Adam Konopka Scheduled to Speak at Chattanooga

Prankster, painter, entrepreneur, sailboat owner, and philosopher Adam Konopka will be the final speaker in UTC's LeRoy Martin Distinguished Lecture Series for the 2014-2015 academic year. Adam holds the Besl Family Chair for Ethics/Religion and Society at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This lecture will again be held at the Camp House in Chattanooga and in cooperation with Theology on Tap. Adam's talk begins at 7:30pm. The doors open at 7:00pm, with a free drink voucher to the first one hundred in attendance. If you are in the Chattanooga area, please consider joining us for an interesting lecture and discussion. Below is the title and abstract for this lecture.

"The Tragedy and Comedy of Risk Perception"

Abstract: The study of risk perception is arguably one of the most significant spheres of contemporary cultural discourse in modern democratic societies. While risk perception has more recently been investigated in economic disciplines, it has also been historically expressed in various narratives from philosophical and religious traditions. These narratives present a discernible self-understanding of the failure and successes associated with the perception and assessment of risk that corroborate and challenge contemporary approaches.

Jeremy Begbie Scheduled to Speak at the Camp House in Chattanooga

Jeremy Begbie, Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, will be speaking at the new Camp House on Thursday, January 29 at 8pm as part of UTC's LeRoy Martin Distinguished Lecture Series in partnership with Theology on Tap of Chattanooga. We are expecting a large crowd, so please register for your free ticket to this event at the Camp House.

Below is the title and abstract of his presentation.

"The Sound of Freedom: The Music of Liberation"

"In this multimedia lecture, Jeremy Begbie will argue that pictures of freedom in modernity have been plagued by competitive, 'zero-sum' models--God's freedom and the world's are portrayed as mutually exclusive. This depends on basically visual ways of thinking about space. By contrast, two simultaneously sounding musical notes do not occupy bounded locations in our aural space, but interpenetrate, while remaining audibly distinct. Using performed and recorded music, Begbie will show that our sense of hearing can help us radically re-conceive and re-articulate a theology of freedom."

Kate Bowler on the Prosperity Gospel

Kate Bowler of Duke Divinity School gave an excellent talk on the prosperity gospel movement last night at the Camp House to about 120 people. Her talk was part of the LeRoy Martin Distinguished Lecture Series at UTC, working in cooperation with Theology on Tap of Chattanooga.

In her talk, "The Death and Afterlife of the American Prosperity Gospel," Bowler described the hallmarks of this movement as faith, wealth, health, and victory. The movement is not tied to any particular denomination, she explained, and can include adherents from Baptists, Methodist, Pentecostal groups. According to Bowler, prosperity gospel preachers tell audiences that they can unleash the power of God through acts of faith faith. This divine power requires the willingness and trust of individuals that God can heal their sicknesses, restore broken relationships, enlarge their bank accounts, and give them freedom over the bondage of sin. She argued that this was a type of "hyper-Arminianism" coming out of John Wesley's teaching on Christian perfection that blossomed into the Holiness Movement of the nineteenth century.

If you haven't read Bowler's book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, you should pick up a copy. You might also consider booking her as a speaker. She is an excellent communicator, who employs a witty brand of sarcasm and humor into her talks in a very presentable way.