Canadian Theological Society
Société théologique canadienne

Papers

Magi Abdul-Masih (St. Mary's University), "Orientalism in Theology: Jesus' Representation"

This paper will explore the issue of Orientalism in theology and more specifically in the representation of Jesus. I will analyse the different manifestations of orientalism in theology, and its ramifications to theological method and hermeneutics. The contention of this paper is that the orientalism in theology and more specifically the orientalist representation of Jesus plays a very major role in the political arena especially in Palestine-Israel conflict.

Mary Ann Beavis (St. Thomas More College), "The Influence of Feminist Theology on Canadian Women Artists" (Work In Progress)

The study will be based on surveys (undertaken in 2004 and 2005) of over 70 Canadian women artists who integrate biblical, religious and spiritual subjects and themes into their work. The comments of those who explicitly acknowledge the influence of feminist theology/thealogy on their work will be examined: Which theologians have been most influential? How are feminist theological themes expressed in their art? Which feminist theological themes and subjects are the most meaningful to them? Representative art works will be analysed, in order to sketch the outlines of a "feminist theology of art" in the Canadian context.

Peter Bisson (Campion College, University of Regina), "Cosmopolitan Identities of Engaged Christianity: An Ascension-based Analysis"

This paper will use a little-invoked Christian soteriological category, the ascension of Christ, to analyze cosmopolitan types of religious identity generated by a particular socially engaged Christian practice, that of the Jesuits and their recent (1975) comprehensive commitment to social justice in the service of faith. This commitment has generated new social practices which are now beginning to generate new spiritual/ritual practices: a combination of communal spiritual discernment and reading the signs of the times, combined, in turn, with traditional social analysis and activism. These presuppose the active presence of Christ in the world, who is the ascended Christ, the universality of which relativizes traditional Christian identity boundaries through a sense of mission that responds to the presence of God, not to God's absence, thereby making cosmopolitanism religious. The possible connections between faith-based social activism and the ascension of Christ present new possibilities for constructing the Christian paschal mystery and religious identity in more cosmopolitan ways.

Darren Dahl (McMaster University), "On the Gift and Reciprocity: Marion contra Milbank"

The popularity of the Radical Orthodoxy movement within contemporary theology has brought the work of John Milbank to centre stage. At the heart of his theological project is the notion of the gift. Such a notion, however, is heavily indebted to the work of Jean-Luc Marion. This paper will explore Milbank's theological project from the perspective of his dispute with Marion regarding the relationship between the gift and reciprocity. It will argue that Marion's unilateral understanding of the gift does not preclude the possibility of reciprocity but, in fact, establishes the interruption that makes possible an authentically theo-logical reciprocity. From this vantage point, the paper will argue that Milbank's theological project as a whole suffers from an inability to think through the paradoxical and explosive dimensions of Christian revelation. Contrary to Milbank's charge, then, Marion's thought will be shown to offer a more theologically rewarding resource.

Anne Marie Dalton (St. Mary's University), "Canadian Mines and Christian Resistance" (Work In Progress)

Canada is one of the most active mining countries in the world. In recent years, there has been an increased awareness and considerable resistance by Christian churches to apparent environmental and human rights violations by Canadian mining operations in various countries. Guatemala, Peru, Philippines, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guyana and Mexico are just a sample of the countries in which complaints about the mining practices of fully- or partially-owned Canadian mining companies have occurred. Christian churches and organizations have written letters and documents of advocacy on behalf of local people affected by mines, produced documents analyzing and critiquing the practices of these mines, and developed web and print materials to increase the awareness of Canadians of Canada's mining presence in poor, aboriginal, and marginalized communities around the world. This paper will document and analyse, theologically, the responses of Christian churches--especially Canadian churches (e.g., United Church of Canada, Roman Catholic Church, Kairos)--to environmental and human rights violations by Canadian mining companies.

Nadia Delicata (Regis College, University of Toronto), "Towards a Theology of Friendship in the 'Global Village'"

In the 1960s, Marshall McLuhan postulated that we are fast becoming a 'global village', characterized by implosion and connectivity, as media technologies are 'extending' our very selves, to reach out, in space and time, to one another. We are shifting from an age of literacy, of systemic organization and detached individualism, to an age of electricity, of instantaneous web-like interactions. Yet what does this mean for our human flourishing? What does this shift in consciousness mean theologically? In this paper I follow McLuhan in exposing how the history of humanity is a process of dramatically extending to one another. Yet, as René Girard has shown, this 'extending' reflects our natural inclination to give form to our amorphous desire through imitating the other's desire--a 'triangular desire' that, in mutually attempting to forcefully seize an alternate ego, inevitably collapses to rivalry and violence. This dynamic can be reversed, however, and our human nature transcended, in an ethic of kenosis, of self-offering, that is the gift of love, the gift of the Spirit, who in hovering over us, invites us to be transformed into the likeness of the fullness of divinized humanity, the Christ. In being completely desirous of the Father, and in offering his Spirit in his life, death and resurrection, Christ models the mutuality of friendship, the mirror in creation of God's triune koinonia. In this age of globalization, our human flourishing can only be in friendship--a mutual self-offering, mentored by Christ, in the power of the Spirit--that challenges both the individualism of the literate age, and the herding of the electric age.

Christopher Duncanson-Hales (St. Paul University), "We Remember Zion: Rastafari Theological Reflections on the City"

Kingston, Jamaica has the reputation as one of the most violent cities in the Western hemisphere. Violence is increasingly a reality of urban dwelling not isolated to the inner-cities of the developing world. One need only turn to the Boxing Day shooting in downtown Toronto as evidence of the paradoxical dialectic of lamentation and celebration in the city. It is from this context that Rastafari contributes an important theological reflection to the theme "City: A Festival of Knowledge." Rastafari encounters the dialectic of lamentation and celebration through the hermeneutic appropriation of the biblical paradigms of Babylon and Zion. Through Rastafari art, ritual, and music, this paper will explore Rastafari theological reflections on oppression and liberation as manifestations of the biblical cities of Babylon (oppression and exile) and Zion (repatriation and salvation). It is through these paradigms that Rastafari prophetically challenges the oppression and violence of Babylon while longing for and celebrating the eventual return to Zion.

Bart Ehrman (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), "The Alternative Vision of the Gospel of Judas" (CSPS/CSSR/CSBS/CTS Joint Lecture)

The Gospel of Judas has been a media sensation, but it is also a serious document of real historical significance. While its closest ties may be with various Sethian forms of Gnosticism, it has clear alliances with other forms of early Christian thought (Valentinian, Thomasine, Marcionite); indeed, there appear to be remnants of Jewish apocalpytic theology in the surviving text. This paper will assess the Gospel of Judas to see what it can tell us about the multi-form character of Christianity in the second century.

Nancie Erhard (St. Mary's University), "Are We a 'We' Yet? The Emergence of Multi-faith Progressive Political Coalitions"

In the common space of our multicultural cities, the role of religion in the public sphere has become a matter of controversy, from the public reference to religious holidays to questions of sexuality, law, and war. In the US, Christian liberals and progressives have begun to engage in multi-faith, broad-based political coalitions (e.g., The Network of Spiritual Progressives, Faithful America) in response to the strong public voice of the religious right. Sometimes in direct response to the God-talk employed by the political right, religious language is deliberately being used publicly in a more progressive political way. What kind of "public theology" fuels and emerges from such interfaith engagement? Are people trying to find common religious moral language across religious difference, finding comparative equivalents in diverse religious systems, or speaking the language of their distinctive traditions in a context of respect for difference? What obstacles are people encountering? What does this grass-roots phenomenon mean for the development of North American theo-ethics? What can Canadians learn from and bring to this kind of engagement?

Alyda Faber (Atlantic School of Theology), "The Visibility of 'Indecent' Pain: Virginia Woolf and the Raverats"

How does the "language game of God" (Eric Santner) function in a vital way for Virginia Woolf despite her clear refusal of belief in God? Many scholars have addressed this issue. Anne E. Fernald argues that for Woolf, literature functions as a shifting, variable response to an instinctual human desire to believe. George M. Johnson contends that Woolf uses religious language to explore inchoate or untracked human desires. Elizabeth J. Gualtieri-Reed reads Mrs. Dalloway as Woolf's elaboration of an emanicipatory "secularized, feminized religion" that seeks to create (and find) a more vibrant life. I develop the implications of this current in Woolf scholarship with a reading of the recently published Woolf & the Raverats: A Different Sort of Friendship (2003) through Eric L. Santner's compelling argument in The Psychotheology of Everyday Life. To elaborate the distinctive 'friendship' referred to in the title, I draw upon Woolf's notions of 'shock' and 'horror' as analogous to Santner's exposition of Franz Rosenzweig's modernist understanding of 'revelation.' As a "shock of love," revelation opens the possibility of responsiveness to oneself and to other humans in their insistent, unconscious, unintentional and idiosyncratic repetitiveness (the metaethical self), the symptomatic excess of always unfinished efforts at social legitimation (personality). This responsiveness is communicated in the correspondence between Woolf and Gwen and Jacques Raverat in highly literate 'gossip' that also gestures toward acutely painful facts or 'secrets,' that Gwen, after Jacques' death (at age 40 of multiple sclerosis), calls "indecent" pain. Their letters, I argue, illuminate how the "shock of love" transforms friendship into something that Woolf says is "final, in some way, enduring; gigantic; & beautiful." These 'spasmodic' openings of love do not create a new belief, but revitalize living "in the midst of life" (Santner).

Jessica Fraser (St. Paul University), "The Earth Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Foundational Principles and Expanded Meanings"

The Earth Charter is a civil society document written in response to the global ecological crisis. It puts forward a set of global ethical principles to promote ecological healing, the ending of poverty, and promotion of human rights. The Charter has been influenced by many sources and international documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This paper explores the relationship between the Declaration and the Earth Charter. The animating questions are: What core principles of the Declaration are present in the Earth Charter? How do they function within the Charter, and What insight does the Earth Charter provide on such concepts as human rights, universality and the necessity of international participation? The thesis of this paper is that the Earth Charter, while based on the core principles of the Declaration, redefines and enlarges their meanings based on an understanding of the ecological crisis and functioning of the Earth's ecosystems.

Andrew Gabriel (McMaster Divinity College), "The World as City of the Spirit: The Spirit of Ecology and Technological Culture"

This paper will explore implications of the recognition that the Spirit is not limited to the life of the Church--the world is the city of the Spirit. First, I will examine pneumatological perspectives to ecological ethics, and second, I will present a pneumatological approach to considering the use of technology to shape nature. I will propose that, on a cosmological level, the Spirit, as the 'Giver of Life', produces kinship among creatures, that the Spirit suffers with creation's suffering and as his perfecting work is frustrated, and that the Spirit gifts certain aspects of technological culture. These pneumatological insights address the present context where the development of cities has brought both ecological turmoil and an increase in technological development.

Mark Hathaway (Independent Scholar), "The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation"

The Tao of Liberation begins by asking the question: "How does transformation occur?"--or, perhaps more precisely--"Why is it so difficult to effect the changes so urgently needed to save the living Earth community of which we are a part?" Seeking answers to this question, the book examines the obstacles to truly liberating transformation drawing on insights from economics, deep ecology, ecofeminism, and ecopsychology. The book then explores the new cosmology emerging from science--including quantum physics, systems theory, and the universe story--in order to perceive a kind of "walking wisdom" (or Tao) inherent in the very fabric of the cosmos that can guide our transformative praxis. Ultimately, the book seeks a vision of a different way of being in the world that could allow the needs of all people to be equitably met in harmony with the needs and well-being of the greater Earth community, and indeed the cosmos itself.

Christine Jamieson (Concordia University), "Cities as Humanizing and Dehumanizing: A Theological Reflection"

This paper is an exploration of the symbolism and meaning of cities through a theological lens. Cities both mediate and constitute human meaning. They shape the lives of those who dwell in them at least as much as urban dwellers shape their own lives within cities. Cities symbolize both human flourishing and human destitution. They provide opportunities for creativity and community, generating excitement and energy. They also house the horror and poverty of outcasts. The paper seeks to understand how cities shape our psyches through symbolism. It seeks to understand both the positive and negative impact of symbolism within cities and how theological reflection might contribute to the promotion of cities as sources of renewal.

Eileen Kerwin Jones (St. Paul University), "Sex in the City: Human Trafficking and the Sexual Slavery of Women and Children"

In this paper I explore the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. The title, "Sex in the City," refers to the global migratory patterns characteristic of the commercial trade in human persons. These migratory patterns generally flow from the South to the North, from the poorer to the richer nations, and from the rural to the urban centres of our world. My central goals for this paper are threefold: first, to introduce human trafficking and sexual exploitation as a feature of contemporary slavery; second, to underline how social and economic dynamics reduce women and children to lucrative commodities, bought and sold in an illicit transnational sex market; third, to offer a theological reflection on these problems. My theological vision is one of hope; my aim is to contribute a constructive theological response to a profound human crisis.

Joy Kennedy (Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives), "Eco-Justice - Visioning the Next New Normal" (Work in Progress)

If the "new normal" is about human security and containing and controlling health and safety, what was the "old normal"? What can we learn from the wisdom of the "ancient normal" as we have had it passed down through scripture and tradition? How can we create pathways to the next version of "normal", which will be one of inclusive justice and peace for all Creation? "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says God" (Zechariah 4:6).

Margaret Love (St. Paul University), "Beyond Relationality: Toward a New Feminist Ethic of Mutuality"

This paper explores a feminist ethic of mutuality based on the work on human rights theory by Alan Gewirth on the one hand, and three feminist writers who present theological and psychological approaches to the concept of mutuality: Darlene Ehringer, Dawn Nothwehr and Carter Heyward. Gewirth presents a reasoned argument for the affirmative relation between rights and community, or what he calls a “community of rights.” His ethic of mutuality functions to overcome the adversarial relation between rights and community. Ehringer, Nothwehr and Heyward articulate mutuality in terms of relationship, at the intersection between care and justice. This paper argues that a stronger feminist ethic of mutuality may be extracted by joining Gewirth’s concept of mutuality with these feminist approaches. This feminist ethic of mutuality can inform the discussion on poverty in the cities of today because it provides a different way of approaching the problem.

Robert Martel (Independent Scholar), "Fleeing To and From the City: The Influence of Urban Life on the Early Work of Henry David Thoreau and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard"

This paper will examine the influence of the 'city' on the early thought of two intellectual contemporaries-- American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), and Danish Christian philosopher Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Throughout their intellectual careers, both men held contentious relationships with the town in which they chose to live their lives (for Kierkegaard the golden metropolis of Copenhagen; for Thoreau the literary and cultural centre of Concord). While Kierkegaard drew inspiration from the rich intellectual resources of the city, Thoreau sought to replenish his own intellectual energy by retreating to the natural authenticity found in rural isolation. In each case, the 'city' had a decisive effect on each thinker's philosophical engagement with individualism and ethical commitment. This paper will focus on two specific works that dealt with themes of individualism and ethics: Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843), and Thoreau's Walden (1854). This paper will address how both men were motivated and influenced by 19th century urban life, as well as where specifically this influence may be discerned in the philosophical and theological insights of these two works.

Marie-Andrée Michaud (Wisdom University), "Fondation d'un Centre de spiritualité écologique à Montréal" (Work In Progress)

Alors que l'avenir est remis en question par la destruction écologique, les déséquilibres socio-économiques et la violence, l'humanité est invitée à redécouvrir l'interdépendance sacrée de la Création, à intégrer ses connaissances scientifiques à la sagesse des grandes traditions spirituelles et à cocréer avec la Terre une civilisation ancrée dans la justice, la compassion et la célébration. Dans ce contexte, je prépare la fondation d'un Centre de spiritualité écologique à Montréal. Y seront offerts des cours, ateliers, conférences, événements culturels, célébrations et actions pacifiques pour la Terre. Les gens viendront aussi au Centre pour partager leurs talents dans un souci de guérison de la relation entre l'humain et la Terre. Situé en ville, le Centre permettra à un large public de réconcilier la vie urbaine, le cheminement intérieur et la conscience écologique.

Mike Michielin (Trinity College, Toronto School of Theology), "Barth and Wright. Bridging the Gulf in Biblical Studies"

My paper will set forth the biblical practices of Karl Barth and N. T. Wright as resources to help bridge the wide gulf that exists today between biblical and theological interpretations of the bible. By setting Barth and Wright's interpretation of Romans 3:21-4:25 in conversation with the other, I will show a way forward that deals with the tendency in biblical studies to separate a so-called objective and disinterested interpretation of the bible from the practice of developing a theologically significant reading.

David Perrin (St. Paul University), "The Cauldron of the City: Spirituality in Urban Life"

All spirituality is particular. This is to say that all spirituality takes place in a particular context that is a particular location, a particular climate, a particular culture, and so on. These are the factors that influence and shape the development of spiritualities. What is being referred to here is the spirituality of place. This paper will underline how geography, culture, and so on, all influence spirituality. In as much as we are in relationship to the place within which we live, we will be influenced by its spatial contours (landscapes), images (symbols), habitats (architecture), and so on. Place is constitutive of personal identity because of the way these things influence who we are and how we are in relationship to God, others, self, and the world in the place we live. In a particular way this paper will explore how the place of the city, in contrast to the place of the desert, influences and constructs personal identity and spiritualities in a postmodern world.

Susan Roll (St. Paul University), "A Feminist Reading of the Easter Triduum Liturgies"

Scholars in the field of feminist studies in theology struggle energetically with the complex and highly ambivalent consequences for women of the traditional theology of the death and resurrection of Christ. One approach identifies the cross as a paradigm of willing acceptance of victimization and abuse. Another deals with the dualism inherent in the Christian doctrine of redemption and atonement. A third line of inquiry examines the implications of Christ's resurrection as a "triumph" over death in view of newer theologies of the interrelatedness of creation and the idea of death as a natural process. These and other contemporary theological trajectories raise crucial questions about not only the taproot of Christian belief but the future viability and credibility of its central yearly feast celebrated in the Easter Triduum: Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.

Don Schweitzer (St. Andrew's College, University of Saskatchewan), "The Holy Spirit as a Growing Edge of God"

An unresolved question in Christian theology is how to understand God as at once radically transcendent to creation and yet genuinely involved with it. This paper will explore how both can be affirmed through understandings of the Holy Spirit that have spatial connotations. As people respond to God through faith, hope and love, the love and joy existing between the first two persons of the Trinity is repeated in time in space. This repetition brings a relative yet real enlargement to the Holy Spirit as the bond of love between the other two persons of the Trinity and as the zone of resonance for Jesus as the Christ, and thus an increase to the being of God. In the relationship of God to creation, the Holy Spirit thus emerges as a growing edge of God, where the divine receives from creation while remaining transcendent to it.

Lorraine Ste-Marie (St. Paul University), "Language for Change"

"If there is one thing that is certain in life, it is change." These words of wisdom are attributed to urban studies legend Jane Jacobs, who calls for an intentional language which enables cities to flourish and self-correct their economic and social behaviours. Yes, change in life is certain; yet, we spend tremendous energy resisting the very change to which we are truly committed. This is true for both individuals and communities. In this workshop, participants will explore the relationship between language and change as they are introduced to a particular language form that is designed to enhance capacity for growth and transforming our ways of knowing. This language form, called the "immunity-to-change language technology," has been developed by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Participants will examine this language form in the context of a multi-disciplinary approach to theological education and pastoral leadership development.

Cameron Thomson (University of St. Michael's College), "Sightseeing with Kant, Blindseeing with Freud: Urban Evil, Transparent and Opaque"

Insofar as the experience of inhabiting "the city" subsumes the unverifiable conviction of the proximity of evil "others" (strangers who threaten serial killing, random shooting, terrorism or sexual violence), we might follow British psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas in describing the contemporary city as "a community of the anxious, bound in the narrowing confines of danger." In this paper I explore two basic ways of theorizing this abstract "danger," characterizing these in terms of Kant's view of evil with its emphasis on free agency and total responsibility and Freud's approach, which emphasizes suffering and the serious constraints that past trauma place upon human freedom in the present. I argue that while Kant's account of evil is addressed to the superficial and ultimately illusory autonomy of an artificially isolated, a-social subject, the Freudian approach allows us better to come to grips with the embodied and socially situated character of evil. The latter approach, I conclude, opens a perspective on the peculiar problem of intersubjective reconciliation that arises where the concrete, urban subject must persist in peace with merely potential enemies.

Sherri Vallee (St. Paul University), "Eschatology from Liturgy: The Roman Catholic Order of Christian Funerals"

Liturgical theologians have long claimed that how we pray influences how we believe: lex orandi, lex credendi. Whether or not we are conscious of the process, our beliefs are said to be shaped by the structure and content of the liturgical rites that we experience. Consistent with this approach, Roman Catholic theologians have repeatedly pointed to the funeral prayer texts as evidence of the Church's understanding of the afterlife. This presentation will test this proposition by exploring the theological implications of the prayer texts used at Roman Catholic funerals. The current prayer texts present some subtle inconsistencies in how they portray the afterlife. This presentation will identify these discrepancies and will begin to explore the potential ramifications of these inconsistencies. What might be the impact on mourners? Is this a case of a rich ambiguity or a cause for concern?

Panels/Seminars

Panel A

Theological Responses to Religious Pluralism: Guidance for the Contemporary Practitioner?

Participants: Paul Allen (Concordia University), Laurie Lamoureux-Scholes (Concordia University), Ian Ritchie (St. Luke's Anglican Church)

In the closing decades of the 20th century, advancements in communications technologies and more affordable transportation options have contributed to a greater circulation of people and knowledge of the world's religions and cultures. One by-product of this process has been an increasingly pluralistic Canadian society, particularly in cities. The urban environment has become a petri-dish for social scientists to examine the various ways individuals encounter those with different religious worldviews. Partly as a result, theologies of religious pluralism now abound in greater complexity.

This panel will begin with a discussion of contemporary Canadian pluralism and the specific challenges it presents to churches, and by implication, to Christian theology. The three person panel will turn to considering the mixed responses of Christians and also Muslims, the latter constituting the second largest religious group in Canadian society. How do religious traditions overcome claims of exclusive superiority without adopting a simplistic relativism? Particular constructive theologies that respond to this quandary will be discussed with reference to the realities of secularization. Based on first-hand research, one panelist will deal with the ways in which we might learn from the way that Christian-Muslim dialogue is being conducted in Nigeria.

Panel B

The Future of Liberation Theology: Prospects and Prognoses

Participants: Lee Cormie, chair (St. Michael's College, TST), Scott Dunham (University of New Brunswick), Néstor Medina (Emmanuel College, TST), Jeff Nowers (Emmanuel College, TST)

Since Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the alleged "end of history" in 1989, liberation theology has sought to reappraise itself in the wake of late capitalism's "triumph." José Comblin, a veteran liberation theologian, has argued that the all-absorbing neoliberal globalization of the present moment has led to a greater "apartheid" of rich and poor, so that the fundamental impulses of liberation theology are perhaps more relevant now than when they first were given articulation. Other, younger scholars have argued differently. Daniel M. Bell, Jr., for instance, contends that liberation theology fails insofar as it continues to locate salvation at the level of "statecraft." In another vein, Ivan Petrella maintains that liberation theology has lost sight of the praxis which initially rendered it so socially potent. On the basis of these recent works of Comblin, Bell, and Petrella, panelists will assess some of liberation theology's promises and tensions, clarify its current expressions, and connect it to more recent movements and developments, such as postcolonial theory and other racial/cultural discourses.

Panel C

Sophia at the Gates: The Wisdom of Women's Ordination in the Canadian Roman Catholic Church

Participants: Marie Bouclin (Independent Scholar), Michele Birch-Conery (North Island College), Rosemary Ganley (Independent Scholar), Elaine Guillemin (Ryerson University)

The panel will explore the debate about the ordination of Catholic women and its enactment from the perspectives of history, theology, pastoral practice and media relations. The second international ecumenical conference of Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) in Ottawa, Ontario, 2005, and the 'contra legem' but widely accepted river ordinations, including the ordination of the first Canadian woman Catholic priest, gave national prominence to the women's ordination movement. The conference made clear that diverse and sometimes conflicting feminist theologies of ministry and ordained women's imaginative pastoral practices raise fundamental questions about the advisability of women's ordination into existing ecclesial structures. As ordained women struggle to transform a hierarchical church into a democratic and egalitarian community of faith, they not only challenge ecclesial abuse of authority, but also tend to blur denominational, regional and national boundaries. They are aided in this by a powerful international press and an unfettered electronic communication network which displaces the "city" as the epicentre of importance. Because the web has no "centre," it offers enormous power to groups previously disempowered by regional, national and/or denominational contexts. Women's uttering Wisdom's cry at the city gates is a harbinger of major change resounding not only in the city but around the world.

Panel D

Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: The Future of Church Participation in the Public Forum

Participants: Brenda Appleby, chair (St. Francis Xavier University), Neil Parker (St. Paul University), Carolyn Sharp (St. Paul University)

Beyond the immediate substantial issues concerning sexual orientation and contemporary transformations of marriage as a historically-situated and culturally-situated institution, the debate on same-sex marriage has raised fundamental issues concerning the role of faith communities in public debates and their contribution to the shared public culture of a pluralist democratic society. This panel thus turns its attention to an examination of the Churches as political actors, arguing that same-sex marriage debate announces the emergence of new trends in how the Churches participate in the political life of Canadian society.

Arguing that this debate marks a shift in how faith groups address public policy issues in Canada, Neil Parker examines the presentations of the United Church of Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Senate hearings on C-38. In the wake of the sanctions imposed by the Roman Catholic Church on three Catholic MPs (all NDP members) for their support of C-38, Carolyn Sharp examines the question of Church authority and the freedom of political conscience. Situating the same-sex marriage debate in the broader political context, Brenda Appleby examines the participation of the Canadian Council of Churches in recent public policy debates as well as the ways in which ecumenical disunity has inhibited such participation.

Panel E

Struggling to Recreate the World

Participants: Janet Conway (Ryerson University), Michel Beaudin (Université de Montréal), Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd (Augustine United Church), Lee Cormie (St. Michael's College, TST)

Order: Four 12-15 minute presentations followed by plenary discussion.

"The W[orld] S[ocial] F[orum] is engaged in that fierce struggle to re-create the world. And in proclaiming that 'Another World is Possible!' it unveils great opportunities for hope in a world so badly in need of transformation" Irene Santiago, 2004

The early years of the 21st century mark a turning point in human history, as the balance of the world's population shifts from rural areas to cities, in the process structurally transforming ecologies of human relations, and the dynamics between rural and urban areas, humanity and nature. Moreover, linked together in webs of transportation and communication, world cities are becoming central nodes in emergent planetary civilization. And cascading scientific breakthroughs, new technologies and economies of production, along with new modes of social organization, management and governance, are transforming the horizons of possibility for the future.

Rapidly expanding opportunities for creativity, innovation, communication and collaboration promise seemingly endless progress in fighting disease, addressing environmental problems, generating affluence (even to "make poverty history"), and improving the human condition. But the world's cities are also marked by burgeoning slums in which growing masses of unemployed and underemployed people struggle for survival in overcrowded, under-serviced, polluted, smog-filled conditions breeding turmoil, chaos, and conflict. Gaps in income, wealth, and power are growing. Cascading ecological crises mark cities and countrysides alike. And social and ecological apocalypses also loom on local, regional, planetary horizons. Indeed, from the points of view of many communities, and species, apocalypse is already unfolding.

In the midst of these historic transformations, communities and social justice and liberation movements everywhere (organizing around the axes of class, race, gender and sexual organization, ethnicity, race and national identity, ecology, and peace) are struggling anew to map the shifting contours of inevitability and possibility, fear and hope. In World Social Forum processes (at local, regional and global scales) movement representatives are encountering one another, celebrating their diversities, stitching together broader solidarities, crafting new modes of collaboration, and nurturing hope that "another world is possible." And, in processes like the World Forum on Theology and Liberation, theologians from around the world are coming together in dialogue to re-examine the praxis of Christian churches and organizations (including their collaboration with inter-faith and non-faith partners), to chart expanding ethical responsibilities and horizons of death and new life, to probe the bible and Christian traditions for insight, wisdom, and inspiration, and to organize ongoing dialogues and collaboration.

This panel will focus on: 1) local, regional and global World Social Forum processes as new modes of convergence, solidarity and collaboration, marking a new stage in justice, ecology, and peace struggles; 2) the World Forum on Theology and Liberation as a new stage in theological dialogues and collaboration in the deepening globalization of theology; 3) initiatives and contributions from Anglophone and Francophone Canada; 4) challenges, opportunities, plans for next steps, in Canada and beyond.

Panel F CANCELLED

Is the Blessing of Committed Same-Sex Unions a Matter of Doctrine? A Discussion Panel

Panel G (Seminar)

Re-reading Classic Texts: Bonhoeffer's Christ the Center

Seminar Participants: David Tiessen, chair (Wycliffe College, TST), Chris Holmes (Providence Theological Seminary), Alison Hari-Singh (Wycliffe College, TST)

Former CTS President George Schner spoke of "a moment of fundamental questioning which grows out of rereading a classic text or engaging in contemporary debates." For the sake of such questioning in the contemporary context, this seminar seeks a re-engagement with classic theological texts--in this case Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christ the Center (HarperCollins, 1978, trans. Edwin H. Robertson). The format of the seminar will consist of two papers on the text, followed by general discussion of both papers and text. For the sake of fostering a close reading of the text, participants are encouraged to have recently read and to have the text on hand for the discussion.

Paper: Chris Holmes, Providence Theological Seminary. "Exalted and Humiliated: Explorations in Bonhoeffer's Christology"

Bonhoeffer's lectures on Christology, given in the summer of 1933 soon after Hitler's election as Chancellor of Germany, clearly evince the young theologian's efforts to reframe Christology. For Bonhoeffer, Christology ought not to begin with the question "How can this One be the God-Man?", but rather with the question of Christ's identity: "Who are you?" The lasting significance of Bonhoeffer's answer to the question lies in his grounding of the doctrine of Christ's person in Christ's presence, the very pro me structure of his being. It is only a doctrine of Christ as the crucified and risen One present in the church which can enable the church, both then and now, to resist hegemony and to struggle against the poison of absolutism.

Response: Alison Hari-Singh, Wycliffe College, TST

Panel H (Book Review)

Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies, by Heather Eaton

Participants: Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd, chair (Augustine United Church), Arthur Walker-Jones (University of Winnipeg), David Hallman (United Church of Canada), Anne Marie Dalton (St. Mary's University)

This panel will offer a brief overview of Heather Eaton's recent book Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies (London: T&T Clark, 2005), followed by 10 minute critiques of the book as it relates to each panelist's area of work, a response by the author, and an open discussion of the work. Written from a Canadian perspective, this book may be a promising textbook on ecofeminist theology. Its inclusion within a series of introductions in feminist theologies suggests its potential importance. The panel will give critical consideration of the book's contributions to the academy, to international environmental programs and projects, and to faith communities.

Panel I

Alternatives in Theological Education in Canada: The Winnipeg Experience

Participants: Jane Barter Moulaison, chair (University of Winnipeg), James Christie (University of Winnipeg), Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd (Augustine United Church), August Konkel (Providence College & Seminary), Bill Blaikie (Member of Parliament [NDP], United Church of Canada)

The strong connection in the Province of Manitoba between faith and activism presents unique opportunities and challenges for theological educators. In a context predominated by privatized and aesthetic forms of spirituality, our history offers a robust legacy of cooperation in the fullest sense of the word. And yet, the "culture" of consumerism, hyper-individualism, and competition encroaches upon Manitoba and its churches every bit as surely as upon the rest of the Canadian landscape. This panel seeks to name the formidable challenges to maintaining an ethos of social justice informed by faith in a time of social change and economic restructuring. It will do so through the pursuit of a variety of themes that, while not exclusive to our context, are nevertheless brought into relief by the complexity of challenges to those traditions which have hitherto sustained and supported its theological and political formation. Included among these themes are: pedagogies of distance education, theological education in a pluralistic world, First Nations and theological curricula, and the use of historical memory in theological education.