The Memorial Church—Education and Fellowship




			Previous Faith & Life Forum Events: "Mother’s Day, Our Mothers, and Mother Church" The Reverend Dr. Dorothy A. Austin Sunday, May 11, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church [top] "Breaking the Silence of Liberal Protestantism" Clayton Brooks ’10 Sunday, May 4, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church This week the Forum welcomes Harvard College student Clayton Brooks, who gave a most interesting talk at Morning Prayers recently. We invited him to the Forum so that he might expand a bit on his theme, and also to give those of you who missed his talk a chance to hear what he has to say. Clayton writes, “The popular image of Christianity in the modern world has become one of intolerance and bigotry. Christians are seen by most Americans as standing on only one side of the debate on family values and morality. Because of this one-sided view of Christianity many Americans are uncomfortable when they hear the word Christian. Many would-be religious people find themselves unable to associate themselves with that negative brand of Christianity that has become so visible. Is it the job of the Christian left to become equally as visible as the Christian right? Is it their duty to become just as politicized as Conservative Christians? Is the situation as fiercely divided as it appears, or is there room for compromise? What will it take to redefine the image of Christianity in popular culture and help to bring back to Church those people who have only had a negative experience or opinion of Christians?” Come join us this Sunday at the Forum and let’s see if we can find some answers to Clayton’s questions. Clayton Brooks is a sophomore at Harvard College and is concentrating in The Study of Religion with a secondary field in History. He is a resident of Lowell House and is active in the Harvard University Choir, the Harvard Black Men's Forum, and the Harvard Black Student's Association. This past year he served as Political Chair of the Harvard BGLTSA and founded The Harvard College LGBT Political Coalition, which he now leads. He is originally from Laurinburg, NC where he was active in his school, church, and community. [top] “Searching for the Face of God: Muslim Perspectives” Ali S. Asani Sunday, April 27, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church “Wherever you turn is the face of God.” Harvard Professor Ali S. Asani returns to the Forum on April 27th to explore a central theme in traditions of Islamic spirituality—the search for a vision of the divine, highlighting the centrality of “seeing” the divine as the ultimate experience in traditions of Muslim spirituality. Ali Asani is one of the Forum’s most requested guest speakers and his presentations are always time and thought-provoking: you won’t want to miss this discussion! Ali S. Asani, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures, teaches courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition at Harvard. He is a recipient of the Harvard Foundation Medal for promoting better intercultural and interracial relations through a better understanding of Islam. [top] "Desperately Seeking Sarah: Her Silence During the Akeida or Binding of Isaac" Sandra E. Rapoport Sunday, April 20, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Genesis chapters 21 and 22 present the outline of a fascinating and provocative story. We read of a childless marriage; of the introduction of a surrogate mother; of the attendant jealousies between wivesand between offspring that threaten to destroy the household; of a banishment; and of an attempt to sacrifice a long-awaited son. Because the Bible is spare in its use of dialogue, and especially so as regards the biblical matriarchs, the reader is left with many unanswered questions. One of the most perplexing is that after Sarah’s demand that Hagar and Ishmael be banished, and throughout the Akeida story in Genesis 22, we encounter only silence on Sarah’s part. Where was she? Did she even know of Abraham’s plan? Did she consent to it? Did she ever see her son, Isaac again? The midrashic intertext supplies the answers. Sandra E. Rapoport is the co-author, with Shera Tuchman, of two books: The Passions of the Matriarchs (Ktav, 2004, nominated for the Jewish Book Award) and Moses’ Women (Ktav, 2008). The books are feminist re-tellings of the Old Testament’s books of Genesis and Exodus, respectively, and use text and midrashic intertext to uncover the parallel stories of the lives of the Bible’s women. Ms. Rapoport was a litigating attorney before uniting herpassion for Bible study with her skill as a writer and communicator. She lectures on biblical subjects and her writing has appeared in law reviews and in Commentary magazine. She won the 2005 Jews College Award for her essay about the matriarch Sarah, and is listed among “Who’s Who of American Women.” [top] "Digitizing the Soul" Benjamin I. Rapoport Sunday, April 13, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Modern medicine has just crossed the threshold into a new era. Biologically implantable electronic devices are being used to prevent, treat, and cure conditions ranging from heart disorders to deafness to diseases of the brain. The advent of these new technologies compels us to think deeply about important ethical, philosophical, and theological questions. At a time when high technology and electronics are beginning to interface seamlessly with the human body and mind, what makes our bodies and minds human? How and why must we distinguish between human and machine? Benjamin I. Rapoport is an MD-PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School and a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT. His research involves designing electronic microchip interfaces with the brain to enable thought-based control of prosthetic limbs. Ben is also head ringer of the Lowell House Bells, and both at Harvard and in Russia he has been involved in the effort to repatriate the bells to their original home at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow. [top] "Prayer, Poetry, Psyche: Punctuation Points in the Lost-and-Foundness of God" James Meredith Day Sunday, April 6, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church On April 6th, the Forum will welcome Dr. James Meredith Day, a professor of psychology who joins us from the University of Louvain. Describing himself as a son of poetry and prayer, James will speak about how the intersection of these two arts has helped him face and grow in the gaps, silences, uncertainties, and openings in his life of faith, and helped him accompany students, clients, and parishioners in their quest to understand how they could have “lost” God, or become “lost” to God, in their own lives. In contrast to current trends in religion that emphasize the necessity of immediacy and seamlessness in spirituality, and of not losing one’s faith in, or experience of, God, there is a rich tradition that insists we are most apt to grow in our understanding of God when we run up short, or find ourselves empty-handed, in what we have considered faith, or God, to be. Whether we are able to profit from such still points depends on whether we are able to take them in stride as “punctuation points, fertile pauses,” and whether we have room in our relationships to talk about what we seek, and what it is like to be lacking, as we move along. James will also speak about how the science of psychology may help us understand the emotional and cognitive factors in our lives that contribute to, or hinder, religious development. James Meredith Day, a priest in the Church of England, is also Professor of Human Development and the Psychology of Religion in the Universite catholique de Louvain in Belgium; Assistant Chaplain in The Pro-Cathedral of The Holy Trinity; and consulting psychologist in private practice at PsyGroup, also in Brussels. He is co-founder and co-director of Spiritualite et Vie, a program at Louvain that fosters ecumenical and inter-religious discussion, and promotes the relevance of religious perspectives to world issues. He has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at a number of universities including Cambridge, Columbia, Cornell, and Princeton, and he has contributed to the public debate in the field of religion and science as a guest on the BBC and Belgian radio and television; he also acts as a consultant to the Belgian government in its effort to stem corruption among government officials. He is married to Birte, a European policy analyst, yoga and religion teacher, and the father of four children. [top] "Faith, Hope, and Charity: A Year in the Life of the Grants Committee of The Memorial Church" James W. Lawson Sunday, March 30, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church As you may know, every year a committee of volunteers begins its work to recommend a list of local non-profit agencies to receive grants from The Memorial Church to help them continue their work in the community. The requests may be as simple as the need for a washing machine for a homeless shelter, or it may be more complex. What you may not know is that over the past decade, the budget, the number of requests for assistance, and the demands placed on our Grants Committee have increased dramatically. Out of so many whom can we help? And how do we choose? This Sunday at the Faith & Life Forum, committee leader Jim Lawson will discuss the committee’s year-round ministry and The Memorial Church’s attempt to answer as a congregation Matthew’s question, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?" Jim will also discuss the Grants Committee Auction on April 17th for the benefit of the charities of The Memorial Church. [top] "Surviving Auschwitz: A Holocaust Survivor’s Story" Andrew Burian Tuesday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. The Memorial Church Born in 1930 in Czechoslovakia, Andrew Burian enjoyed a charmed childhood, but at the age of thirteen his life changed traumatically and irrevocably. He and his family were deported to a Hungarian ghetto and soon after to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. He endured the infamous "Death March" and the Austrian concentration camps of Mauthausen and Gunskirchen. Liberated in 1945, he arrived at Ellis Island alone, empty-handed, and 17 years old. His story is a remarkable, personal account of history. Co-sponsored by the Freshman Dean's Office, the Harvard Foundation, Harvard Hillel, and the Faith & Life Forum. The talk is free and open to the public. [top] "A Personal Journey Towards Identity in Faith" Isabel Tellez Sunday, March 16, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church A member of the Faith and Forum since 2003, our friend Isabel Tellez will speak on Sunday, March 16 about how living and working in three very different countries has shaped the course of her life and challenged her to begin a personal spiritual journey. Isabel was born and schooled in Chile and then moved to the United States where she trained as a physician in 1963; she raised her family of three children here. While living in New York she also built a productive and fulfilling career in research and clinical medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Following a divorce, illness, and depression, Isabel traveled to Spain, the land of her parents and her family’s roots, a journey which proved to be a turning point in her life. Turning trouble into opportunity, her difficulties challenged her to search for a deeper faith as her life changed. She has lived in the Boston area to be closer to her family during the last 8 years. [top] "Leading by Following" Dean Miller Nieman Foundation for Journalism Sunday, March 9, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Remember to re-set your clocks for Daylight Savings Time because you’ll want to be at the Forum this Sunday when journalist and Nieman Foundation Fellow Dean Miller joins us with a film and a topic that is close to our hearts. Dean asks: How does Ed Jones do it? The choir that gathers every morning in Appleton Chapel sings with one voice, beautifully, and yet it is composed of enormously confident, successful individuals. As a senior manager at a private company and in public life on several non-profit boards, I've become interested in my own failures as a follower and in the success of enterprises that make followers out of people accustomed to leading. On Sunday morning, we'll watch a 10-minute film I made about Ed and bass Jonathan Roberts. I will prepare some questions for the group, but intend to follow the discussion where it leads! Newspaper journalist Dean Miller is a 2008 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, studying sectarian respect for civil authority. For the last 12 years, he has been editor of The Post Register, the legendarily independent newspaper serving Idaho Falls, Idaho. Of all the recent honors accorded the Post Register, he is most proud that reporter Peter Zuckerman won the Livingston Award, a $10,000 prize for local news coverage that recognizes the best under-35 reporter in the nation. Miller is this year's winner of the Mirror Award for breaking news coverage of the media industry. For its investigation of Boy Scouting's failure to purge pedophile leaders, The Post Register last year won the E.W. Scripps award for distinguished service to the First Amendment. The paper's handling of the backlash against that story is the subject of a two-part PBS documentary "Expose: America's Investigative Reports." Miller started in the business as a government and politics reporter at various papers including The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington. He co-authored "Cat Attacks: True Stories and Hard Lessons from Cougar Country," was the lead researcher for HarperCollins' book about the Ruby Ridge shootings and has edited a half-dozen travel books about the Western U.S. In 2006, he was selected as an Ethics Fellow of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he has also taught in Poynter's summer program for young journalists. This year at Harvard, he is at work on a documentary about the obscure Idaho songwriter whose song broke the ice between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Miller, his wife Tracie and their two elementary-school-aged children are living at Lowell House this year. They are outdoors-people who are relishing Cambridge's ready access to top-notch arts and culture. [top] "The Family of Faith" Gail Gilmore EdD Sunday, March 2, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church What do we mean when we refer to the family of faith? Who is a member of this family, and why does membership within it matter to us, to those we love, and to the world? As we think about the answers tothese questions, we are informed by our own history, our own stories, and our personal experience of what it means to be a member of the family of faith. This Sunday, Gail Gilmore, Assistant Director for Careers in Arts, Public Service, and General Counseling at Harvard’s Office of Career Services, will talk about the role of the family of faith in her life and work and will lead a discussion of how our own membership in that family shapes our lives. [top] Composing with Faith Stephen Paulus Sunday, February 24, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Photograph of poet Michael Dennis Browne, librettist of The Three Hermits, with composer Stephen Paulus The Forum is delighted to welcome composer Stephen Paulus, whose church opera The Three Hermits will be performed by the Harvard University Choir in the Memorial Church Sanctuary at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 24. Stephen joins the Forum to speak about how his faith has shaped his career as a musician. This is a great opportunity to meet the man who is one of America’s most performed and respected composers of concert and church music, a composer who The New Yorker has called "...a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift." His prolific output of more than two hundred works is represented in many genres, including music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard and opera. He has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Houston Symphony and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, with subsequent performances coming from the orchestras of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Radio Orchestra. He has served as Composer in Residence for the orchestras of Atlanta, Minnesota, Tucson and Annapolis, and his works have been championed by such eminent conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Christoph von Dohanyi, Leonard Slatkin, Yoel Levi, the late Robert Shaw, and many others. We are delighted to have him as our Forum guest on February 24! [top] Pakistan Now Karen Armstrong Sunday, February 17, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Eminent religious historian and internationally best-selling author Karen Armstrong returns to the Faith & Life Forum this Sunday, February 17, following a two-week trip to Pakistan in the aftermath of the assassination of presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto. Karen will report on her trip, which included stops for speaking engagements in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi, and a meeting with President Musharraf. She will also offer some thoughts about the upcoming Pakistani election. This is a Forum you will not want to miss! The author of some twenty books, including the best-selling A History of God and The Battle for God, Karen is best known for her ideas about what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and what unites the three great monotheist faiths. She points out that each have in common the image of a single Supreme Being who was revealed to the Prophet Abraham, each are historically linked to Jerusalem, and each, during the last few years, has seen the rise of a rigid and conservative group within their faith that has formed in reaction to the changing modern world. Karen was also The Memorial Church’s William Belden Noble lecturer this past November. [top] Prayer and Preparation: Thoughts for the First Week in Lent Mary Beth Clack Sunday, February 10, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Prayer is a both a private and public part of our Lenten observance and practice. This week at the Forum our good friend and Forum regular Mary Beth Clack will lead us in an examination of the aspects of prayer that are most meaningful to us in our various religious traditions. Prayer can be petition, reflection, meditation... an act of thanksgiving, devotion and worship. Mary Beth will take a look at the prayers that are most significant to us during this season, the prayers that we find most inspiring, the ways that prayer illuminates and enriches our lives. Come to the Forum this Sunday and begin your Lenten practice with us! [top] Living One's Faith Dr. Lisa Wong Sunday, February 3, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church The Faith & Life Forum reconvenes this Sunday for the first meeting of the Spring Term with a speaker who has found a way to do something which many of us have dreamed of doing—combining her professional life with a personal passion, and joining it in such a way that it also constitutes meaningful public service. Dr. Lisa Wong ’79 has been a pediatrician in the Boston area for more than twenty years, and as president of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra for more than fifteen years, she has united her work as a healer, educator, and arts advocate with her passion as a musician. In 1991, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra partnered with cellist Yo-Yo Ma '76 and violinist Lynn Chang ’75 to present a concert celebrating the life and work of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a theologian, musician, physician and humanitarian. Since then, the Longwood Symphony has devoted every concert to raising funds for the medically needy. Lisa directs the "Healing Art of Music" program that has worked with 28 medical nonprofit organizations and empowered each to build capacity and raise awareness for the medically underserved. This June, Longwood Symphony is embarking on its first international tour, combining work with cancer patients and concerts to raise funds for palliative care. [top] WWND? What Would Niebuhr Do? Richard Parker, Kennedy School of Government Sunday, December 9, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Reinhold Niebuhr has suddenly been "rediscovered" by liberals and conservatives alike, as we've all gone looking for alternative views on the Iraq War, "global superpower" claims, and theological justifications for America's willingness to war against the Axis of Evil. But what makes him so relevant? Richard Parker is Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. An Oxford-educated economist who teaches in the area of religion, politics and public policy, you might also know him as the co-founder of the iconic magazine Mother Jones. As head of his own consulting firm, he served congressional clients including Senators Kennedy, Glenn, Cranston, and McGovern, among others. Richard has held Marshall, Rockefeller, Danforth, Goldsmith, and Bank of America Fellowships and his books include: "The Myth of the Middle Class," a study of U.S. income distribution; "Mixed Signals: The Future of Global Television News;" and the intellectual biography "John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics." Richard's articles have appeared in numerous academic anthologies and journals and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Nation, Harper's, Le Monde, Atlantic Monthly, and International Economy, among others. [top] The Roots of American Moral Leadership in Black and White Omar Abdul-Malik Sunday, November 18, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church This Sunday our friend Omar Abdul-Malik returns to the Faith & Life Forum to continue his discussion of two weeks ago, "The Roots of American Moral Leadership in Black and White," an examination of how the differing exegesis of scripture affects racial opinions towards political leadership in the United States. Omar is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he was a founder of the University's Black American Studies Program and served on the faculty as a Coordinator of Curriculum Development, as well as teaching a survey course on Afro-American history. In addition, he graduated from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government where he was a Public Service and Research Fellow. Omar is Director of the Cambridge Center for the Study of Religion and Public Policy and continues his research at Harvard in Islamic Studies as an associate to the Pluralism Project and to Dr. David Mitten of the Sackler Museum. He is currently completing work on a history of Islam in American entitled "The Western Sunrise—America's Hidden Islamic Legacy." [top] Religion and Our Political Life Karen Armstrong Sunday, November 11, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church This Sunday we have the great good fortune to host best-selling author and religious historian Karen Armstrong, who returns to the Forum to speak about religion and politics. It will be a great opportunity to speak with Karen in a small setting, before her engagement later in the week as the 2007–08 William Belden Noble Lecturer. The author of some twenty books, including the best-selling A History of God and The Battle for God, Karen is best known for her ideas about what Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have in common, and what unites the three great monotheist faiths. She points out that each have in common the image of a single Supreme Being who was revealed to the Prophet Abraham, each are historically linked to Jerusalem, and each, during the last few years, has seen the rise of a rigid and conservative group within their faith that has formed in reaction to the changing modern world. [top] Staying in Touch: The Challenges of Campus Life— Notes from a Veteran Observer The Reverend Dr. Claudia Highbaugh Sunday, November 4, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church We welcome back another dear friend of the Forum on Sunday, November 4th, when Claudia Highbaugh returns for a visit. Claudia sends us the following preview of her discussion, which you won't want to miss: Having lived, worked, taught, and studied on fourteen college and university campuses in the last 45 years, I am finding the challenges of campus life to be more and more complex. My own call to ministry came in the midst of the sixties, at a time when college campuses and students were motivated to "be the change" in the world, addressing injustice with demonstrations, changes in scholarly canon, and creating new spaces to include and invite the voices of women and people of color. Campuses face all kinds of intriguing and challenging cultural issues these days. An influx of cultures, religions, racial and ethnic backgrounds combine with coeducation, sophisticated communication, and major breakthroughs in an age-old hegemonic curriculum that calls itself "liberal arts." Those of us who work as faculty, staff, and administration have to work very hard to keep up with and ahead of the movement of minds, attitudes, and global challenges. On November 4th, I would like to reflect and report on three areas of campus life that most specifically confront the work of college and university pastors and chaplains. The generations of Sunday Supper and folk guitar services have given way to the new standards of campus life, with co-ed living, constant and instant communication, international travel and study, and widely varying understanding and interpretation of social behavioral guidelines around public speech, expression, and tolerance around issues of diversity. Please come to listen and learn, question and collaborate on our roles as a support community in this very high profile institution of higher learning. The examples are of my own choosing, the opinions of my own experience and the voice is my own articulation of the changes of life on campus, from one who has lived, worked, taught, and studied at college from 1964 ’til now! Claudia Ann Highbaugh came to Harvard and the Harvard Divinity School in 1993 as Chaplain to the Divinity School and member of the Faculty of Divinity. Previously, she was the associate university chaplain at Yale University and a lecturer at the Yale Divinity School. Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she has served her faith community as a delegate to the National Council of Churches Governing Board and both the General Board and Administrative Committee of the General Church. Current involvements include membership on the Board of Trustees of Ursinus College, in Collegeville, Pa.; Trustee of the Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago Divinity School; and Board of Trustees at the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Her recently published work includes two articles for the Journal of Feminist Theology; contributions to an upcoming Bible commentary for Westminster John Knox Press; and the book Crossing By Faith: Sermons on the Journey from Youth to Adulthood, Chalice Press. Claudia is currently Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, and an affiliated minister in The Memorial Church. [top] The Roots of American Moral Leadership in Black and White Omar Abdul-Malik Sunday, October 28, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church Omar's talk this Sunday, "The Roots of American Moral Leadership in Black and White," will be an examination of how the differing exegesis of scripture affects racial opinions towards political leadership in the United States. Omar is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he was a founder of the University's Black American Studies Program and served on the faculty as a Coordinator of Curriculum Development, as well as teaching a survey course on Afro-American history. In addition, he graduated from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government where he was a Public Service and Research Fellow. Omar is Director of the Cambridge Center for the Study of Religion and Public Policy. He continues his research at Harvard in Islamic Studies as an associate to the Pluralism Project and to Dr. David Mitten of the Sackler Museum. He is currently completing work on a history of Islam in American entitled The Western Sunrise—America's Hidden Islamic Legacy. [top] Head to Head or Heart to Heart? The Body and Soul of Practical Peace Katherine Power, Cambridge Cares About AIDS Sunday, October 21, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church There is a convergence between spiritual peace traditions and our modern understandings of the intricate interaction between the body and the mind in situations of conflict and cooperation. Katherine Power will explore this convergence, adding insights and techniques to open the possibility of practical peace in everyday situations—in traffic, in lines at the store, in domestic relations, and in public policy. Katherine Power holds a Masters in Philosophy, Ethics, and Writing from Oregon State University and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies earned in the Boston University Prison Education Program. Her published works include poems in Best American Poetry 1996 and Columbia Review and the chapbook Doing Time: Papers from Framingham Prison. She is currently the Development Manager of Cambridge Cares About AIDS. [top] First Annual "Call of Service" Lecture and Award Marian Wright Edelman Friday, October 19, 2007, 7:30 p.m. The Memorial Church Sanctuary Be sure to mark your calendars for the first annual Phillips Brooks House Association's “Robert Coles ‘Call of Service’ Lecture and Award” with speaker Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Faith & Life Forum and is free and open to the public. For more information about all the events surrounding the Robert Coles Call of Service Lecture and Alumni Weekend, visit the PBHA Web site at http://www.pbha.org/. [top] The Allens, the Wheelers, and the American Board in Turkey, 1855–1922: Lessons from Our Missionary Past Jonathan Page, Epps Fellow, The Memorial Church Sunday, October 14, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was the first foreign missionary organization established in the United States. Begun in 1810 and officially incorporated by the Massachusetts legislature in 1812, the American Board sent hundreds of missionaries overseas and had a greater impact on American foreign missions than any other single organization. The Allen and the Wheeler families served as missionaries in Turkey under the auspices of the ABCFM from 1855 to 1922, and their story tells us much about the changing nature of Protestant missions during that time period and encourages us to reflect on this crucial movement within American Christianity. Jonathan Page is the author of Ringing the Gotchnag: The Allens, the Wheelers and the Changing Shape of the American Board in Turkey, 1855–1922 (to be published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society this winter). Jonathan is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Divinity School and currently serves as the Epps Fellow in The Memorial Church. [top] Certainty in the Midst of Uncertainty Lumumba Seegars ’09 Sunday, October 7, 9:30 a.m. Pusey Room, The Memorial Church This week the Faith & Life Forum welcomes Harvard College junior and Social Studies concentrator (and University Choir member) Lumumba Seegars, who will be discussing how, at times, uncertainty can be a catalyst for understanding ourselves and our interests. He will focus on how we can still find a measure of certainty even during times when we are unsure about life or specific situations. How can we use our faith to overcome our doubt about particular aspects of our lives? Special emphasis will be placed on being able to establish and cultivate strong relationships with family, friends, and other loved ones and how these relationships can lead to greater certainty in our lives. Lumumba Seegars was born and raised in Houston, Texas before coming to Harvard. He is in his junior year concentrating in Social Studies. He has always loved music and has been a member of the Harvard University Choir since his freshmen year. On campus, he is the co-director of the Students Taking On Poverty (STOP) campaign as well as the sponsorship chair for the Black Men's Forum. He has also served on the Memorial Church Grants Committee. Upon graduation, he hopes to work in the field of education. [top]

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