Past Papers
If you have given papers for the Society
and want to post them here,
in .pdf, .html, or plain-text format,
I will be happy to do so.
Preferred format is HTML,
which is the lingua franca for web-browsers.
Sometimes translation from other formats is possible.
If you want a link here to your own web-page, just ask.
The list below is, like all historical documents,
to be taken with a grain of salt. So far as we know,
it is accurate, if also incomplete. We are open to correction.
(as of date unknown in the past;
GTU Library holdings; more recent programs below)
Papers in the Recent Past
2010 Spring
Joan Roughgarden: Animal Behavior papers and ``God, Science, Sex, Gender'';
Respondents were Oliver Putz and Tony Battaglia
Braden Molhoek, ``Undermining Determinism: Stuck Between a Rock and a
Sandy Place.''
Respondent was John Braverman, SJ, of the University of Santa Clara.
The Saturday Morning session was a discussion of Mark Graves' book,
Mind, Brain and the Elusive Soul (Ashgate Science and Religion Series).
Respondents were Alejandro Garcia-Rivera, Michael Dodds, and Andrew Porter.
2009 Fall
Oliver Putz,
``Do Apes Pray? The problem of Human Theological Uniqueness'';
respondent is Tony Battaglia.
(This paper had recently appeared in Zygon.)
Brian Green,
``Cognitive Science and Aristotelian Virtue: Nature and Telos''; respondent is Michael Dodds, OP.
Sheila Taylor,
``Original Sin and Narrative Orientation''; respondent is Herman Waetjen.
Jennifer Veninga, ``Imagination as an Instrument of Social Change:
Soren Kierkegaard and Percy Bysshe Shelley in Dialogue''; respondent is
Norman Gottwald.
2009 Spring
Henry Clark and Tony Battaglia, on Charles Taylor's {A Secular Age},
with Jack Crossley responding to both papers.
Autobiography by Jack Elliott
Chris Ocker on the Reformation and Culture,
with Anselm Ramelow responding.
Owen Thomas, ``The Origins of Modernity: An Alternate Interpretation of Western Cultural History,''
Malcolm Young, responding.
2008 Fall
The topic of the papers was Theosis.
Herman Waetjen,
"Incarnation, Theosis, and the Deliverance of God's Creation",
Durwood Foster responding.
Huston Smith,
"Theosis",
Owen Thomas responding.
Patricia Codron,
"Theosis Revisited,"
Gaymon Bennett responding.
2008 Spring
Jerome P. Baggett, ``Paradox: Tradition in a Post-Traditional Society'',
from Sense of the Faithful: An End and a Beginning
of American Catholicism (forthcoming).
Respondent: Doug McGaughey
Allison Tanner, ``Culture Wars in the Religious Sector: Myth or Reality?''
Respondent: Doug McGaughey
Jay Feist, ``The Habitus of Tradition''
Respondent: Doug McGaughey
Saturday, 10:00 am - noon; place TBA:
Lynne Gerber, ``Making Christian Bodies, Raising Christian Voices:
Parachurch Ministries, Cultural Capital, and Symbolic Power.''
Respondent Bruce Bramlett.
Jaime Wright, ``Believing the Body: Religious Experience and Body Modification.''
Respondent: Bruce Bramlett.
2007 Fall
The papers came from the Pacific and Asian theology group
at the Pacific School of Religion.
Fumitaka Matsuoka,
"The Wounded Soul Yet to be Healed:
Imagining a Way that Holds People Together ---
An Asian American Theological Conversation."
Jeffrey K. Kuan, "Reading Race Reading Ruth:
Toward an Asian American Reading of the Book of Ruth."
Richal A. R. Bundang,
"The Uses of Womanist Theology
and the Limits of Context in Liberation Ethics."
Timothy Tseng,
"Asian American Religions,"
from the Columbia Guide to Religion in American History,
Edward Blum and Paul Harvey, eds.
(Columbia University Press, 2009)
2007 Spring
The papers were all related to biology
or to the New Atheism.
Andrew Porter, "The New Atheism, Darwinizing Culture: What's Not Here?"
Ben Reist, respondent.
Ted Peters, "Atheism, Pluralism, and Islam:
How Can Christians Think about God?",
Sharon Burch, responding.
Douglas Adams did an impersonation of Henry Ward Beecher
after dinner, to the enjoyment of all.
Gaymon Bennett, "Biology and Evil as a problem for Theology Today,"
Bonnie Howe responding.
2006 Fall
The papers dealt with historical criticism.
Owen Thomas, "Historical Criticism, Faith, and Theology,"
Cornelia Cyss-Crocker responding.
Herman Waetjen, "Hermeneutics Under the Cogito
and Under the Sum."
Durwood Foster,
``Tillich and the Historical Jesus.''
2006 Spring
The topic was Liberal Theology.
Malcolm Young, "The Piety of Henry David Thoreau,"
Harlan Stelmach responding.
Jack Crossley, "The 'Elective Affinity' between Liberal Theology and Liberal Politics,"
Tony Battaglia, Cal State, Long Beach, responding.
Bill O'Neill, SJ, "Modernity and Its Religious Discontents: Religion and Public Reason,"
Bruce Bramlett responding.
2005 Fall
Owen Thomas ``Reflections on
Tikva Frymer-Kensky,
David Novak,
Peter Ochs,
David Fox Sandmel,
Michael A. Signer, eds.,
Christianity in Jewish Terms, Westview Press, ca 2001.
The respondent was Rabbi Ferenc Raj, of Congregation Beth El, in Berkeley.
Serguei Dolgopolskii, ``The Talmud as a Film: Christian Chronology
and Jewish Genealogy in Talmud-making.''
Respondent was Herman Waetjen.
After dinner Friday, Aaron Brody, Badé Museum Director
gave a slide show
about recent archeology in Israel.
Naomi Seidman,
``False Friends? Conversion and Translation from Jerome to Luther.''
Respondent was Durwood Foster.
2005 Spring
William Dyrness, on Evangelical Christianity in the Third World
Respondent: Bonnie Howe
Huston Smith, a chapter from
The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition
San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.
Respondent: Roger Corless
Delwin Brown, a chapter from
Linell Cady and Delwin Brown, eds.,
Religious Studies, Theology, and the University:
Conflicting Maps, Changing Terrain, SUNY Press, 2002
Respondent: Malcolm Young
The autobiographer was Sharon Burch.
2004 Fall
Herman Waetjen, on Elaine Pagels' recent book on the Gospel of Thomas
Harlan Stelmach,
Civil Religion in the Interfaith Context of Northern California
The autobiographer was Dennis Roby.
2004 Spring
Patrick Rogers Horn, Hegel's early work and its lasting influence
The Autobiographer was Alex Blair
Douglas McGaughey on Ernst Cassirer,
the 1929 Davos Conference, and its aftermath
in the estrangement between Continental and Analytic philosophy
2003 Fall
Owen Thomas, ``On Doing Theology during a Romantic Movement''
Autobiographer: Roger Corless
Denis Roby, ``The OBE, the NDE, and Thee'':
On the culture of Out-of-Body Experiences
[Formatting for the next paper is still preliminary:]
Sarah Lewis,
``Drop Kick Me Jesus, Through the Goal-Posts of Life;
Country Western Music Reveals Popular Christology''
2003 Spring
The topic of the meeting was Islam, past and present; the papers:
Giv Nassiri, the Qur'an and the Prophet
Durwood Foster, ``The Qur'an's indictment of the Christian Trinity''
Autobiographer: Sarah Lewis
Snjezana Akpinar, Islamic culture
Ibrahim Farajaj\260, Islam in America
2002 Fall
The topic of the meeting was recent writing by GTU authors.
Robert John Russell,
``Fruitful Interactions between scientific cosmology and Christian theology''
Ted Peters, Chapter 10 of
God -- The World's Future,
``Eschatology''
Don L. Gelpi, S.J.,
Chapter 8 of
The Firstborn of Many,
``Reformulating Chalcedon.''
Kenan B. Osborne, O.F.M,,
Chapter 3 of
Christian Sacraments in a Postmodern World,
``Sacramental Structures in the World at Large.''
2002 Spring
The meeting discussed excerpts from two books:
Barbara Green, O.P.,
Mikhail Bakhtin and Biblical Scholarship; An Introduction
(Atlanta: SBL, 2000).
Notes:
``What is Different About Reading, After Bakhtin?''
Gina Hens-Piazza,
The New Historicism
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002)
2001 Spring
Douglas McGaughey,
``History and Faith: On the Relationship Between Fact and Possibilities''
(In PDF format)
A. Durwood Foster and Sarah Lewis,
``The Historical Jesus, The Biblical Christ,
and the Living, Risen Christ''
Herman C. Waetjen,
``A Critique of the Three Quests of the Historical Jesus''
2000 Fall
Richard Keady, ``The Culture of Denial:
Computer Technology, Religion and the dangers of Root Metaphors''
Noreen Herzfeld, ``Creating in our own image;
Artificial intelligence and the imago dei''
2000 Spring
D. Z. Phillips, "Dead-Ends and Through Roads in the Philosophy of Religion"
Benjamin A. Reist, "Where do we go from here?"
Tony Battaglia, "Some Questions about Religion in Public Discourse,
or What is Religious Studies All About?"
Charles S. McCoy, "Reflections on Theology and Ethics at the Turn of the Millenia:
Retrospect and Prospect"
John B. Cobb, Jr., "Dead Ends and Fresh Directions"
Don H. Compier, "The Theological Legacy of Our Century: Two Theses for Discussion"
Edward Krasevac, OP, Reflections on fundamental moral theology
and on the relation between faith and history
Henry Clark, "St. Basil Meets the WTO: The Dark Side of Global Capitalism"
Huston Smith, "Methodology, Comparisons, and Truth",
printed in A Magic Still Dwells; Comparative Religion
in the Postmodern Age,
ed. Kimberley C. Patton and Benjamin C. Ray,
University of California Press, 2000.
1999 Fall
Sarah Lewis, ``Past Lives Therapy: A Challenge to the Christian Soul''
Bhante Seelawimala,
``The Early Buddhist Theory of Anatta (No-Soul)''
Owen Thomas, ``The Self as Interior in Christian Spirituality,''
in press, The Journal of Religion, 80:1,
January 2000.
1999 Spring
Jane Dillenberger, ``Warhol and Leonardo in Milan''
James William McClendon, ``Art as Cultural Telltale: Jazz''
John Dillenberger, slide presentation,
``Art and theology in the Reformation''
1998 Fall
Ted Peters, ``Resurrection of the Very Embodied Soul?''
Philip Clayton,
``Emergentist Monism in the Philosophy of Mind''
Carmichael Peters, ``One Mystery, Transcendent and Immanent''
1998 Spring
Marion Pauck,
"Wilhelm Pauck: Church Historian and Historical Theologian
1901-1981;
Precis of a Memoir."
The paper is available in published form in the
Zeitschrift fur Neuere Theologiegeschichte, April 1999.
Eugene Ludwig, OFM Cap, ``Working in the Intersection -- Elaine Pagels as Historian''
Claude Welch, ``Reflections on Jaroslav Pelikan
and the Problem of Writing the History of Theology''
Supplementary papers, by Claude Welch:
``The Problem of a History of Nineteenth-Century Theology: Welch Reconsidered,''
J. Rel. 1990
``Nineteenth Century: An Overview'', in Oxford Companion to Christian Thought
``The Perils of Trying to Tell the Whole Story:
Historiographical Issues in the Study of Nineteenth-Century Theology''
in Revisioning the Past: Prospects for Historical Theology,
ed. Mary Potter Engel and Walter E. Wyman Jr.
1997 Fall
Philip Clayton, ``Moltmann and the Question of Christian Panentheism''
Miroslav Volf, ``After Moltmann: The Future of Eschatology''
Charles S. McCoy, ``Jürgen Moltmann: His Life and Work''
1997 Spring
Owen Thomas, ``Thought and Life: The Cases of Heidegger and Tillich,''
published by the North American Paul Tillich Society, 1994 meeting.
Nancey Murphy, ``A Nonreductive Physicalist Account of the Person''
Joel B. Green, ``Bodies--That is Human Lives:
A Re-examination of Human Nature in the Bible''
1996 Fall
Carlos Piar, "Fundamentalism in Latin America and Democratic Ideals"
Clare Fischer, "Ethics of Responsibility: Simone Weil and Levinas"
Andrew P. Porter,
"Critical and Confessional Responsibility in Theology"
Nancy Howell's response,
at the same meeting, 1996/11/02:
Any typos are the responsibility of Andrew Porter,
who transcribed it.
1996 Spring
William C. Spohn, ``Spirituality and Ethics: Exploring the Connections''"
Lewis Mudge, ``Discipleship, Spirituality and Ethics in Today's Ecumenical Climate''
Panel Discussion: "The Consequence
of Christian Commitment in the Public Sphere"
Richard Wood, on Community Organizing
Jerome Bagget, on Habitat for Humanity
Donna MacKenzie, on Bread for the World
1995 Fall
Naomi Seidman, ``Theorizing Jewish Patriarchy in extremis''
Anne Wire, ``Wisdom is proved right by all her children: Theology for a Plural World''
Eloise Rosenblatt, Leanne Van Dyk, Nancy Howell,
``Women's Experience: Between a Rock and a Hard Place'', panel discussion
1995 Spring
Douglas McGauhey,
from Strangers and Pilgrims:
Faith in a Post-Metaphysical Context
Don H. Compier, ``Theology and Recent French Philosophy''
Wittgenstein, Religion, and Anglo-American Philosophical Culture''
William O'Neill, SJ, ``The Ethics of Discipleship: An Essay in Theological Hermeneutics''
1994 Fall
Ted Peters, ``Genes, Theology and Social Ethics: Are We Playing God?"
Karen Lebacqz, "Fair Shares: Is the Genome Project Just?"
1994 Spring
Charles S. McCoy, ``Ethics and Theology for the 21st Century:
A Centennial Appraisal of H. Richard Niebuhr''
James M. Gustafson, ``Making Theology Intelligible:
An Interpretation of H. Richard Niebuhr''
Judith N. Scoville, ``Reverence for Sparrows and Stars:
The Ecological Promise of H. Richard Niebuhr''
William C. Spohn, SJ, ``H. Richard Niebuhr and American Ethics:
The Interaction Between Augustinian Piety and Experiential Naturalism''
Andrew P. Porter
"The Fertility of Niebuhr's Idea of Monotheism"
1993 Fall
James B. Robinson, ``The Q Trajectory: Between John and Matthew via Jesus''
This appeared in The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in honor of Helmut Koester,
ed. Birger Pearson, Fortress Press, 1991
Panel:
Joel Green
John Donahue
Linda Malony
Anne Wire
A. Durwood Foster, ``The Jesus of Theology''
Panel:
George Cummings
Edward Krasevac
David Batstone
Don Compier
1993 Spring
Claude Welch, ``Remarks on the World Parliament''
Margaret Dornish, ``The World's Parliament of Religions
and Orientalist and Occidentalist Strategies''
Keith Naylor, ``The Black Presence at the World's Parliament of Religions, 1893''
Judith Berling, ``Hospitality and the Chinese Religious Field''
Chris Joachim, ``The Contemporary Confucian-Christian Encounter:
InterReligious or IntraReligious Dialogue?''
1992 Fall
Tony Battaglia, ``Natural Law in a Pluralistic Time''
Rebecca Parker, ``Principles for Evaluating Economics''
John Noonan, ``The End of Free Exercise / Religious Freedom?''
Carol S. Robb, ``Principles for a Woman-Friendly Economy''
1991 Spring
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, ``Feminist Biblical Interpretation''
Marjorie Suchocki, ``A Feminist View of God''
Fall 1990
Ted Peters, ``The Systematic Theology of John Cobb''"
Judith Berling, ``Cobb on Buddhism, Dialogue, and Interior Relations''
Panel: ``Cobb on Theology and Economics'',
John Coleman, SJ, and Carol Robb
Spring 1990
John Dillenberger, ``Protestant Reformations''
Guy Lytle, ``Catholic Reformations''
David Stagaman, ``Current Roman Catholic/Protestant Dialogue''
Fall 1989
Richard Keady and B.B. Zikmund,
``Theological and Academic Study of Religion''
A. Bloom and Durwood Foster,
``History of Religions; Dialogue of Religions''
Robert J. Russell and David Griffin, ``Religion and Science''
Spring 1989
James Sanders, ``Canon (OT)''
David Biale, ``Biblical Canon and Rabbinic Tradition''
Steven Knapp, ``Tradition and Canon''
Evelyn Thibeaux, ``Feminist Perspectives on Canon''
1975
Claude Welch on H. Richard Niebuhr,
"The Making of an American Mind?
1973
Edward Hobbs,
"Theological and Religious Pluralism: Pluralism in the Biblical Context."
It is reprinted in Hermeneutics and Pluralism, ed. Wilhelm Wuellner
and Marvin Brown (Berkeley, Center for Hermeneutical Studies, 1983), pp. 63-81.