Theological Conversation                                                                  

      with Jürgen Moltmann

          an Emergent Village Gathering

In what has become the hallmark event of Emergent Village, JoPa Productions is thrilled to welcome Jürgen Moltmann as the dialogue partner for the 2009 Emergent Theological Conversation. Moltmann, one of the premier theologians of the 20th century, is known as the “theologian of hope.” This will be a unique opportunity to sit in conversation with a renowned theologian who has shaped the theological landscape.

Since 2000, Emergent Village has facilitated an annual gathering of intimate conversation with some of the leading thinkers in theology and philosophy. Past interlocuters have included Nancey Murphy, Dallas Willard, Stanley Hauerwas, Walter Brueggemann, Miroslav Volf, John Caputo, and Richard Kearney. In each case, an academic luminary is put into conversation with pastors – no notes, no papers delivered, no formality – simply a conversation about things that matter.

Meeting September 9-11 in the Chicago area, and limited to 300 participants, the 2009 conversation with Jürgen Moltmann promises to continue this tradition of intriguing dialogue at the nexus of pastoral leadership and academic theology.

Sponsored by Abingdon Press.

Wednesday, September 9 – Friday, September 11
Cost - $195
Limited to 300 attendees

LOCATION:
First Presbyterian Church – Libertyville
219 W Maple Ave
Libertyville, IL 60048




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ABOUT Jürgen Moltmann:

Professor Moltmann is one of the foremost religious thinkers in the world. He is Professor of Systematic Theology Emeritus in the Protestant Faculty of the University of Tübingen, Germany. Born in Hamburg in 1926, Moltmann was raised in a secular environment. He was drafted into the German Army in 1944 and surrendered to British soldiers in 1945. The young Moltmann spent the next three years as a prisoner of war, moving from camp to camp, reading Nietzche and Goethe and distressed beyond all hope at the Nazi pogrom against the Jews. But in a Belgian POW camp, he met an American Army chaplain who gave him a copy of the New Testament and Psalms. He read it and found hope again. Or, rather, as he has said, “I did not find God; God found me.” After the war, Moltmann returned to Germany and immediately took up a study of theology. He received his doctorate in 1952 from the University of Göttingen, and subsequently pastored a church until taking his first teaching job in 1958. He was appointed the professor of systematic theology at Tübingen in 1967 and taught there until his retirement in 1994. Moltmann’s early trilogy – Theology of Hope (1964), The Crucified God (1972), and The Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975) – established him as one of the foremost theologians in the world. His method was intriguing, for in each book he looked at the entirety of Christian theology through a single prism, and he developed a focus on eschatological hope that would define his career. In later works, he developed a particularly interesting doctrine of the social, perichoretic Trinity. Since his retirement, Professor Moltmann has continued to write and lecture, exploring the interstices of theology and science and the challenges posed to Christianity by pluralism. He is married to theologian and co-author, Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel.

SCHEDULE
Wednesday, September 9
1:00pm: Registration Open (all afternoon)
3:00 – 5:00pm: Moltmann 101, led by Danielle Shroyer ($25 extra) Click here to sign-up for this session
7:00 – 9:30pm: Opening Session

Thursday, September 10
8:30am: Coffee
9:00 – 10:15am: Moltmann Session I
10:15 – 10:45am: Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00pm: Moltmann Session I (continued)
12:00 – 1:00pm: Lunch (provided)
1:00 – 2:30pm: Moltmann Session II
2:30 – 3:00pm: Coffee Break
3:00 – 4:30pm: Workshops (see below)

Friday, September 11
8:30am: Coffee
9:00 – 10:15am: Moltmann Session III
10:15 – 10:45am: Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00pm: Moltmann Session III (continued)

SPONSORS
Emergent Village, JoPa Productions

FAQ
Travel: The closest airport is O’Hare, and the next closest is Milwaukee. Chicago-Midway is a bit further.

Parking: The church has ample parking; carpooling is strongly encouraged. This summer, we will be setting up an online for ride-share and hotel-share postings.

Rideshares & Roomshares: We'd like to help keep this event affordable, so we encourage people to carpool and to share hotel rooms when possible.  We've set up an online forum to communicate these requests.  Please leave a comment at Rideshare or Hotel Roomshare to participate.

Meals: We will provide lunch on Thursday, plus coffee and snacks on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All other meals are on your own. Libertyville has a nice variety of restaurants, and we’ll be providing a list of our recommendations.

Cost: The registration cost is $195. There are no discounts, early bird rates, etc. We are committed to providing affordable events and straightforward pricing. $50 of the registration fee is non-refundable. After August 1, 2009, there are no refunds.

Pre-Event: On Wednesday afternoon, Danielle Shroyer will teach a two-hour course, "Moltmann 101."  Click here to register for this course. Danielle is the pastor of Journey-Dallas, and she has recently completed The Boundary-Breaking God: An Unfolding Story of Hope and Promise - a book about reading the biblical narrative through the (Moltmannian) lens of promise and hope. Moltmann 101 is an additional $25.

Lodging: We have reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express, 77 West Buckly Road, Libertyville, IL. We're expecting many of you to stay in the hotel, but of course, it's not required. The deal we've negotiated at the Holiday Inn Express is $109.99 per night for single or double occupancy. The hotel is nice and new, and it includes free internet access and a complimentary hot breakfast.

You are responsible to make your own reservations at the hotel. We suggest calling to make your reservation, (847) 549-7878. Tell them you are part of the JoPa/Emergent Group and they will give you the agreed upon rate.

Course Credit - D.Min. and CEU: Fuller Theological Seminary is offering course credit for the Theological Conversation.  Any D.Min. student at any ATS-accredited school can earn four credits -- register at Fuller's wesbite. Fuller will also grant Continuing Education Units -- attendees will just need to contact David Moore via email to purchase. CE credits equal .1 CEUs per hour of conference. The cost of the certificate is $20.00.

Workshops: A variety of break-out workshops will be offered on Thursday afternoon. They are

Free for All:  The Intersection of Biblical Text and Community Hermeneutics (Tim Conder): This conversation advocates for community hermeneutics by exploring our resistance to this practice,  describing the intimate communal relationship with the text by communities given the freedom to interpret, and discussing community/sacramental practices that liberate the text to become a living Word.

The Crucified God and A Crucified Creation: Evolution, Faith and Death (Daniel Harrell): Reconciling faith in God with biological evolution necessitates is accounting for billions of years of organic decay, species extinction and apparent waste. Good luck with that.

The Role of the Stranger in Christianity (Nanette Sawyer): This seminar will explore inter/personal objectification, social stigmatization, and the ugliness of cruelty—away from which Christ calls us in order to un-do estrangement and to enter the Kin-dom of God.

An Eschatological Epistomology of Pastoral Counseling (Lon Marshall): This workshop offers practical theory and practice in pastoral counseling from a future coming to present prospective to help counselees invision a hopeful future, thus enabling them to develop transforming strategies for life problems.

Finding our way into the future that wants to happen (Terry Chapman): One of Moltmann's core proposals is that God's promise to act in the future is as significant if not more significant that the fact the God has acted in the past. Using emerging social theory including Otto Sharmer's Theory U, as well as practical models of mutual discernment, we will explore how a future orientation can influence the way communities of faith make decisions, organize priorities and enliven mission.

Can We Bridge Social Science and the Theology of Hope? (Gerardo Marti): For most of the 20th century, the study of God and the study of humanity have been at odds.  The uneasy and often antagonistic relationship between sociology and theology might yet become productive - if we realign the paradigms guiding the conversation.  Jurgen Moltmann's theology offers several points of connection that can energize a new dialogue centered on a common concern over the future of humanity.

Affirming Plurality: Scripture, Tradition, and Emergent Village (John Franke): This workshop will explore the irreducible plurality of the Christian faith in relation to the principles articulated by Emergent Village, demonstrating that, contrary to the claims of critics, they constitute a faithful reflection of the mission of God in the world and are entirely in keeping with the witness of Scripture and the Christian tradition.

"Constructive Wine in Deconstructive Wineskins: Finding the Living Spirit in 'the Death of God'"  (Philip Clayton & Tripp Fuller) Some find in postmodern deconstruction the pure hand of Satan.  Other theologians seem only too happy to put Derrida over doctrine, Badiou over Bible, Foucault over faith. This dialogical workshop first gives an overview of the postmodern players positions. Interpreting the movement as the Spirit's call for fresh Christian reflection, we then answer the seven core Christian questions in the context of this brave, new (postmodern) world.

Reading: Prior to the event, We recommend Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, and The Trinity and the Kingdom as the best three to start with. If you're looking for something with less pages (and less theological abtraction!), try Jesus Christ for Today's World.

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Christianity21 Deal: We know that many of you feel torn about having to chose between the Theological Conversation and the Christianity21 event. So, we'd like to make it possible for you to be at both events if you want to. So, as a registrant for the Theological Conversation, we are offering you a $95 discount to Christianity21, bring your registration cost down to $100.

In order to do this we will have you pay your registration fee by cash, check, or credit card at check-in for Christianity21 (or you can do it at a special table at the Moltmann Conversation).

To get this reduced price:

Go to http://christianity21.com/ and follow the register link. (if you are using the same computer you registered for the Moltmann Conversation the site should recognize you and shorten the registration process)

Select the "I will send my payment by check" box (even if you are paying by credit card, this box will allow you to finish registering without payment at this time).

At the bottom of the registration page include "Moltmann" in the Registration Code area at the bottom of the registration page. (We will then be able to find your registration and give you the discount)Complete the rest of the registration processBring your check or credit card to the Moltmann Conversation or to Christianity21.