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For the Least of These

The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins invites you to its spring conference, “For the Least of These.” Dr. John Perkins of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development will be serving as the keynote speaker. The conference will be held in Portland, Oregon, April 10th-15th, 2007.

Known for his Christian community development principles of relocation, reconciliation and redistribution, Dr. Perkins has been an adviser to several U. S. Presidents on a variety of issues related to race and poverty. He is a profound and prophetic speaker, and is also the author of numerous books, including Let Justice Roll Down, With Justice for All, and Beyond Charity.

As part of the week long conference, Dr. Perkins will speak at Multnomah Bible College and Seminary chapel on the mornings of April 10th-13th, and at Cedar Mill Bible Church and Imago Dei Community on the 15th. New Wine will also host a day-long event on reaching out to ex-offenders titled, “Free the Captive: Removing the Offense to the Ex-Offender,” on April 14th. “Free the Captive” will focus on the plight of the ex-offender population, and what steps can be taken to help them make the necessary transitions back into society at large. Ex-offenders often continue paying for their crimes after they have served time. They face all kinds of hurdles, including severe difficulties finding work, affordable healthcare, and housing. This injustice further perpetuates the cycle of crime, causing many to become repeat offenders.

Drawing from Scripture and years of experience in community development work, Dr. Perkins will help us explore how to minister to ex-offenders and communities in disrepair. In addition to Dr. Perkins’ talks, the day event will also include an exhortation to the church and society at large to move beyond stigma to solidarity with ex-offenders titled, “Folsom Prison Blues Revisited,” a panel discussion, and break-out sessions.

For the Least of These: Lectures
Tuesday-Friday 10-10:50 AM Central Bible Church

Justice: The Missional Mandate: New Wine Forum
Thursday Night 7-9:00 PM Multnomah Bible College
Friday Night 7-9:00 PM Reed College

Free the Captive: Removing the Offense to the Ex-Offender: Conference
When: Saturday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Registration Starts at 8:00 AM)
Where: Central Bible Church
$5 Multnomah Students, Faculty, and Staff
$10 General Public

Cedar Mill Bible Church:
Sunday 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM

Imago Dei Community:
Sunday 6:00 PM

Download materials here:
For the Least of These Flier
Justice forum flyer

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Venturing out of the Comfort Zone

Dundas offers a personal narrative of how writing a feature on evangelicals took him, as a writer for an alternative newspaper, out of his own comfort zone and into an important insight. The narrative becomes emblematic of the social challenges we face in America: we exist in a diverse society full of segmented pods of special interest, with a perpetual invitation to cocoon ourselves with others who share our values, interests, and tastes. This, Dundas remarks, is okay—as long as we remember there are other worlds out there, just as valid and rich as our own. Every one of us should make periodic efforts to learn a little bit about people who are not like us. Dundas winsomely reveals how researching the story helped him recognize the limits of his own preconceptions through an experience of diversity.

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“The Scopes Trial, Fundamentalism, and the Creation of an Anti-Culture Culture: Can Evangelical Christians Transcend Their History in the Culture Wars?

The culture wars did not begin in 2004. In many respects, the warfare can be traced back to the hostilities between liberal and conservative Christianity culminating in the Scopes Trial in 1925, which pitted the traditional understanding of the Bible against Darwinism. Historian George Marsden has claimed that one can hardly overestimate the significance of the Scopes Trial for understanding the emerging Fundamentalist psyche. Harper seeks to show how the trial’s legacy continues to shape Fundamentalist and Evangelical sub-cultures, impacting their engagement of the broader culture to this day. The essay also explores ways in which both Left and Right might move beyond isolationist and polarizing practices and attitudes, working together to find common ground to pursue shared values and build “beloved community.”

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‘Who’s Fighting and for What?’: Finding a Use for the Culture Wars

As we look at the culture wars of our own time with their ranks of implacable antagonists, Zinn urges us to pursue beloved community, not through avoiding conflict, but through a better, more discerning practice of conflict. Conflict is not the problem. The problem stems from styles of conflict which lack charity, and from tactics of conflict which neglect “the tools of liberal study,” among other things. Through reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address,” Zinn illustrates the potential of tools of liberal study, including “critical thinking, historical understanding,” and “an appreciation for the variety of ideas.”