Pacific Coast Theological Society

Theologies of Religions: Inter-Religious & Comparative

Classroom B at Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP), Berkeley, California

NOTE: DIFFERENT ROOM FOR THE SPRING 2015 MEETING (Classroom B is just down the hall from where we recently met and is where the Spring 2013 meeting was held.)

Schedule

Friday, Apr 17

Saturday, Apr 18

Topic

"Theologies of Religions" is an apt topic as witnessed by current headlines. How does a religious tradition reflect on a world filled with other religions? Papers on the topic range from assessing this question in general and comparative terms. Highlighting this Meeting is the giving of the  "PCTS Codron Award" for leading theological scholarship given in memorial for the beloved PCTS member, Patricia Codron. The  recipient of this award is Kristin Johnston Largen (Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg) for her book: Finding God among Our Neighbors. Doug McGaughey (Willamette University) gives the Friday evening Public Lecture--a sharing of his theological autobiography as he moves to Germany this year.

Paper Session - Friday, April 17, 2-5 pm

The Larger View

Doug McGaughey (Willamette)

Paper: "Studying Religion: More and Less than Mapping Territories" (pdf, doc)
Respondent: Herman Waetjen (SFTS)

Kristin Johnston Largen (Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, webpage)

Discussion will center on her book Finding God among Our Neighbors: An Interfaith Systematic Theology, which participants may wish to purchase (Amazon Link). A shorter synopsis of the book is also available (pdf, docx).

Respondents: Sharon Burch (Interfaith Counseling Center), Moses Penumaka (PLTS) and Daren Erisman (GTU)

Public Lecture - Friday, 7-8:30 pm

Public Lecture, Doug McGaughey (Willamette)

"A Life of Reflection Filled with Activities"

B.A. (history) Boston University 1969, M.Div. (summa cum laude) The Chicago Theological Seminary 1973; Ph.D. (under Paul Ricoeur) The Divinity School of the University of Chicago 1983.  By physical space:  Greensboro College (NC) 1983-1987; Willamette University (OR) 1988-2015); Tübingen, Germany 1979-1983; 1987-1988; 1992-93 (Fulbright at the Center for Reformation Studies); 1986-1987; 2006-2007; + many summers.  By intellectual foci in philosophical theology:  Heidegger and Phenomeology, D.F. Strauß and the Zürich Revolution (1839), Alois Biedermann, Classical Greek Philosophy, Greek and Latin Christianity in tension, Theory and Method in Religious Studies, Ernst Cassirer, Immanuel Kant, as well as work with, and translation of, Otfried Höffe (Tübingen).  By books: A trilogy in philosophical, systematic, and practical theology -- Strangers and Pilgrims:  On the Role of aporiai in Theology (1997); Christianity for the Third Millennium:  Faith in an Age of Fundamentalism and Skepticism (2001), Religion Before Dogma:  Groundwork in Practical Theology (2006); ed. with Cornelia Cyss,Crocker and David Waetjen, From Biblical Interpretation to Human Transformation:  Reopening the Past to Actualize New Possibilities for the Future,  A Festrschrift Honoring Herman C. Waetjen (2006); trans of Otfried Höffe’s Lebenskunst und Moral oder Macht Tugend Glücklich? (Virtue Make Us Happy?  The Art of Living and Morality) (2010).

Paper Session - Saturday, April 18, 9:30 am-noon

Comparative Approaches

Moses Penumaka (GTU)

Paper: "Shariradhari and Grandhsahib: Incarnation in Christian and Sikh faith traditions" ()
Respondent: TBD

Daren Erisman (GTU)

Paper: "ISIS, the Western Media, and the End Times: What we all might learn from a comparative study of the theologies of religions for Islam and Christianity" ()
Respondent: Cathy Hampton (GTU)


You may register at the meeting or online via the PCTS registration page.