February 11, 2020
Dear Friends, Students, and Colleagues of the BTI,

I am overjoyed to announce that Dr. Stephanie C. Edwards has joined the BTI Consortium as Executive Director Elect. In early summer, she will become the BTI Executive Director, and she will work closely with Dr. Ann McClenahan during the spring months to maximize a good transition and continuing strength for the Consortium. Stephanie brings vision and energy to the position and is entering her new role with deep commitment and excitement. She also brings years of non-profit management experience to the BTI position and is a graduate of two BTI Consortium schools and the BTI Certificate Program in Religion and Conflict Transformation. Stephanie holds a dual MTS/MSW from Boston University (2011) and a PhD in Theological Ethics from Boston College (2019). Due to prior teaching commitments, Stephanie will work part time until mid-May when she will transition to full-time status. Between now and mid-May, Stephanie will be in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please feel free to email her anytime at edwards@bostontheological.org , but keep in mind she might take some time to respond during this part-time period.
 
I am extraordinarily grateful to our exceptional Executive Director, Dr. Ann McClenahan, who continues her excellent leadership of the BTI and who is leading us through a welcoming and efficient transition period with Stephanie. As was announced last spring, Ann plans to step down by the end of this academic year after six years as Executive Director. She and Stephanie will collaborate throughout the spring to ensure a smooth transition. The Board of Trustees is confident that the BTI Consortium will thrive as we build on Ann’s legacy and begin our work with Stephanie, who will bring her unique expertise in shaping strong, effective non-profits and her ongoing involvement in theological education. Please join me and the entire Board in welcoming Stephanie and thanking Ann!
 
Mary Elizabeth Moore
BTI Consortium Board Chair
Boston University School of Theology Dean

Please send upcoming events or inquiries to Chloe at:
Upcoming Featured Events
Saturday, February 15, 2020. 9:00am-6:00pm, Boston College, Hosted by Lumen et Vita . Please join Lumen et Vita as we explore the interplay between church and world at our seventh annual conference. The keynote address entitled “The Complicated Prospect of Finding God in the Everyday” will be given by Peter Fritz. Our faculty panel will include Feliz Palazzi, Lisa Cahill, and Brian Robinette. 
Presentations will feature students from Boston College, Marquette University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Toronto. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020. 6:00pm. Boston University School of Theology. Lecture.
Join the Staff, Faculty, and Alumni office of Boston University School of Theology for their bi-annual Lowell Lecture featuring Bistop Yvetter Flunder.
Bishop Yvette Flunder is a native San Franciscan and third generation preacher with roots in the Church of God in Christ. Bishop Flunder is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and holds both masters and doctorate degrees in Ministry from the Pacific School of Religion and the San Francisco Theological Seminary, respectively. In 2003, she was appointed Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a multi-denominational coalition of over 56 churches and faith-based organizations from all over the world.She will present a lecture entitled "Co-Creating with God."
Applications NOW Available, 6 Week Summer Experience, partnership with Boston College STM and Katholische Privatuniversität Linz (KU Linz).
Boston College STM Summer at Linz  is comprised of 2 three-week sessions from  June 29-August 7, 2020 . KU Linz will offer a six-week Theological German course in the mornings and two three-week courses in English, in the afternoon. The two afternoon courses are interdisciplinary in nature, team taught by theology, church history, and art and art history faculty. Non-Boston College STM Students must apply. Interested students should apply online soon and direct questions to Marcia Ryan ( marcia.ryan@bc.edu ). More Information

Tuesday, February 18, 2020. 6:00-7:30pm, Boston College Boisi Center. Panel Discussion.
"Is There a New Anti-Semitism?" will offer a blue ribbon panel to discuss the disturbing rise of anti-Semitic speech and hate crimes during the past few years. James Bernauer, S.J., Susannah Heschel, and Mark Silk will begin the evening by assessing the meaning(s) of this disturbing trend, followed by a conversation with the audience.
Abstracts Due February 26th. Gaudete, Boston College STM's LGBTQ and ally group. Student Conference. Gaudete invites graduate students from across the BTI Consortium to submit papers for their upcoming conference "God the the Outcast." The conference will take place on April 4th, 2020 on the campus of Boston College.

This conference will carve out the space to reimagine and reappropriate dynamic theologies of God in light of issues of gender and sexuality. Successful proposals will focus on the critical and creative exploration of topics including queer theory/ theologies; feminist theory/theologies; pastoral concerns regarding gender and sexuality in the Catholic Church; experiences of gender-related marginalization in Catholicism; trans* issues; the perspectives of people of color; disability studies; questions of vocation; and the integration of identities. Submissions from systematic theology, ecclesiology, moral theology, practical theology, biblical studies, and other theological disciplines are welcome.
Additional Events around the Consortium
Thursday, February 13, 2020, 5:30-7:00pm, Harvard Divinity School Center for the Study of World Religions. Lecture.
Considerable attention has been directed to the possibility of a technological singularity when artificial intelligences “wake up” and start acting in their own self-interest. Long before then, however, humanity will confront an ethical singularity—a point at which the evaluation of values systems acquires infinite value. The computational factories and intelligence-gathering infrastructure of the global attention economy have begun to function as karmic engines, perfecting values-reinforcing feedback loops that are transforming everything from the dynamics of social interaction to geopolitics. Drawing on Buddhist resources, this talk will make the case that our prospects of realizing more humane global futures depends on changing how we are present and developing both capacities-for and commitments-to compassionate ethical creativity. Details.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020. 2:00-4:00 PM. Lecture, Boston University's Ellie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies. In post-WWII Germany, Germans asking questions about the Nazi past were often denounced as Nestbeschmutzer (“nest soilers”). In her lecture, von Kellenbach examines the persistence of Nazi rhetoric of purity and purification in post-war debates on guilt and its remedies. The language of pollution and its alleviation resurfaced in political and legal strategies of expurgation, catharsis, and closure. She argues that, alternatively, the label of Nestbeschmutzer can provide a hermeneutic of intimacy and involvement that accepts culpability while generating the potential for transformation instead of repression or removal. Details.
Tuesday, February 18th, 2020, 7:00PM. Lecture, Hartford Seminary. Dr. Bruce B. Lawrence is the Professor of Islamic Studies Emeritus at Duke University and adjunct Professor at Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul. Allah merits more than faithful acceptance or hostile rejection. Neither theological nor ideological, advancing neither apologetic nor polemical agendas, Dr. Lawrence approaches the name/the subject of Allah as a perspectivist. Details and Registration
Boston-Providence Joint Patristics Group
Saturday, February 22, 2020, 10:00am, Meeting at Boston College Simboli Hall. The Presenter will be David Hunter of Boston College. Email Andrew Jacobs.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020. 15:30-7:00pm, Harvard Divinity School.
Annual List Lecture in Jewish Studies. The Jew as archetypal migrant is a pervasive trope in philosophy, politics, and the arts. Since Biblical times, the condition of exile was a source of discrimination, oppression, and suffering. Recent philosophical discourse, however, often regards it as the embodiment of a glorious deterritorialization that overlooks the hardship inherent in exile and migration. Close readings of theoretical and poetic texts by Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, Giorgio Agamben, and Paul Celan will highlight the dangers of romanticizing migration and the potential of poetic language to address contentious ethical and political issues of the present. Details.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020. 9:00am-3:30pm, Hebrew College.
A Hebrew College Rabbinical School and School of Jewish Music Yom Iyyun (Learning Day or Symposium) on Teen Mental Health with Support from the Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Project – a Partnership between the The Ruderman Family Foundation and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Details.
Thursday, February 27th, 2020, 8:30AM-4:00PM, The Shoemaker Center for Church Renewal at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Forum. The Shoemaker Center invites you to a Pastors' Forum on deepening your connection with the Good Shepherd as you lead where God has placed you. Details and Registration
External Job Postings
The Old North Foundation (ONF) seeks a dynamic, visionary, and innovative leader to serve as its next Executive Director. Located in Boston’s Historic North End, Old North Foundation’s mission is to promote the visibility and preservation of the Old North Church’s historical role in the birth of our nation. ONF is a secular non-profit organization that promotes the values of freedom, liberty and civic engagement through the interpretation and preservation of Old North Church and Historic Site, an enduring symbol of American independence. Details and How to Apply
University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, VA, is a progressive and welcoming & affirming congregation. The church has just begun searching for an Associate Minister for Students. The primary areas of ministry will relate to students at the University of Virginia and youth between 6th-12th grades.
Gathered by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony in August 1629, the First Church in Salem, Unitarian Universalist is one of the oldest Protestant churches founded in North America and the first to be governed by congregational polity. They are a Liberal Christian congregation, espousing the values of freedom, reason, and tolerance. The Interim Director of Religious Education is a 20-30 hr/week position and will remain open until filled. Request More Information
Submission Deadlines for the BTI Newsletter for SPRING 2020: 2/21, 3/13, 3/27, 4/10, 4/24. Please send submissions (including graphics) to: btinews@bostontheological.org for inclusion in the newsletter. The BTI Newsletter is sent bi-weekly on Tuesdays.
Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium | www.bostontheological.org

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