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February 28 - March 2, 2022
Attend on campus or online
REGISTER BELOW

Join us for United’s second Symposium Week! Our theme is "This Planet, Our Home." Nancy Victorin-Vangerud, a theologian and recently retired chaplain of Hamline University, will deliver the Susan Draper White endowed plenary lecture on the topic of feminism and ecology. Benedict Scheuer will deliver an artist talk on his exhibit “Everything Communicating," and Jennifer Awes Freeman and a panel of scholars and students will present on her recent book The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power, and students will offer presentations on their areas of study.
 
SCHEDULE:
 

Time

Monday, Feb. 28

Tuesday, March 1

Wednesday, March 2

8:30 - 9:00 AM

Gather/coffee

Gather/coffee

Gather/coffee

9:00 - 10:30 AM

Morning Session

Part 1

“Whispers, Gossip, Tea, and Testimony: The Power Dynamics And Burdens Of Morality Put Upon The Storytelling of Women and other Marginalized Communities”

Alaina Hoffman 

 

Part 2

"Revisiting the Doctrine of Sin"

John Scheuer

Morning Session

Part 1

"The Gospel of Everything: How Belief in God Alienates Us from Ourselves, One Another, and the Earth – and How Unbelief Can Bring Us Home Again"

Micah Murray 


Part 2

“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: A Bipolar Constructive Theology”

Meg Mercury

Morning Session

Book Event, The Good Shepherd

Dr. Jennifer Awes Freeman, Dr. Robin Jensen, Dr. Demian Wheeler, Pat Browne, and John Scheuer

10:30 - 11:00 AM

Break

Break

Break

11:00 - 11:30 AM

Student-led chapel/spiritual practice

Karen Webb

Student-led chapel/spiritual practice

Bridgette Weber and Emily Meyer

Student-led chapel/spiritual practice

Ash Wednesday Service

11:30 AM -1:00 PM

Lunch Break

Dean-sponsored lunch

Staff-sponsored snacks

Lunch Break

President-sponsored lunch

ReMembering Film Showing (11:30 AM -1:00 PM) Watch the trailer

Lunch Break

SLC-sponsored Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 PM

Afternoon Session I

“What’s a Good Paper?” Faculty Panel on Student Writing

Dr. Demian Wheeler, Dr. Jessica Chapman Lape, Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis, Dr. Jennifer Awes-Freeman

Afternoon Session 1

 “Puerto Rico and Public Theology in a Politic of Colonization”

Lisbeth Melendez Rivera 


Afternoon Session II

“Neo-Pagan or Contemporary Pagan? Navigating Between Appropriation, (Re-)colonization, and Whitewashing in Pagan Studies”

Dr. Michelle Mueller

Student Town Hall

2:30 - 2:50 PM

Coffee

Coffee

Office Hours (in-person and on Zoom) / Free Time

3:00 - 4:30 PM

Afternoon Session II

 “Panel: Public Chaplaincy and CPE (with Nature Chap spiritual practices)”

Pan Graham, Eileen Hanson, Scott Campbell, Caity Frail and friends

Afternoon Session II

 Thinking About Doctoral Programs? An Alumni Panel 

Hear reflections from a diverse group of United alums who have completed their programs and are still in process. Participants include Chaplain Amy Levinski, Rev. Dr. Shawn Moore, Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam, Jeffrey Speaks, and Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkl.

Office Hours (in-person and on Zoom) / Free Time

 

(Drop-In Community Arts Project in Intersection Room)

5:30 - 6:15 PM

Dinner Break

Dinner Break

Dinner Break

Student Town Hall (6:00 PM)

7:00 - 7:30 PM

 

Reception

 

7:30 - 9:00 PM

Plenary Talk: Susan Draper White Lecture, Nancy Victorin-Vangerud  

Artist Talk : Benedict Scheuer 

Talent Show (8:00 PM)


 

REGISTER:

Registration is free, but donations are accepted and encouraged to cover costs of the event.
 
Suggested donation: $10 for students, $20 for alums/non-students 

Please note: The seminary's COVID policy requires event attendees to both wear a mask and to be vaccinated.