Bard's Institute of Advanced Theology Offers Two Weekly Lecture Series this Spring

Lenten Luncheon Lecture Series Features Discussion of “Prophetic Practice in Ancient Israel” with Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton; “Religious Responses to Evil” is Topic of Talks by Rabbi Lawrence Troster ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Institute of Advanced Theology (IAT) at Bard College presents two weekly lectures series this spring. Beginning Friday, February 23, and continuing through Friday, March 23, the 2007 Lenten Lecture Series features talks by the Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton on the subject “Prophetic Practice in Ancient Israel.” The weekly luncheon/lectures meet in the multipurpose room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center at 12:00 noon. The cost for each lecture (including lunch) is $16, or $14 for members of the Institute of Advanced Theology. As space is limited, preregistration is requested. Examining various models of response to evil from the perspective of the Jewish and Christian traditions, a free series of lectures offered by Rabbi Lawrence Troster on the topic “Religious Responses to Evil” is held on Wednesdays, February 28 through March 21. The talks begin at 5:30 p.m. in room 201 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building. No registration is necessary for this series; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion, executive director of the Institute of Advanced Theology, and chaplain of the College, is a scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, and the author of the first critical translation of the Aramaic version of Isaiah (The Isaiah Targum, 1987). He has written academic studies that put Jesus in his Jewish context (Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, 2000; Pure Kingdom, 1996; The Temple of Jesus, 1992; and A Galilean Rabbi and His Bible, 1984). Doubleday recently released his books, Mary Magdalene: A Biography, and Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography, in paperback. Chilton has taught in Europe at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Münster, and in the United States at Yale University (as the first Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament) and Bard College. Throughout his career, he has been active in the pastoral ministry of the Anglican Church; he is currently rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Barrytown, New York. Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Jewish chaplain of Bard and an associate of Bard’s Institute of Advanced Theology, is director of the fellowship program and rabbinic scholar in residence at GreenFaith, an interfaith environmental coalition in New Jersey. He is also a rabbinic fellow for the Coalition On the Environment and Jewish Life and a cochair of the Interfaith Partnership for the Environment of United Nations Environment Program. A member of the editorial boards of the journals Conservative Judaism and Judaism, Troster has published numerous articles, most recently in Judaism and the Challenge of Darwinism, Sh’ma, and Eco-Spirit: Religions and Philosophies for the Earth (forthcoming). Rabbi Troster, who lectures widely on the topics of theology, environmentalism, liturgy, bioethics and Judaism, and modern cosmology, has appeared on television and radio programs, including Eco Talk, and at a 2005 UNEP conference in Tehran, Iran, presenting the paper “The Mountain and the River Valley: Environmentalism as the Foundation of Dialogue Between Civilizations.” Previously, Troster served as adviser to students and an adjunct lecturer in professional skills at the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He has also served as the rabbi of several congregations in New Jersey and Toronto, Canada. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto and an M.A. degree and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In addition, the Institute presents a three-day conference, “Public Policy and Politics of Religious Tolerance,” from Tuesday, April 24, through Thursday, April 26, in the Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. Cochaired by Bard professors Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton, and William Scott Green of the University of Miami, participants include Ismail Acar, Bard College; Alan J. Avery-Peck, College of the Holy Cross; Robert Berchman, Dowling College; Bradley Clough, American University of Cairo; Vincent J. Cornell, University of Arkansas; Kevin Corrigan, Emory University; Richard Davis, Bard College; Alberto De Bernardi, University of Bologna; Adriana Destro, University of Bologna; Carolyn Dewald, Bard College; Daniel Jorgensen, University of South Florida; Ibrahim Kalin, College of the Holy Cross; David Klinghoffer, Discovery Institute; Baruch A. Levine, New York University; Mauro Pesce, University of Bologna; William Reiser, College of the Holy Cross; and Kristin Scheible, Bard College. The Institute of Advanced Theology was established to foster the kind of critical understanding, based on scholarship, that would make true religious pluralism possible. Since its inception in 1996, the Institute’s work has focused on how religions influence history, society, and other religions, and are in turn influenced by them. The Institute gratefully acknowledges support from members of the Institute, the Crohn Family Trust, and Tisch Family Foundation, as well as grants from The Levy Economics Institute and Bard College. For further information or to register for the Lenten Luncheon Lecture series, call the Institute office at 845-758-7279, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website www.bard.edu/iat. # # # (02/02/07)

This event was last updated on 03-23-2007

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