspective</a></b></i> that accompanies the appeal! You can also find a digital copy of the <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/support/advent-appeal" target="_blank">Advent Letter</a></b> from President Ron Kuipers, including a link to donate to ICS, on our website. We are especially grateful during this time of year for the ways God continues to provide for us and for your faithful support of ICS and our educational mission—<b><i>thank you!<br /><br /></i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Please pray for members of the ICS Senate as they prepare for their meeting in January 2024. Our Senate consists of two Junior Member representatives (June Moon and Julia Henderson), two Senior Member representatives (Nik Ansell and Neal DeRoo), President Ron Kuipers, the Academic Dean Gideon Strauss, and eight external Senators (Janel Kragt Bakker, Memphis Theological Seminary; Pamela Beattie, University of Louisville; Beth Green, Tyndale University & Seminary; Joshua Harris, The King’s University; Henry Luttikhuizen; Margie Patrick,The King’s University; Janet Wesselius, Augustana Faculty, University of Alberta). There is a vacancy for an external Senator, for which your prayers would also be appreciated. Please also pray for the Chair of Senate and Chancellor of ICS, Pamela Beattie, and the Vice Chair, Beth Green, in their leadership of the Senate.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As 2023 draws to a close, we give thanks for another fruitful year of work at ICS and for all our supporters, friends, and colleagues who made this work possible through their prayers, financial gifts, and service. We also pray for God's blessings upon our staff, Senior Members, and Junior Members as we pursue wisdom together, in the classroom and beyond, throughout this next year. We look forward to another year of work and study together!</span></p><div><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-12745259438816771702023-12-07T11:30:00.001-05:002023-12-07T11:30:24.272-05:00Embodying Love<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><i>clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b>—Colossians 3:12</b></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />During Advent, as we contemplate the profound mystery of God coming to dwell among us in human form, my thoughts turn in gratitude to all those people in my life who have embodied Christ’s compassion for me, and whose living example has profoundly shaped my own stumbling efforts to walk our Messiah’s path of grace and love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Hendrik Hart, who left us to return to the God of love in March 2021, was one such person. Henk not only nurtured my intellectual gifts, but also showed me true friendship by dressing my spiritual wounds, sensing my struggle to stay connected to God’s love in Christ while I was at the same time harbouring profound doubts about my conservative Calvinist upbringing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Sometimes Henk would address this situation with humour. In those early days, he once jokingly introduced me to people at an ICS event with the words, “This is Ron Kuipers. ICS is the last stop on his way out of the tradition.” In the early 1990s, when he said those words, he might even have been right. Yet thanks to the loving and faithful witness of my ICS professors and the larger ICS community, I never in fact boarded that final train.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Yet no one more than Henk illustrated for me through both his actions and his words the profound and mysterious truth that God is love. Importantly, he did so without skirting the dark realities of pain, suffering, and death. During his life, Henk had to say farewell to his wife, Anita, as well as his daughter, Esther. While grieving their loss, he was nevertheless able to remain grateful for the love they brought into his life. This experience inspired him to write the poem “<b><a href="http://www.groundmotive.net/2016/11/lovelove-ii.html" target="_blank">Love/Love II</a></b>,” in which he writes, “I experienced Love / dawning forcefully / at the dark edge of the abyss / in their last journey.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Henk’s expression of surprise at feeling the profound Presence of Love while he was bidding farewell to those whom he loved most eventually builds to a crescendo in a verse that, to my ear, evokes a deep Advent truth:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>The birth of Love in our life, </b></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>foretaste of eternity:</b></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>this inexpressible joy will be ours</b></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>forever.</b></span></i></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Henk’s life embodied the truth that because God dearly loves us, we may clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience—even in our darkest hour.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So, in the spirit of the Advent season, I wish you all the profound Presence of Love, of Immanuel, and hope that you experience this Love every time the candles we light for one another, both literally and figuratively, pierce the surrounding darkness.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Shalom, friends!<br />Ron Kuipers</span></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-54379161669796829622023-12-04T13:17:00.001-05:002023-12-04T13:17:20.718-05:00New Essay on Foucault and Adorno<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2023/12/adorno-foucault-and-feminist-theory.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2846" data-original-width="1866" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3PdOiVWATALclI5M2GIgODNl31BpeYIKgfUaMn2bByAPFA0UFjNZgCJEUWTbEtAl6-_wzB0FCzs7hUxdXNVWrcOpgjound0Ez6XfVBgZJ2yyNeoWNkOeOBOQzwZSL1SoASJQPdhDWrH9kzZtdq6QmHMn7gpVohcv201sVKU3b-sJOwjdftdtqTYcT01f/s320/femfrankfurt.jpeg" width="210" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Senior Member Emeritus<b> <a href="https://faculty.icscanada.edu/lzuidervaart" target="_blank">Lambert Zuidervaart</a></b> has published a chapter titled “<a href="https://brill.com/display/book/9789004686830/BP000009.xml" target="_blank"><b>Adorno, Foucault, and Feminist Theory: The Politics of Truth</b></a>” in the volume <b><i><a href="https://brill.com/display/title/69331" target="_blank">Feminism and the Early Frankfurt School</a></i></b> edited by Christine Payne and Jeremiah Morelock (Brill 2024), pp. 133-161. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Zuidervaart first summarizes Michel Foucault’s genealogical account of disciplinary power and state biopower. Then he contrasts Foucault’s account with Theodor Adorno’s negative dialectical critique of domination and compares their understandings of how truth and power interrelate. From this comparison two challenges of relevance to feminist critical theory emerge. One is to articulate the normative implications of how truth and power interrelate. The other is to envision genuine prospects for the transformation of society as a whole. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Lambert’s full chapter is <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/9789004686830/BP000009.xml" target="_blank"><b>available online</b></a>. The publisher Brill will publish a hardcover version of the book in 2024.</span></p><div><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-43410237979205107872023-12-04T13:16:00.007-05:002023-12-06T16:50:12.435-05:00New Book on Neo-Calvinism and the Arts<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ivpress.com/the-artistic-sphere" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="367" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNgsUDQmF0sHYFH8K6aTNSYNVRDIhBelHmD0oAQIWknw_zuwEP-4bL-A0UWtjL9c4Zl2CLyupueEmWI0b6kUU3CCoalUdYaEPSDF_zCYoXTzX1OJNSXmM4xx_XShMcDObZbAapWJ4RtD4MIL3Y8ZQO_QuZfE2_ha2qwYNZzBkJAvSCnJEsXe-TWJM7g_f/s320/artistic%20sphere.jpeg" width="214" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">InterVarsity Press has just published a new book on Neo-Calvinism and the arts entitled: <b><i><a href="https://www.ivpress.com/the-artistic-sphere" target="_blank">The Artistic Sphere: The Arts in Neo-Calvinist Perspective</a></i></b>, edited by Roger D. Henderson and Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The volume features many contributors from the ICS community and beyond, reflecting on the thought of John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Dooyeweerd, Hans Rookmaaker, and others in the tradition as they pertain to artistic practice. In particular how the Reformed tradition, in the publisher's words, "has consistently demonstrated not just a willingness but a desire to engage with all manner of cultural and artistic expressions."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The book contains chapters from Calvin Seerveld on "The Meaning of the Crucifixion: Grünewald and Perugino," from Nicholas Wolterstorff on "The Social Protest Meaning of the Graphic Art of Käthe Kollwitz," from Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin on Calvin and the arts and "Chris Ofili: Contemporary Art and the Return of Religion," from Lambert Zuidervaart on "Redemptive Art Criticism," and many more. <a href="https://www.ivpress.com/the-artistic-sphere" target="_blank"><b>Check out the book</b></a> for yourself today.</span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-20558881137528920152023-11-11T13:06:00.007-05:002023-11-11T16:14:53.107-05:00Prayer Letter: November 2023<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, November 6 - Friday, November 10:</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On November 7, longtime ICS supporter Arie Van Eek passed away after complications from a fall. Please join us in prayers of gratitude for the gift of Arie’s life, and in prayers of compassion for Arie’s family as they mourn his loss and await reunion in resurrection hope. A family visitation is taking place on Sunday, November 12, 2023 from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. A memorial service will take place the following day Monday, November 13, at 11 a.m. <a href="https://www.kitchingsteepeandludwig.com/obituaries/Rev-Arie-Gideon-Van-Eek?obId=29850472#/obituaryInfo" target="_blank"><b>Find out more here</b></a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />November 11 is Remembrance Day. On this day we lift up all those who have suffered and sacrificed in the Great War, and in the many wars that have happened since and that rage today. Please join us in prayers for peace in the hopeful words of the prophet Isaiah: “[The nations] shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!” (Isaiah 2:4-5).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />We would value your prayers this week as we work with our printer on the final steps to get the latest issue of <i>Perspective</i> mailed out to our ICS community. We’re grateful for the expertise of our designer and printer, and pray that the many pieces of this process will come together in a smooth and timely manner.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, November 13 - Friday, November 17:</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Junior Member Julia Henderson is defending her MA thesis this week. Julia has been working closely with Senior Member Emeritus Bob Sweetman and will be defending a thesis titled <i>DeCreation: The Unity of Action and Contemplation in Simone Weil.</i> We pray for Julia as she prepares for her defense over the next few days, that she will have peace of mind in her final preparations and throughout her defense. We also pray for the thesis committee that they might have a fruitful discussion with Julia on her chosen topic. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Over the next couple of weeks, we will invite new and potential students to join us for a host of Open Classes in each of our courses taking place this semester. This is a wonderful opportunity for potential future students to get a firsthand taste of what ICS classes are like and to imagine themselves as an ICS Junior Member. <b><a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/events" target="_blank">You can see Open Class dates here</a></b>. If you’d like to find out more, email <b>recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</b>. Please share the news of these Open Classes with any students in your life and keep these classes in your prayers, that they might be well-attended.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />On Friday, November 17, the Board of Trustees will meet online. Please pray for grace and wisdom for our Chair, Marci Frederick, and all our Board members as they deliberate together on various matters pertaining to the stewardship of ICS’s calling and resources. Please also give thanks with us for those outgoing Board Members who have given generously of their time and talents during their terms of service: Lynnette Postuma and Hans Speelman.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, November 20- Friday, November 24:</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As we quickly move into the end of the fall term, we would ask you to please pray for our Senior Members and faculty as they teach in the final few weeks of classes, and as they prepare for their teaching in the quickly-approaching winter term. We also want to express our deep gratitude for the new students who have come to ICS this academic year, as well as all the returning ones. Our students keep us alive in all kinds of ways. So we pray that they may stay in touch with their infectious enthusiasm amid the demands that can be felt as we move towards the end of the semester and as they work to finish up readings and other assignments and as they start to prepare their term papers and projects.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />We would also ask you to pray for our recruitment crew as they work with the faculty to promote the <a href="http://icscanada.edu/winter-courses" target="_blank"><b>upcoming winter term courses</b></a>. We ask for wisdom and creativity as we try to get the word out to potential students about our many exciting courses.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />On Thanksgiving Day in the US, we want to share our prayers of gratitude for each and every one of our supporters in Canada, the US, and across the world. Your continued financial, prayerful, professional, and personal support of the day-to-day educational mission of ICS has carried us through the pandemic and keeps us going<b><i>—so thank you!</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, November 27 - Thursday, November 30:</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: medium;">November 28 is Giving Tuesday! As we approach the Christmas season and the end of another year peeks around the corner, we grow more and more grateful for the faithful giving of ICS supporters this year and throughout the years. Every gift to ICS makes a huge impact in enabling the education we can offer our students. This Giving Tuesday, please consider 1) sending an additional <a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/support" target="_blank"><b>gift to ICS</b></a> to further your vital support of our programming, 2) sharing with someone new about what ICS does and why they might want to support that work too, and 3) continuing to pray for our Junior Members, Senior Members, and staff in our day-to-day efforts to allow the gospel's message of renewal to shape our pursuit of wisdom.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />On <b>Thursday, November 30,</b> we will be hosting an <a href="http://news.icscanada.edu/2023/11/art-in-orvieto-2024-info-night.html" target="_blank"><b>online Info Night</b></a> for anyone interested in joining <a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank"><b>ART in Orvieto 2024</b></a> this coming July. If you’d like to join this Info Night, you can email <b>recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</b> for details. <b><i>Please also share news of this Info Night widely with anyone you know who may be interested in this kind of expeditionary learning opportunity! </i></b>And join us in praying that we gather as wonderful a group of students for this year’s ART in Orvieto as we have in years past.<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://news.icscanada.edu/2023/11/save-date-online-agm-on-december-2.html" target="_blank"><b>Saturday, December 2 at 2pm ET, our Annual General Meeting is taking place online.</b></a> Please pray for Marci Frederick as she gives leadership to the meeting, for all those who will present reports, and for the time participants will be able to spend together talking about our hopes for ICS. We’re grateful for this yearly rhythm which affords the opportunity to attend to what we’ve accomplished, and the goals to which we aspire institutionally. We also give thanks for this chance to gather with the broader ICS community to reflect together on our educational calling and hopes.</span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-72600808885793333782023-11-11T12:00:00.000-05:002023-11-11T12:01:40.078-05:00Yearning for the Messiah<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span><b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><i>And again, Isaiah says,</i></span></b></span></div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: medium;"><b><div style="text-align: right;"><i>“The Root of Jesse will spring up,</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>one who will arise to rule over the nations;</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>in him the Gentiles will hope.” </i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">—Romans 15:12-13 (New International Version)</div></b></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I have been thinking a lot about hope lately, not just for myself, but especially for the millions of people across the world who suffer under the iron heel of a world at war. How are they supposed to hold onto hope? Where do the survivors of such violence find the resilience to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and rebuild? For they so often do precisely that, and that is a mysterious and wondrous thing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When I first read Wendell Berry’s <i>The Unsettling of America</i>, I was struck by a particular section in which he describes a supportive relationship between the very different emotions of joy and grief. He contrasts these related emotions to the equally reinforcing pair of pride and despair (pp.103-8). Pride involves the arrogance of assuming we can destroy what we did not create, a destruction we tolerate in the name of progress. Such pride includes a naïve optimism that underestimates the brokenness, danger, and difficulty in which we are mired, not to mention our human finitude in the face of all we do not control, and simply expects things to get better without thinking too much about how or why. When such expectations are dashed, as they all too often are, pride quickly transforms into its converse, an utter despair completely devoid of any hope.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Joy and grief work differently. Together, these mark the boundaries of what Berry calls “the human estate.” When we accept the gift of our lives within these bounds, then in those all-too-frequent moments of darkness that dash our joy and conspire against our hope, we will respond with grief rather than despair. Unlike despair, grief carves a difficult path that enables us to work through our loss so that we can live to hope another day. That is what it means to hope against hope.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Of course, what I have said about holding on to hope through the work of grief is easier said than done. Indeed, against so much evidence to the contrary, scripture asks us nevertheless to trust that God is at work healing, restoring, and renewing the world. But is that really so hard a thing to believe, after all? For we see God’s redemptive work wherever we witness the possibility of redemption being made real, whenever a cup of cold water is offered to someone who thirsts. However rare and fleeting such moments may be, their very existence bears witness to the fact that any and every moment is one in which the healing love that suffuses creation might break through.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And so, we yearn for “that day” when such possibility becomes fully actual, when our redeeming God will be all, in all. Until then, we live and act in hope, gaining the joy and peace that fills us when we let go and trust in our Maker and Redeemer’s <i>shalom</i> way.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Shalom, friends!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Ron Kuipers</span></p><div><br /></div>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-64823077218153861972023-11-11T11:39:00.002-05:002023-11-11T11:59:27.253-05:00Recent Cal Seerveld Publications<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Over the last year, ICS Senior Member Emeritus Calvin Seerveld has published a few pieces on various topics that are worth your attention. If you haven't already had a chance to read these, please take a moment to check them out for yourselves:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2023/11/god-picks-up-pieces-ecclesiastes-as.html" target="_blank">God Picks up the Pieces: Ecclesiastes as a Chorus of Voices</a> </i>(Dordt University Press, 2023). </span></b><span style="font-size: medium;">A fresh literary translation from the Hebrew of the biblical Older Testament book of Ecclesiastes, introduced and arranged as script for oral choral presentation, with comment on its meaning.<br /><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">a very short chapter on "knowing" in a recent popular publication of <b><i><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2023/11/knowing-in-ordinary-saints-living.html" target="_blank">Square Halo Books: Ordinary Saints, Living Everyday Life to the Glory of God</a></i></b>,<b> edited by Ned Bustard (Baltimore: Maryland, 2023), 71-74.<br /><br /></b></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="http://research-portal.icscanada.edu/2022/12/missin-in-action-in-pro-rege.html" target="_blank">"Missing in Action," <i>Pro Rege</i></a>, Fine Arts faculty issue (51:2, December 2022), 45-52. </b>An article about Genevan Psalms 51 and 89.</span></li></ul><p></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-47573440995996398872023-11-11T11:26:00.002-05:002023-11-11T12:20:12.052-05:00Save the Date: Online AGM on December 2<p><span style="font-size: medium;">This year's Annual General Meeting for ICS Members will be held on the afternoon of <b>Saturday, December 2nd.</b> The meeting will take place online so that ICS supporters can join from anywhere in the world to hear the latest on what's happening at ICS.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Voting materials, an agenda, and details for how to join the meeting are being sent out via mail and email to ICS Members, so keep an eye on your inboxes and save the date in your calendars. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If you haven't renewed your ICS membership for 2024, visit </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/support"><b>www.icscanada.edu/support</b></a> or email <b>donate@icscanada.edu</b> to arrange your donation. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If you have any questions about voting in the AGM or how to join, please email <b>ics-communications@icscanada.edu. </b></span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-15985239354482264622023-11-11T11:20:00.003-05:002023-11-11T12:43:26.719-05:00ART in Orvieto 2024 Info Night<p><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="1651" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgZHnGIDCvNjuAT1A3OzyH4GGCGGfCbLP25qBZUZs9ikWE6Ey6_1NwQrdf79NUWz5W7DeiQQbiMNgeLMU2eq-HTN6JBwOeU772Ocg_wwY_rLFwh732hPlnwmbxFrFh-xk6Pq5BnkXWTiluw17W1VcBs0HaP3eZMxSqvDuPL_TfJ4CGYfIJLB_MhyWDDvK/s320/ARTinOrvieto2024InfoNightPoster.png" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;">We're thrilled to announce <a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank"><b>ART in Orvieto 2024!</b></a> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>ART in Orvieto is an advanced summer studies program at the intersection of art, religion, and theology located in Orvieto, Italy, a magnificent hill town 90 minutes north of Rome. This program offers </span><span>grad students, practicing artists, and teachers</span><span> </span><span>a unique opportunity to explore ecumenical Christian understandings of the arts in a seminar with Senior Member <a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto/personnel" target="_blank"><b>Rebekah Smick</b></a> and a studio residency with artist <a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto/personnel" target="_blank"><b>David Holt</b></a>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Do you feel the need for a chance to focus on a current artistic project in community with like-minded artists? Are you thrilled at the possibility of immersing yourself in historic architecture and artworks in their original contexts? </span><span>Want to learn more about the program requirements? Curious about available financial aid?</span><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Learn more at <b><a href="http://icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto" target="_blank">icscanada.edu/art-in-orvieto</a></b>, or email <b>recruitment-coordinator@icscanada.edu</b> to join us for an <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">online Info Night on November 30th at 6pm ET!</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>And please share news of this Info Night with anyone you know who may be interested in this kind of expeditionary learning opportunity!</span></span></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3521073752030482848.post-48329380661619695022023-11-11T11:04:00.002-05:002023-11-11T11:04:48.187-05:00Winter 2024 Courses <p><span style="font-size: medium;">Upcoming <a href="https://www.icscanada.edu/winter-courses" target="_blank"><b>Winter 2024 courses</b></a> at ICS have now been posted on the ICS website. There are many exciting topics being covered next term, and we invite you to take a look at what's on offer, share the news with friends and family, and consider joining a course yourself! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">All of our courses remain available for online participation from anywhere in the world and can be taken for graduate credit or as an auditor for personal </span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Scholastic Approach to the History of Philosophy</i></b><br />with Bob Sweetman</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>God in Flesh and Blood: Revolutions in Christology</i></b><br />with Nik Ansell</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>How to Finance a Vision: Setting Direction and Managing Change within Financial Limitations</i></b><br />with Gideon Strauss</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Issues in Phenomenology: Spirituality</i></b><br />with Neal DeRoo</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Meaning/Being/Knowing: The Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Implications of a Christian Ontology</i></b><br />with Nik Ansell</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Philosophical Inquiry and the Practices of Everyday Life: An Interdisciplinary Seminar on Philosophizing in a Time of Crisis</i></b><br />with Gideon Strauss and Neal DeRoo</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Transformative Teaching: The Role of a Christian Educator</i></b><br />with Edith van der Boom</span></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>What Were the Women Up To? Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch</i></b><br />with Michael Buttrey</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Visit <b><a href="http://www.icscanada.edu/winter-courses">www.icscanada.edu/winter-courses</a></b> to find out more about any of these courses, including information on how to register.</span></div><p></p><p></p><p></p>admin1http://www.blogger.com/profile/16479743334126277132noreply@blogger.com