Category Archives: Identity

Science and Faith in Canada (May 11–14, 2018 Conference at Trinity Western University, Langley, BC)

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The Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation is holding a conference dealing with science and Christianity in Canada, co-hosted by Trinity Western University, on May 11–14, 2018. This conference will include Canadians in science, speakers dealing with issues relevant to the theme, and talks on science and Christian faith in general.

I will be one of the keynote speakers (on “Human Distinctiveness and the Origin of Evil in Biblical and Evolutionary Perspectives”), along with University of British Columbia president Santa Ono (on “Science And Faith: Servant Leadership and the Secular University”), Dennis Danielson (on “Copernicus and the Structure of the Universe”), Robert Mann (on “The Edge: Physics and Theology”), Kathryn Hayhoe (on “Christians, Climate Science, and our Culture”), and Janet Danielson (whose musical piece “Six Pieces of a Reverberant Cosmos” will be performed). There will also be the screening of a movie by Loren Wilkinson (professor emeritus at Regent College), called “Making Peace With Creation” followed by a panel discussion.

Breakout Sessions

Fifty breakout sessions are scheduled on topics like artificial intelligence, creation care, origins, and more. There is even a session entitled “A Physicist, Geographer, and a Biologist Go Into a Church, and” (which I’d like to hear).

I happen to know a number of the presenters, including Gord Carkner, who will be speaking on “Scientism and the Search for an Integrated Reality,” Doug Harink, whose talk is entitled “The Burning Bush, the Theotokos, and the Theology-Science Relationship,” and Janet Warren (president of the Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation), who will be addressing “Addiction: Discomfort and Denial.”

Sky Gala

There is a “Sky Gala” on Saturday evening, which is open to the public. The evening features a talk by renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (Texas Tech) and a cosmos-themed concert by Janet Danielson (Lecturer and Instructor, School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University) and the Isotone Ensemble (Oakridge, Tennessee). The evening will conclude with a reception featuring hors d’oeuvres.

Conference Schedule

The conference, running from Friday dinner through Monday lunch, will include morning devotions and a Sunday morning worship service.

You can download the entire conference schedule of keynote speakers and breakout sessions here.

Registration

For further conference details, including registration, see the CSCA conference website.

You can see a video with registration instructions here.

Early-bird rates end March 31.

For those unable attend the entire conference, single-day tickets are available, and the Saturday evening gala can be attended as a stand-alone event. The conference fees are low to moderate, with discounted on- and off-campus lodging options. Those who also attend the nearby Regent College Pastors’ Conference (May 9-11, ending with lunch) will receive a 25% conference registration discount for both conferences.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available to cover student attendance & travel. Registration includes meals.

For questions, please email Mark McEwan.

Plenary Presenters


Dennis Danielson, Ph.D.
(Professor and Former Chair, Department of English, University Of British Columbia)

Janet Danielson, M.F.A.
(Lecturer and Instructor, School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University)

Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D.
(Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University)

Robert B. Mann, Ph.D.
(Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo)

J Richard Middleton, Ph.D.
(Professor of Biblical Worldview & Exegesis, Northeastern Seminary)

Santa J. Ono, Ph.D.
(President & Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia)

Walking and Driving while Black—Differences within America and between America and Jamaica

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Here are two tales of police encounters, both by black men in America.

One is by Esau McCaulley, my former colleague who taught New Testament at Northeastern Seminary (now at Wheaton College). The other is by Garnette Cadogan, a writer friend who moved from Jamaica to the USA some years ago.

Driving while Black

In “Driving while Black,” Esau describes his experiences with the police as a black man driving in Alabama, his home state. He then contrasts this with his later (quite different) experiences in New England.

Esau’s piece was published in July 2016 on an Anglican website called Covenant.

Walking while Black

In “Walking while Black,” Garnette describes his love of walking, which began on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, when he was a schoolboy. He then describes his very different experience walking the streets of New Orleans, and later New York.

Garnette’s piece was originally published in October 2015 in the inaugural issue of Freeman’s (an anthology of writings collected by John Freeman); the theme of this issue was Arrival. The piece was re-published in July 2016 on the website of Literary Hub.and also in The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race (Scribner, 2016), ed. Jesmyn Ward.

Each of these is well worth reading.

You can access them on the web—Esau’s here, Garnette’s here.

Or you can download them as PDFs—Esau’s here, Garnette’s here.

I’d be interested in your thoughts; and I’m sure the authors would be too.

You can hear a PRI interview with Garnette Cadogan about his walking experiences here.

And you can watch his TEDx talk on walking here.

A Rastafarian Cultural Journey (What I Did after the Theology Conference in Jamaica)

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In my last blog post I reported on the theology conference on the theme of “Biblical Interpretation for Caribbean Renewal” that I helped organize at the Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) in Kingston (September 8-9, 2017).

A Visit to Culture Yard in Trench Town

The conference began Friday night and ended late Saturday afternoon.

Then on Sunday four of us from the conference went  on an informal tour of two famous Rastafari sites. The four were Garnett Roper (the president of JTS), Winston Thompson (vice-president of JTS), Christopher Duncanson-Hales (a presenter from Canada, who had made Rastafari his primary research over the years), and myself.

First, we visited Culture Yard, the heritage site that was the small complex of buildings Bob Marley used to live in when he was just starting out in Kingston. This was the famous “government yard in Trench Town” mentioned in the song “No Woman No Cry.”

One of the rooms around this central open “yard” (courtyard) was the kitchen with Marley’s “single bed” (mentioned in the song “Is This Love“).

Even Marley’s first (well-used) guitar was preserved for visitors to see.

Our tour guide was a Rasta named Stone Man, because of his stone carvings with mystical glyphs and spiritual meanings.

A Journey to the Historic Rastafarian Camp at Pinnacle

After Culture Yard, we journeyed into the Jamaican countryside, to the parish of St. Catherine, to visit Pinnacle, the site of one of the earliest Rastafarian camps in Jamaica.

So named because it is situated on a hilltop, Pinnacle was founded in 1940 by one of the first Rastafarian preachers, Leonard Howell (sometimes called the First Rasta, though he had no dreadlocks).

Pinnacle soon became a model for other Rasta settlements throughout Jamaica, focused on self-sustaining agriculture (which also included ganja cultivation). Partially because of the ganja, but also because of suspicions that Howell was sowing sedition (this was before the wider culture and the police came to understand Rastafari), Pinnacle was raided a number of times by the police in the nineteen forties and fifties. After the final raid, the Rastafarians who lived there dispersed throughout the island.

It has only recently been restored as a Rastafarian Heritage Site and Cultural Centre by the government of Jamaica.

While at Pinnacle, we met the Rasta who takes care of the grounds, including the ruins of the house where Leonard Howell used to live.

He explained to us the history of Pinnacle, including its current use from time to time for Rastafarian meetings with Nyabingi drumming and chanting.

Although Nyabingi is the name of one of the Mansions (groups or denominations) of Rastafari (“In my Father’s house are many mansions”; John 14:2), Nyabingi is also a form of rhythmic drumming and chanting used in Rastafari ceremonies. “Rastaman Chant” by Bob Marley and the Wailers is based on the Nyabingi classic, “Babylon Throne Gone Down.”

In a follow-up post, I describe a research project (and book) on Rastafari that I may be involved in, spearheaded by Christopher Duncanson-Hales, the Canadian presenter at the JTS theology conference who has made Rastafari his major research over the years.