The Valpo Core

Christ College Symposium Series:

September 25, 2008, 6:30-7:30 pm, CCLIR Community Room

Meditation and Monasticism: Making the Ascetic Self in Thailand

with guest speaker Joanna Cook, George Kingsley Roth Research Fellow in Southeast Asian Studies,
Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, England

Buddhism, more overtly than other religions, is a system of self-cultivation—a set of techniques by which followers mold themselves into particular kinds of persons, with reference to ideals, relationships and practices drawn from Buddhist traditions as locally constituted. In a consideration of monastic practice and identity, Dr. Cook, who took ordination as a Thai Buddhist nun for four months during her undergraduate years and for a year while writing her doctoral dissertation, will explore the ways in which people make religious and cognitive concepts real through learned bodily and mental experiences. She will examine the ways in which the personally transformative process of becoming a Buddhist monastic is in direct dialogue with the concerns of community living and the broader issues of modernization and cultural change.

Sikh Festival

On the Occasion of the 300^th Anniversary of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Scriptures)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Valparaiso University Center for the Arts

 Jointly sponsored by:

The Surjit S. Patheja Chair in World Religions and Ethics, Valparaiso University

Provost’s Office, Valparaiso University

Northwest Indiana Sikh Religious Society (NWISRS), Crown Point

The full program:  Sikh Festival, Fall 2008 Program

The Conversations Project presents:

Voting: Privilege, Duty or Obligation?

The event will take place on Wednesday, September 24th, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Christopher Center Community Room. Panelists will start a conversation exploring the history and significance of voting rights in the United States. Audience members are encouraged to share their own views regarding how we should think of the right to vote.

The panel will include: Professor Jennifer Hora, VU Department of Political Science (moderator); Mayor Jon Costas, Mayor, City of Valparaiso; Jane Henegar, State Coordinator, Project Citizen; and Zora Ludwig, Librarian, Hammond Public Library.

Free and open to the public.

Food and drinks to follow.

More information: Official press release

Poster: Voting poster

Core students–see the information below for an interesting opportunity to broaden your own–and others’–cultural and linguistic understandings!

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Help International Students with their English at Conversation Group, Thursdays 4-5 in Mueller 112.

FUN & CHAT
Conversation Group is lively!
Your group leader will plan topics and activities for conversation. Just show up and expect some relaxation!
You will be making new acquaintances, as well as gaining more understanding of international affairs.

SEE YOU THIS WEEK!
Thursdays 4-5 in Mueller 112. 

VU’s Muslim Students Presents:

Ramadan

An opportunity to learn about Fasting, breaking of the fast and the whole month of contemplation

Tuesday, September 23 at 6:00pm

Community Room, Christopher Center

6:00 – 6:25PM        Presentation about Holy Ramadan

6:25 – 6:40PM        Short video clip about the practices and worshipping in Holy Ramadan

6:43 PM                    BREAKING FAST MOMENT

6:45 – 7:00 PM       ‘Almagrib’ – prayer (Muslims will perform the prayer together)

7:05 – 7:45 PM        Questions & Answers during Dinner (Middle-Eastern Food)

Flyer: Ramadan flyer

“Why We Think the Way We Do: How Darwinism Has Shaped Our Culture and Our Worldview”

A lecture by Dr. G. Thomas Sharp, followed by discussion

When: Monday, September 22nd
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: Union Great Hall
Sponsor: Campus Crusade for Christ

Dr. Sharp will give a talk on the history and philosophy of Darwinism and evolutionary theory. [The following is from his official website:] Dr. Sharp has achieved national and international recognition as a Christian educator, religious leader, businessman and author. He is the founder and chairman of The Creation Truth Foundation (CTF) Inc., and founder of the Institute of Biblical Worldview Studies (IBWS), both in Noble, Oklahoma and co-founder & President of the Museum of Earth History in Eureka Springs, AR.

Since the 1960’s, Dr. Sharp has dedicated his life to understanding and penetrating key problems facing the modern Christian society. As a result of the efforts in his research, he founded Creation Truth Foundation, Inc. in 1989. He now speaks internationally at churches, schools, universities and conventions. He has been a science educator since 1964, and has earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, a masters of Science at the University of Oklahoma, and an Ph.D. from the South Florida Bible College and Seminary with an emphasis in the philosophy of religion and science.

Official website: http://www.creationtruth.com/.

Kretzmann Lecture

“Can Vegetarianism Be Christian?”

Stephen H. Webb, Professor of Religion & Philosophy, Wabash College

Monday, September 22, 2008, at 6:30 pm in the Mueller Hall Refectory

Deli sandwiches provided before lecture.

The Kretzmann Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Theology, is endowed in memory of O. P. Kretzmann, who served as President of Valparaiso University from 1940 to 1968.

The movie “Fighting Goliath” will be shown in the Crusader Room in the Union at 7 pm on Thursday, September 18th. “Fighting Goliath” is a film created by the Redford Center (of Robert Redford fame) at Sundance and Alpheus Media and tells the story of a Texas community which fought the creation of new coal power plant. The film deals with the moral issues involved in the coal industry, the need to preserve our natural resources and the ways in which those working together were able to put aside their differences to fight for their beliefs and their community. More information is available at: http://www.fightinggoliathfilm.com/.

There will be a discussion of the issues in the film following the movie that will focus on such things as who is responsible for protecting creation (the earth), where the government’s role is as opposed to the individual’s role, and the universality of the issue (e.g., groups working together who usually might seem opposed to each other).

Sponsored by Residential Life.

Eric G. Adelberger, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Washington

A Public Lecture

Kress Lecture Series and

Christ College Symposium Series

Albert Einstein called his insight that gravitation is equivalent to an acceleration of the observer his “happiest idea.” Einstein’s idea formed the basis of the modern relativistic theory of gravity as a manifestation of curved space-time. Physicist Eric G. Adelberger’s lecture will describe the experimental evidence for this profound “Equivalence Principle,” which has relevance for exploring such elusive phenomena as antimatter and dark matter. The story of Einstein’s “happy” theory of gravity illustrates how profound ideas develop, how incorrect experimental conclusions can stimulate new insights, and how the best experimental techniques are sometimes the least obvious. Professor Adelberger’s talk is part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program.

When: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 6:30 pm

Where: Neils Science Center 234

LINK to Adelberger flyer

LINK to Adelberger bio

Fredrick Barton ’70, Fiction Writer and Film Critic, University of New Orleans

Thursday, September 11, 6:30-7:30 in the Christ College Refectory, Mueller Hall

Award winning film critic, novelist, and University of New Orleans faculty member Fredrick Barton will reflect on the evolving American spirit as manifest in contemporary film. Among the films he will examine are most recent Academy Award winners No Country for Old Men (best picture), and Taxi to the Dark Side (best documentary feature), along with this summer’s popular releases, The Dark Knight and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Professor Barton’s film commentary appears weekly on WYES-TV. His “Balcony Seats” film column in the newsweekly Gambit has won the Press Club of New Orleans’ annual criticism prize on eleven occasions. His campus appearance is co-sponsored by the Department of English Wordfest program.