friendship and suffering john - malone.edu€¦ · ono oll an nh oo o h an l a alo n ll l ll l on h...

2
Friendship and Suffering in Contemporary Culture Lecture One On Friendship Friendship, Aristotle wrote many centuries ago, is both useful and noble. But why? What is the role of friendship in our lives? Defending Aristotle’s basic understanding of friendship, this lecture considers objections from two modern critics: Kant and Kierkegaard. The lecture concludes with reflections on the role of friendship in contemporary American culture, where civic friendship is neglected when it is not vilified as a form of ideological disloyalty. Lecture Two Sickness unto Death: Suffering, Evil, and Contemporary Culture In the opening of his Confessions, Augustine writes that human beings carry within themselves the “mark of their mortality.” Yet we expend tremendous effort avoiding the fact of our mortality. In contemporary culture, our aversion to thinking about death coincides both with a decline in public rituals for dealing with death and with an eroding vocabulary that enables us to speak not only about death but also evil and suffering. At the same time, we are immersed in the graphic images of violence and death. Drawing from films as well as from philosophical and literary texts, this lecture discerns a hunger for a richer treatment of these matters and points to stories that embody hopefulness in the face of loss. The Woolman Lecture is sponsored by The Center for Christian Faith & Culture in partnership with the Office of the Provost. Shawn Floyd, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, organizes and directs the annual Woolman Lectures. 2600 Cleveland Avenue NW Canton, Ohio 44709 www.malone.edu John Woolman Christian Scholar Lecture Series Malone University presents Featuring THOMAS HIBBS, Ph.D. Baylor University FEBRUARY 26 – 27, 2019 7:30 p.m. Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts Room 106 2600 Cleveland Avenue NW Canton, Ohio www.malone.edu/woolman

Upload: others

Post on 16-Oct-2019

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Friendship and Suffering John - malone.edu€¦ · ono oll an nh oo o h an l a alo n ll l ll l on h o o oh nh an n n onmoa l Scheule SY , m n Friendship Johnon n o Woh an h n oom

Friendship and Suffering in Contemporary Culture

Lecture OneOn FriendshipFriendship, Aristotle wrote many centuries ago, is both useful and noble. But why? What is the role of friendship in our lives? Defending Aristotle’s basic understanding of friendship, this lecture considers objections from two modern critics: Kant and Kierkegaard. The lecture concludes with reflections on the role of friendship in contemporary American culture, where civic friendship is neglected when it is not vilified as a form of ideological disloyalty.

Lecture TwoSickness unto Death: Suffering, Evil, and Contemporary CultureIn the opening of his Confessions, Augustine writes that human beings carry within themselves the “mark of their mortality.” Yet we expend tremendous effort avoiding the fact of our mortality. In contemporary culture, our aversion to thinking about death coincides both with a decline in public rituals for dealing with death and with an eroding vocabulary that enables us to speak not only about death but also evil and suffering. At the same time, we are immersed in the graphic images of violence and death. Drawing from films as well as from philosophical and literary texts, this lecture discerns a hunger for a richer treatment of these matters and points to stories that embody hopefulness in the face of loss.

The Woolman Lecture is sponsored by The Center for Christian Faith & Culture in partnership with the Office of the Provost.

Shawn Floyd, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, organizes and directs the annual Woolman Lectures.

2600

Cle

vela

nd A

venu

e N

WC

anto

n, O

hio

4470

9w

ww

.mal

one.

edu

John WoolmanChristian Scholar Lecture Series

Malone University presents

Featuring THOMAS HIBBS, Ph.D.Baylor University

FEBRUARY 26 – 27, 20197:30 p.m.

Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine ArtsRoom 1062600 Cleveland Avenue NWCanton, Ohio

www.malone.edu/woolman

Page 2: Friendship and Suffering John - malone.edu€¦ · ono oll an nh oo o h an l a alo n ll l ll l on h o o oh nh an n n onmoa l Scheule SY , m n Friendship Johnon n o Woh an h n oom

John WoolmanChristian Scholar Lecture Series

The Lecture Series is

named for John Woolman

(1720–1772), a Quaker

from New Jersey who

provided much of the

theological, intellectual,

and ethical foundation

for the earliest antislavery

activities in America.

Drawing from traditional Christian, Quaker,

evangelical, quietist, and rationalist sources,

Woolman published works that encouraged others

to rethink the Friends’ role in addressing a range of

topics including slavery, working conditions, spiritual

discipline, pacifism, the use of wealth, the use of

time, and relationships with Native Americans.

His antislavery writings and speaking campaigns

throughout the colonies helped prompt the Friends

to become the first body of Americans to actively

denounce slavery and require all its members to free

any person that they held in slavery. Providing some

of the earliest inspiration for the major ethical shift

in thinking about slavery, Woolman’s writings and

actions influenced leaders in the early antislavery

and abolitionist movements in America and Great

Britain. Woolman Hall, a residence hall on Malone’s

campus, is named in his honor.

The 2018 John Woolman Lectures will feature Professor Thomas Hibbs, Dean of the Honors College and Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Culture at Baylor University. He will lecture will lecture on the topics of both friendship and suffering in contemporary culture.

Schedule

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26

7:30 p.m. | Lecture OneOn FriendshipJohnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts Room 106

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27

7:30 p.m. | Lecture TwoSickness unto Death: Suffering, Evil, and Contemporary Culture Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine ArtsRoom 106

REGISTRATIONLinks to online registration can be found atwww.malone.edu/woolman.

All events are free and open to the public.

Thomas Hibbs has written books on film (Shows About Nothing and Arts of Darkness) and a book co-authored with the contemporary painter, Makoto Fujimura (Soliloquies: Rouault/Fujimura). He has also written three books on Thomas Aquinas: Dialectic and Narrative in Aquinas: An Interpretation of the Summa Contra Gentiles; Virtue’s Splendor: Wisdom, Prudence, and the Human Good; and Aquinas, Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion: Metaphysics and Practice.

His most recent book, Wagering on an Ironic God, is a reflection on and interpretation of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Professor Hibbs has published more than 30 scholarly articles and is currently writing a book on nihilism, beauty, and God.

The Lecture Series is

named for John Woolman

(1720–1772), a Quaker

from New Jersey who

provided much of the

theological, intellectual,

and ethical foundation

for the earliest antislavery

activities in America.

Drawing from traditional Christian, Quaker,

evangelical, quietist, and rationalist sources,

Woolman published works that encouraged others

to rethink the Friends’ role in addressing a range of

topics including slavery, working conditions, spiritual

discipline, pacifism, the use of wealth, the use of

time, and relationships with Native Americans.

His antislavery writings and speaking campaigns

throughout the colonies helped prompt the Friends

to become the first body of Americans to actively

denounce slavery and require all its members to free

any person that they held in slavery. Providing some

of the earliest inspiration for the major ethical shift

in thinking about slavery, Woolman’s writings and

actions influenced leaders in the early antislavery

and abolitionist movements in America and Great

Britain. Woolman Hall, a residence hall on Malone’s

campus, is named in his honor.