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International experts on feminism and religion to speak at university

Posted on 20/08/09
University of Leicester

Feminism is to come under the spotlight at a public lecture and a one-day conference at the University of Leicester, when two internationally acclaimed theologians will be revealing new insights into feminist and other issues surrounding Christianity.

The public lecture, Art History, Religion, Feminism: Contemporary Perspectives will be given by Dr Rita Nakashima Brock of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, California, at 7pm on Monday 7th September at Vaughan College, Leicester.

Dr Brock, co-author of Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of this World for Crucifixion and Empire, will summarise the main argument of her book, co-written with Rebecca Ann Parker, in which they suggest that Christianity has overemphasized its alliance with power and domination, particularly in the way it has portrayed and used the cross of Jesus in the second half of its history.

The book offers a fresh reading of the history of Christian art, arguing that images of crucifixion were barely used in the first 1000 years of Christianity. What Christianity seeks to promote is much more fundamentally to do with images of paradise.

Christianity, the authors suggest, is meant to have a much more direct impact on how we live life now than has often been supposed by Christians themselves, and than is often supposed by those who are critical of Christianity, or of religion in general.

Dr Brock will return to the podium the following day, Tuesday 8th September, to speak at the one-day conference, Whatever Happened to Feminism?, where she will reflect on how her feminist commitments may have influenced and shaped the research project which led to Saving Paradise.

Also a keynote speaker at the conference will be Professor Elaine Graham, a UK theologian of international standing, who will speak on the current state of feminism in society and in University life.

Professor Graham is an Anglican who has been especially involved for many years in assessing the contribution which Christian faith and practice can make to social and political life.

She is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Social & Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester and among other issues, her academic career has looked at the impact of gender theory on the discipline of pastoral studies within the Western Christian tradition.

Her most recent publications are: Words Made Flesh: Writings in Pastoral and Practical Theology (SCM Press 2009) and (with Stephen Lowe) What Makes a Good City?: Public Theology and the Urban Church (Darton Longman and Todd 2009)

The one-day conference will provide an opportunity for participants to assess where feminism is up to, what its achievements are and the challenges to it, using Dr Brocks project as a case-study. Similarities and differences between the UK and US contexts will also feature.

Dr Angela Smith, a tutor in art history within the Leicester Institute of Lifelong Learning based at Vaughan College, and Rev Dr Vaughan S Roberts, Vicar of St Marys, Warwick, and a writer on Christianity, the arts and culture, will offer responses to Dr Brocks book at the public talk on 7th September and will take part in discussions at the conference on 8th September.

Dr Clive Marsh, Director of Learning and Teaching and Course Director, BA Humanities, at the Leicester Institute of Lifelong Learning, commented: Its always exciting to bring internationally-recognised academics to Leicester, and to enable critical dialogue to take place between people from different backgrounds and academic disciplines.

To do this and also to make such events open to the general public is what makes the Institute of Lifelong Learning so important.

The lecture and the conference are typical of the public face of the University of Leicester Institute of Lifelong Learning, which aims to make intellectually-stretching, university-level enquiry available to as wide an audience as possible.

These inter-disciplinary events, linking art history, the critical study of religion and the development of culture, also demonstrate what the part-time BA (Humanities) programme offers to students, many of whom come late to university study.

Through their participation in the programme, the students learn more about the culture (art, history, architecture, literature, religion) in which they have been living their lives, and thus learn more about themselves in the process.

A new intake onto this programme will arrive in September. There are Open Days for this and for all of the Institutes programmes for 2009-10 on Sept 8th and 10th (5pm 8pm in each case) at Vaughan College.

The public lecture, Art History, Religion, Feminism: Contemporary Perspectives will take place on Monday 7th September between 7.00-9.00pm at Vaughan College, St Nicholas Circle, Leicester LE1 4LB.

The lecture is free of charge, but prior registration is requested through Simon Ball, tel 0116 242 2603, email sdb26@le.ac.uk.

The one-day conference, Whatever happened to Feminism? will take place on Tuesday 8th September from 9.30am-3.00pm, also at Vaughan College. For details of fees and registration for this event please also contact Simon Ball.

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