Theology Department

Synod on the Family Forum, Nov. 12

November 6, 2015

Faculty from the theology department will engage in a forum-style discussion on the outcomes and implications of the 2015 Synod on the Family on Thursday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m., in Shiley Hall Room 301. Many complex issues are being addressed by the Synod, including the status of divorced and remarried Catholics and that of homosexual members of the Church; artificial birth control in married life; issues of economic justice and immigration; as well as other topics pertaining to family life situations in a wide variety of cultural settings in the contemporary world. Starting with the historical context of the Synod, the forum will address the complex ethical issues and problems pertaining to these topics.

For more information contact the theology department at x7274 or theo@up.edu.

“Unfolding Sacred Scripture” with Michael Cameron, Nov. 9

November 6, 2015

UP theology professor Michael Cameron shares from his new book, Unfolding Sacred Scripture: How Catholics Read the Bible, on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7:15 p.m., in the Pilot House Bookstore, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Constitution on Divine Revelation from the Second Vatican Council. In his book, Cameron presents a distinctively Catholic way of understanding Scripture as an “audible sacrament” – a way that Christ offers himself to humankind in the form of spoken words. The event is free and open to all, and is sponsored by the Garaventa Center. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact the Garaventa Center at 7702 or garaventa@up.edu.

Christina Astorga Lecture, Oct. 27

October 23, 2015

Moral theologian and theology chair Christina Astorga will present “Whatever Happened to Mortal Sin?” on Tuesday, October 27, at 7:15 p.m., in Franz Hall Room 120. She will draw from her recent prize-winning book, Catholic Moral Theology and Social Ethics: A New Method. The lecture is free and open to all, and is sponsored by the Garaventa Center. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact the Garaventa Center at 7702 or garaventa@up.edu.

Family Open Forum Inaugurated Sept. 18

October 23, 2015

On September 18, Michael Cameron, Will Deming, and Rev. Tom Hosinski, C.S.C., theology, offered the opening session in St. Pius X Parish’s “Family Open Forum,” a year-long partnership between the University’s master of arts in pastoral ministry program and theology department and St. Pius X Parish. Jaime Sevilla, director of Latino ministries at St. Pius and a second-year student in the MAPM program, designed the program to bring the Spanish and English speaking communities together in addressing central controversial issues of the Catholic theological tradition that sometimes confuse today’s faithful.

Cameron, Deming, and Hosinski presented initial overviews of their theological sub-disciplines, and then responded to questions from the audience of 260 parishioners about the origins of the universe and human beings from historical, biblical, and scientific perspectives. The event marks a milestone in an evolving, mutually enriching relationship between the University’s graduate pastoral ministry program and the rapidly growing Latino Catholic community. Sessions will continue every other month until September 2016.

For more information, contact the theology department at 7274 or theo@up.edu.

Theology Thursday Lecture With Rene Sanchez, Oct. 8

September 25, 2015

Theology professor Rene Sanchez will present “The Prophetic Church and the McDonaldization of Society” as part of the theology department’s Theology Thursdays lecture series on Thursday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. The lecture is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Sanchez will explore a social phenomenon called the “McDonaldized society,” and the question of what it means to be a prophetic church in this society. Using the work of sociologist George Ritzer, which analyzes this social phenomenon and its four dimensions of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control, Sanchez will reflect on how McDonaldization creates a human condition of numbness and inauthenticity. Drawing from the concept of “dangerous memories” from Johann Baptist Metz and the concept of “prophetic pathos” from Walter Bruggemann, Sanchez will discuss how a prophetic Church can confront this phenomenon and offer an alternative way of being human.

For more information contact the theology department at 7274 or theo@up.edu.

UP To Host National College Theology Society Conference

May 4, 2015

Theologians from across the nation will visit the University of Portland campus for the National College Theology Society Conference on Thursday, May 28, 2015. The conference theme is “An Unexpected Wilderness: Seeking God on a Changing Planet.” The opening plenary talk, “Resilience: Virtue in the ‘Unexpected Wilderness,’” will be delivered by Agnes Brazal of Saint Vincent School of Theology (Philippines) at 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center Auditorium, followed by a reception in Bauccio Commons beginning at 9 PM. Faculty and Administrators who wish to attend the plenary talk and the reception on Thursday evening are asked to RSVP to Carol Welch, university events, at 7523 or welch@up.edu no later than May 15.

Early Christianity Scholars Meet On UP Campus

April 27, 2015

On Saturday, April 18, eleven scholars from Portland, Eugene, Tacoma, and surrounding areas met on the UP campus for the second annual meeting of the Northwest Early Christian Studies Seminar, according to Michael Cameron, theology. Early Christian Studies deals with the history, culture, thought, and practice of Christianity from about 100-800 C.E. The group heard papers by leading scholars from the University of Oregon, Pacific Lutheran University, and the University of Portland. The group, grateful for UP’s springtime beauty and hospitality, asked to return for its third meeting in April 2016.

For more information, contact Cameron at cameronm@up.edu.

Faith and Formation Ambassador Program

September 8, 2014

A new program was launched this fall to bring intentional student leadership around faith and community to the University’s residence halls. The Faith and Formation Ambassador Program is a redesign of the Faith & Leadership House that had existed on campus since 2006. Rather than placing student leaders in a single community home, this new program seeks to integrate them into the residence hall communities to foster the Christian community of the University of Portland within the context of each hall.

In the program’s inaugural year, there are 14 students serving as faith and formation ambassadors across campus, within at least one in each residence hall. Through the collaboration of the theology department, residence life, the Moreau Center, and campus ministry, faith and formation ambassadors are supported in their charge to “actively and critically grow in faith, build community within a particular residence hall and throughout the University, and serve others.” Faith and formation ambassadors also participate in a required one-credit course, Theology 347, which provides them the opportunity to reflect critically and theologically on the service they are providing in the halls.

For more information contact Beth Barsotti, campus ministry, at 7463 or barsotti@up.edu.

UP Team On Expedition To Ancient Roman City

July 21, 2014

Fr. Richard Rutherford, C.S.C., emeritus theology, is leading a team of UP faculty, alumni, and supporters on an expedition to the old Roman city of Pollèntia near Alcúdia in Mallorca, Spain, this month. The UP team is working by invitation from the Consortium of the Roman City of Polléntia and in collaboration with Miguel Cao from the University of Barcelona. The team’s work includes mapping the farm site Ca’n Fanals, partially excavated in the 1920s and known to contain a necropolis dating to the Roman Republic and Christian antiquity; aerial photography of the Polléntia excavations and the buried necropolis; and confirmation of earlier excavations in Ca’n Fanals. A test excavation trench predicted to intersect previously mapped features shows great promise, as a known wall has already been uncovered. As the UP team heads home, Fr. Rutherford and colleagues are already planning to raise funds to take a team of students back to Pollèntia in Summer 2015. Find more information, including photos and day-to-day stories, at http://wordpress.up.edu/pollentia/.

Theology Thursday Lecture

April 8, 2013

Sr. Kathleen McManus, OP, theology, will present “Light of Nations? Reading Lumen Gentium in the 21st Century” as part of the Theology Thursdays lecture series on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 310. The lecture is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Lumen Gentium (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council, set forth a prophetic vision of the Church as sign and source of communion for the world. After tracing the evolution in ecclesiology that paved the way for Vatican II, and examining the theological evolution of the document itself, McManus will draw upon insights emerging from the interface of theology and evolutionary science in order to explore the fertile promise of Lumen Gentium for today’s paradoxically globalized yet painfully fragmented world.

For more information contact the theology department at 7274 or theo@up.edu.