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The Center for Faith and Inquiry is

dedicated to promoting first order

scholarship, reflection, creativity, and

conversation, drawing from Christian

intellectual and spiritual traditions, the

various academic disciplines, and the

wisdom found in societies and cultures

at large. The insights and ideas

derived from our work aim to serve

Gordon College, the Body of Christ,

and the common good.

Cover Photo May 2013 in Berlin, Germany: JAF alumni learn about the role of research academies at Gendarmenmarkt square

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This past year has been a rich and memorable one in the life of the Center, starting with the name itself. We now are called the Center for Faith and Inquiry and our new e-mail address is cfi@gordon.edu. The changed name reflects a broader re-envisioning of the Center: a new logo and website, restructured programs, a promotional video and the first annual dinner with our topnotch Advisory Council and faculty Steering Board. I am thankful to our staff members Ryan Groff and Debbie Drost for their hard work this past year.

2012-13 was an exciting year. We hosted the Conference on Faith & History and stimulating FSU lectures by Rusty Reno, Miroslav Volf and Leila Ahmed, among others. The Spring Symposium gathered students to ponder “What is Beauty?” and Center-supported faculty

projects considered topics ranging from immigration reform to the moral case for open-source software. A May study trip took several alumni of the Jerusalem & Athens Forum (JAF) honors program to sites of the Protestant Reformation in the former East Germany. Finally, the results of a past conference have recently been published as a book, Imago Dei: Human Dignity in Ecumenical Perspective.

The 2013-14 academic year promises to be a rewarding one too. We welcomed the tenth cohort to the JAF program and will mark this anniversary at Homecoming and at a reunion this spring. The FSU lecture series features a promising line-up and launches two annual, named lectures: the Walter and Darlene Hansen Lecture and the Thomas T. Howard Lecture. Our “big event” will be a major conference on November 14-16, “Protestantism? Reflections in Advance of the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, 1517-2017.” We invite you to attend the conference, from which we hope to derive an edited book in time for the actual Reformation centenary in 2017. (I knew I had been thinking about this date too much when I recently dated a check “2017”!)

We cherish the environment of Gordon College for fostering our work. We thank you for your encouragement, prayers, and support.

From the Director

Tal Howard Director and Professor of History

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The Jerusalem and Athens Forum (JAF), an interdisciplinary honors program at Gordon CollegeThrough a great books course in the history of Christian thought and literature and a variety of program components, JAF strives to help students reflect on the relationship between faith and intellect, deepen their own sense of vocation, and awaken their capacities for intellectual and moral leadership.

JERUSALEM AND ATHENS FORUM

“JAF was one of the most meaningful and important experiences of my undergraduate career. I read books I would not have otherwise read, and entered discussions with people I would not have otherwise met. It was a truly meaningful community of students and professors.”

—Elizabeth (Libby) Baker ’12 JAF alumna ’09-’10

Elizabeth Baker is pursuing a Ph.D. in European history at the University of Notre Dame, where she is a Presidential Fellow, and is a member of the sixth cohort of the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program.

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JAF OutingsStudents began the year with a retreat to Adelynrood Retreat and Conference Center, visited the Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH, and worshiped at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Parish. Students also saw a new production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and visited

Hellenic College, the only Eastern Orthodox liberal arts college in America. Mike Tishel, JAF alumnus (‘06- ‘07) and assistant director of the Office of Vocation and Ministry at Hellenic, gave students a brief introduction to Orthodox worship before welcoming the group to a Saturday Vespers service.

Ninth Annual JAF DebateIn April, JAF students participated in the ninth annual JAF debate. They debated the resolution: “The death penalty should be abolished.” The audience voted a win for the pro-team.

TextsThe ninth cohort of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum read several books recently integrated into the program, including Cicero’s On the Good Life and Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace, and revisited

old favorites like Aristotle’s Ethics, and selections from Dante’s Divine Comedy, Josef Pieper’s Leisure, the Basis of Culture, and Flannery O’Connor’s The Complete Works.

Fall Events

Annual Adelynrood RetreatSeptember 6–7JAF students, staff and faculty visited Adelynrood Retreat and Conference Center in Byfield, MA and historic Newburyport as part of the annual retreat on September 6-7.

Peter BergerSeptember 12The renowned sociologist was on campus for two afternoon discussions. He was interviewed by fellow Austrian-American Gregor Thuswaldner, associate professor of German and Linguistics and a fellow in the Center for Faith and Inquiry.

What Are the Liberal Arts For?September 28As part of a year-long celebration of JAF’s tenth anniversary, program alumni participated in a discussion during Homecoming on Saturday, September 28. A reunion banquet will be held this coming spring.

Faculty-Student DiscussionsSeptember 24JAF hosted an open faculty-student discussion with Stephen L. S. Smith and Bruce G. Webb, authors of the new book Economic Growth: Unleashing the Potential of Human Flourishing (AEI, 2013).

Highlights

Photo Discussions with Prof. Dr. Waschke and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang-Fluegel in Halle, Germany Photo Luther’s Augustinian cell, Erfurt, Germany

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FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING

An Ongoing Lecture Series at Gordon CollegeFides quarens intellectum, faith seeking understanding, is a venerable phrase in the Christian intellectual tradition associated especially with Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109). It was chosen as our lecture series title because it suggests our view at Gordon College that faith should not be a matter of self-satisfied piety and isolation from the life of culture and intellect. Rather, we should be engaged in the great issues, ideas and debates of our day. The speakers we invite each year seek to nurture both faith and understanding and explore the relationship between the two.

Beginning in 2013-14The Walter and Darlene Hansen Lecture

The Thomas T. Howard Lecture

Beginning in 2014-15The Malcolm Reid Lecture

The John Mason Lecture

New Named Lectures

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MICHAEL GERSON

September 13–14, 2012Opinion writer and nationally syndicated columnist, Washington Post; former speechwriter for President George W. Bush

“Whose Responsibility is Opportunity?”

DAVID TAYLOR

September 22, 2012Pastor, artist and author

“For the Beauty of the Church”

CARLOS M. N. EIRE

October 4, 2012Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University

“Did Miracles Ever Cease? The Reformation and the Supernatural”

Past Speakers 2012-13

Upcoming Speakers 2013-14

RUSSELL R. RENO

October 25, 2012Editor, First Things

“Piety and the Life of the Mind”

MASSIMO FAGGIOLI

November 29, 2012Assistant Professor, University of St. Thomas

“Vatican II: Catholicism Then and Now”

JENNIFER BRYSON

February 14, 2013Director, Islam & Civil Society Project, The Witherspoon Institute, Princeton University

“Religious Freedom after the Arab Spring”

PATRICK SMITH

February 21, 2013Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

“Valuing Life at the End of Life”

MIROSLAV VOLF

April 4–5, 2013Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology, Yale Divinity School; Founding Director, Yale Center for Faith & Culture

“Religious Violence: A Theological Perspective”

LEILA AHMED

May 2, 2013

Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

“Women and Islam Today”

DAVID SWARTZ

October 3, 2013Asbury College

The Annual Franz Lecture

“The Evangelical Left: Oxymoron or Opportunity?”

MATTHEW MILLINER

October 28, 2013Wheaton College

The Walter and Darlene Hansen Lecture

“Visual Heresy: Imaging the Father in the History of Art”

RABBI JAMES RUDIN

December 6, 2013Saint Leo University and American Jewish Council

“American Christianity Today: A Jewish Perspective”

ANTHONY ESOLEN

February 10, 2014Professor of Renaissance English Literature and the Development of Western Civilization, Providence College

“Life Under Compulsion: Killing the Liberal Arts”

RUTH GROENHOUT

February 27, 2014Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College

“Care, Suffering, and Justice: American Medicine in the 21st Century”

MARY ANN GLENDON

March 20, 2014Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University Law School; Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

Thomas T. Howard Lecture

“Politics as a Vocation?”

Photo The first annual Herrmann Lectures Photo JAF students/alumni join Presidential Fellows for a discussion with theologian Miroslav Volf

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RESPECTFUL CONVERSATIONS

Ongoing conversations between the past and present, differing views, and among academic disciplines“Respectful Conversations” was a favorite phrase of the founding director of the CFI, Harold Heie, as he felt the work of a university or college should be thought of as an ongoing civil conversation among those with different points of view, between the past and the present, and among different academic disciplines. These activities of the CFI help sustain this vision; they help “keep the conversation going,” as it were, here at Gordon College.

“CFI’s annual Spring Symposium is an important part of my spring courses. While it provides an important opportunity for students to showcase their work before peers and faculty, the event also situates their learning within a broader, campus-wide conversation about an important topic.”

—Jennifer Hevelone-Harper, Ph.D. Professor of History at Gordon College

Photo Luther at the Diet of Worms, Anton Alexander von Werner, 1877

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Spring SymposiumThe Gordon College Spring Symposium has become an annual tradition. One day in the spring semester, all classes are canceled, and students, faculty, and staff engage in learning from one another around a particular theme. The theme for Symposium 2013 was “What is Beauty?” and the keynote given by Tom Howard, author and emeritus professor of English at St. John’s College, was titled “Dove Descending: Reflections on T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets.”

CFI Fellows ProgramThe CFI Fellows Program helps support the scholarly work of Gordon College faculty—and, occasionally, kindred spirits at other institutions—whose work strongly resonates with the mission of the Center for Faith and Inquiry. Three fellowships were awarded for the 2013-14 year: “A New Approach to Theistic

Evolution: Determinate Outcomes of Random Processes,” a joint project of Brian Glenney (philosophy), Craig Story (biology), and Mike Veatch (mathematics); “American Evangelicalism and Immigration Reform,” Ruth Melkonian-Hoover (political science); and “The Moral Case For Open-Source Software,” Karl-Dieter Crisman (mathematics).

American Evangelicalism: Present Conditions, Future PossibilitesHarold Heie, founding director and senior fellow of the Center, hosts this new conversation at www.respectfulconversation.net. The purpose of this conversation is to provide a welcoming space for those who disagree about the present conditions and future possibilities for “Evangelicalism,” to express their views, and to model

respectful conversation about their disagreements. Contributors include Randall Balmer, Amy Black, Peter Enns, Stanton Jones, Richard Mouw, Soong-Chan Rah, John Wilson, and Amos Yong, among others.

Herrmann LecturesThe Center for Faith and Inquiry at Gordon College has partnered with the John Templeton Foundation to honor the pioneering work of Dr. Robert Herrmann, who addressed, throughout his distinguished career, the “Big Questions” constellated around the theme of science and religion. This year’s speaker will be Owen Gingerich, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The lectures will be given on October 8-10, 2013 and will consider the influence of Copernicus, Dawin, and Hoyle.

Protestantism? Reflections in Advance of the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, 1517–2017November 14-16, 2013

A major conference sponsored by the Center for Faith and Inquiry at Gordon College in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, the Boston Theological Institute and Refo500. This project is funded by a grant from the Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs program of The Historical Society.

Register and learn more at www.gordon.edu/ protestantism

Imago Dei: Human Dignity in Ecumenical PerspectiveOriginally a one-day ecumenical conference at Gordon, this is now an

edited volume by Tal Howard with John Behr, Russell Hittinger, and C. Ben Mitchell, and an afterword by Gilbert Meilaender (Catholic University Press, June 2013).

Learn more at cuapress.cua.edu

Conversations

Conferences

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Mark A. Noll and James Turner, edited by Thomas Albert Howard: The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue (Brazos, 2008). Evangelicals and

Roman Catholics have been responsible for the establishment of many colleges and universities in America, but they have historically taken markedly different approaches to education and viewed one another’s efforts with some suspicion. Recent years, however, have seen the development of a more cooperative tone. In this volume, Mark Noll and James Turner offer candid reassessments of the strengths and weaknesses of each tradition.

Dan Russ: Flesh-and-Blood Jesus: Learning to Be Fully Human from the Son of Man, 2nd edition (Wipf & Stock, 2013). Christians usually do not find it difficult to see

Jesus as God. But many are lacking in their understanding of Jesus as human, resulting in a stunted view of what it means for us to be human. But a well-developed understanding of Jesus’s humanity can show us the essential differences between being human and being sinners. In Flesh-and-Blood Jesus, Dan Russ helps readers get to know Jesus Christ more fully through reflecting on his humanity.

Thomas Albert Howard: God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide. (Oxford, 2011). Since the 18th-century Enlightenment, the United States and

Western Europe’s paths to modernity have diverged sharply with respect to religion. In short, Americans have maintained much friendlier ties with traditional forms of religion than their European counterparts. What explains this transatlantic religious divide?

Winner of the 2012 Christianity Today Book Award for History

Thomas Albert Howard: Imago Dei: Human Dignity in Ecumenical Perspective (Catholic University Press, 2013) serves as an indispensable resource for those

wishing to deepen their grasp of the theological bases for Christian views of human dignity, as well as for those who believe that Christ’s words “that they be one” (John 17:21) remain a theological imperative today. The combination of ethical inquiry and ecumenical collaboration makes this timely book a unique and compelling contribution to present-day Christian thought.

Contributors: John Behr, Russell Hittinger, C. Ben Mitchell Originally a one-day conference at Gordon College in April 2010

Publications

Publications supported by CFI in recent years

Jonathan Chaplin with Robert Joustra: God and Global Order: The Power of Religion in American Foreign Policy (Baylor University Press, 2010). Even though America

was founded upon a belief that its mission was providentially ordained, its foreign policy decisions have failed to recognize the growing significance of religious faith as a global concern. With an eye on the turbulent century ahead, God and Global Order implores policy makers to recognize the power of faith to inform and enhance U.S. foreign policy. The contributors warn that ignoring the far-reaching role of faiths (those both religious and secular) and their influence upon international agendas could carry disastrous consequences both for the U.S. and for the larger global order.

Chapters originally given as part of a conference at Gordon College in September 2005

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DIRECTOR

Thomas Albert Howard, Ph.D.

Director and Professor of History

STAFFM. Ryan Groff, M.A.

Administrative Director

Debbie Drost

Program Manager

FACULTY STEERING BOARD

Stan Gaede, Ph.D.

Scholar-in-Residence and President of the Christian College Consortium

Bruce Herman, M.F.A.

Lothlórien Distinguished Chair of Fine Art

Jennifer Hevelone-Harper, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Ruth Melkonian-Hoover, Ph.D.

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science

Bruce Webb, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor of Economics and Business

Marvin R. Wilson, Ph.D.

Ockenga Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kenneth G. Elzinga, Ph.D.

Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics University of Virginia

Christian Smith, Ph.D.

William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, University of Notre Dame, IN

Tom and Lyn Shields

Beverly Farms, MA

Janet H. Wills

President and CEO, Wills Financial Group

Eric Convey

Vice President, O’Neill and Associates Former Managing Editor, Boston Business Journal

Alan Jacobs, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of the Humanities Baylor University, TX

Malcolm Reid, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Gordon College; Director of Outreach and Assistant Rector at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Danvers, MA

Tom Howard, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor, St. John’s Seminary Boston, MA

Mark A. Noll, Ph.D.

Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History University of Notre Dame, IN

Richard and Carolyn Lippmann

Wayland, MA

William R. Cross

Vice President, Eaton Vance Management, Boston, MA

People

Denis AlexanderDirector of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, and member of the International Society for Science and Religion

2014

Owen GingerichProfessor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science at Harvard University, and senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

October 8-10, 2013

Gordon College is partnering with the John Templeton Foundation to honor the pioneering work of Dr. Robert Herrmann, who, throughout his distinguished career, addressed the “Big Questions” surrounding science and religion.

Hosted by the Center for Faith and Inquiry and supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Photo Anna Taylor, art major and JAF alumna (‘08-’09), co-created this piece for the Ken Olsen Science Center at Gordon College,