Education Commons^™

2020 Spring Humanities Symposium: Vulnerability And Security, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Anthony Ray Hinton

February 17-21, 2020

2019 Spring Humanities Symposium: For The Common Good, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote address: Marian Wright Edelman

February 18-22, 2019

2017 Spring Humanities Symposium: Slavery And Justice, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote address: Kelly Brown Douglas

2014 Spring Humanities Symposium: Resilience, Sustainability And The Humanities: Re-Imagining The Future, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote address: Majora Carter, February 27, 2014

2013 Spring Humanities Symposium, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote address: Geoffrey Galt Harpham

2012 Spring Humanities Symposium: The Transforming Book, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Anthony Grafton, President of the American Historical Association, Henry Putnam University Professor of History and Chairperson of the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University

2011 Spring Humanities Symposium: Friendship, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: James Leach, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities

2010 Spring Humanities Symposium: Memory, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote address: Thursday, Feb. 25 with Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.,

2009 Spring Humanities Symposium: Faith In The Public Square, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Alan Wolfe

February 23-28, 2009

How do our cherished values find public expression? Should religion be treated as belonging to the domain of public or private? What is the role of religion within a secular polity? While such questions point to the importance of faith in public life, they need not be confined to the domain of religion. We also publicly express our faith in everything from stock markets to abstract ideals like love, justice, equality, and humanity. It is all too clear that human faith, both in its religious and non-religious manifestations, finds public expression with …

2008 Spring Humanities Symposium: Eyes Wide Open: Engaging Technology With Our Humanity, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Edward Tenner

February 25-29, 2008

We live in an era seemingly dominated by the power of modern science and its associated technologies. This has been both a cause for celebration and anxiety because all the material benefits of modern science and technology have been invariably accompanied with angst and uncertainty about how this affects our experience of being human. Scientific understandings of the world and modern technological advances (in communication, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, stem cell research, nanotechnology, etc.) are transforming human life, raising new questions about what it means to be human, how we communicate with …

2007 Spring Humanities Symposium: Globalization, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Kent Hill

February 19-26, 2007

2006 Spring Humanities Symposium: The Power Of Human Imagination, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Wendy Wright

February 19-27, 2006

Imagination is a profound force in human life, and as such a tangible object of humanities-based study. Imagination gives birth to creative works that enrich our lives with aesthetic inspiration and beauty (e.g. literature, film, and the arts). It also enables innovative works of the intellect that cause humans to see and interact with the world in new ways (e.g. research discoveries in science, technology, theory, as well as entrepreneurial endeavor). Imagination opens the way to visionary and prophetic works of extravagant hope (e.g. the ideals of faith, love, reconciliation, peace, and …

2005 Spring Humanities Symposium: E Pluribus Unum Or The Two Americas?, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: David McCullough

February 21-28

Although the close of the Cold War ended a generation-old bipolar world, there has been much written and said in recent years about a growing bipolar nation in America. Whether it is electoral politics, foreign policy, economic trends, digital and technological developments, the “culture wars,” racial, ethnic, gender, and religious tensions, or education, public discourse is said to have become increasingly based on binary thinking that leaves little room for negotiation, compromise, collaboration, or collective benefit.

The 2005 Spring Humanities Symposium provides an opportunity to explore these declared trends. To what extent is the …

2004 Spring Humanities Symposium: Culture, Community, And Belonging, Messiah College

Humanities Symposium

Keynote Address: Dr. Jean Kilbourne

March 8-12, 2004

How do people develop a sense of belonging? How is this expressed in culture and community life? Does belonging to a culture and a community depend on sameness or the overcoming of differences? When do the boundaries of culture and community replace belonging with alienation? How are the ideas of community, culture, and belonging related and how do they mutually reinforce identity? How have ideas about culture, community, and belonging changed over time? And how does the life and gospel of Jesus Christ challenge our notions of culture, community, and belonging?

These …