Bethany Theological Seminary will be holding their seventh annual Presidential Forum Weekend. This year’s forum is entitled “A Pilgrimage of Just Peace.” It will be held October 29 – October 31, 2015. Registration information can be found on the Bethany Theological Seminary website.
Breakout Sessions:
“The Local Church as the Nexus for Just Peace”
Eden Grace, global ministries director, Friends United Meeting
It is at the local level that most individuals meaningfully engage in transformative work. This session will draw on the experience of Kenyan Quakers, to explore connections among grassroots action, the local worshipping body, and international advocacy.
“When Fiber Meets Steel: Reflections on Creative Process, Community Outcomes,
and Structural Violence”
Amanda Gross, Pennsylvania program director, American Friends Service Committee;
community artist
Covering Pittburgh’s Andy Warhol Bridge in fiber art was a community effort led by Amanda to live out values of inclusion, connection, and collective strength. This session uses a grassroots framework to explore arts-based community organizing.
“Do Black Lives Matter in a Primarily White Church?”
Matt Guynn, director of organizing, On Earth Peace
The Black Lives Matter movement has provoked conversation about racial inequity and policies related to police militarization and violence. This session will describe OEP’s racial justice organizing initiative and introduce participants to Kingian Nonviolence.
“Defenselessness, Nonresistance, or Pacifism?: Brethren Attitudes towards Peace”
Dr. Denise Kettering-Lane, assistant professor of Brethren studies, Bethany Seminary
How have Brethren attitudes toward peace changed over time? This session will explore the language and responses of Brethren to war and conflict from the past and present, considering the implications for Brethren today.
“From Just War to Just Peace”
Dr. Donald E. Miller, professor emeritus of Christian education and ethics, Bethany Seminary
After considering briefly the just war tradition, we will examine the principles of just peacemaking that have come from the international conferences of the Decade to Overcome Violence and the Pusan, South Korea, assembly of the World Council of Churches.
“The End of the World as We Know It”
David Radcliff, director of the New Community Project
Two paths lie before us in relation to God’s creation, both leading to the end of the world. We can continue our violence and abuse—and face ecological collapse and human conflict—or begin to live with respect and mutuality and live long and prosper in this new world.
Learn more on the Bethany Theological Seminary website
