PAST EVENTS

Summer 2011 Special Event!
Lunchtime DVD Series and Discussion Group

“Doing the Right Thing”
, an exploration of ethics conducted at Princeton University.

12noon – 1pm
Starting Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Memorial Union, ASU Tempe Campus

robert george chuck colson
Robert George Chuck Colson

Doing The Right Thing is sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute (www.winst.org ) and the Colson Center (www.colsoncenter.org ).  The video series is hosted by Dr. Robert George, McKormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.  He is assisted by Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and the Colson Center.

Friday, September 24, 2010
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
University Club Heritage Room, ASU Tempe, 425 E. University Drive - Map
“Biblical Perspectives on Immigration Reform and the Larger Issue of Paralyzing Polarization” - Dr. Gary Kinnaman

garyDr. Gary Kinnaman
Dr. Kinnaman is a graduate of Biola University (B.A.), Arizona State University (M.A.), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A. in Theology), and Western Conservative Baptist Seminary (DMin.).   He served as Senior Pastor of Word of Grace Church for twenty-five years.  He now serves as a pastor at large, mentoring and networking church, government and market place leaders to serve our cities and state.


In 2008 Dr. Kinnaman served as Chair of Governor Napolitano’s Council on Faith and Community.  Recently, he was selected to serve on Governor Brewer’s Arizona SERVES Task Force, our current Governor’s effort to engage the faith community in social services most deeply impacted by our state budget crisis.

Monday, March 22, 2010
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
University Club, ASU Tempe, 425 E. University Drive - Map
Dr. Hugh Ross

Dr RossDr. Hugh Ross
Our special guest will be Dr. Hugh Ross, founder of Reasons To Believe, who will talk about scientific modeling of Intelligent Design/Creation, as per his new book More Than a Theory: Revealing a Testable Model for Creation

Dr. Ross is an astrophysicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and post-doctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology.  In 1986 he founded Reasons to Believe, a science-faith think tank in Pasadena, California.  The purpose of Reasons to Believe is to keep tabs on the frontiers of research to share with scientists and nonscientists alike the thrilling news of what is being discovered and how it connects with biblical theology.  Dr. Ross has written many books, including: The Fingerprint of God, The Creator and the Cosmos, Beyond the Cosmos, The Genesis Question, A Matter of Days, Creation As Science, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, and More Than a Theory.


Wednesday, October 22, 2008
11:30 a.m. - 12:55 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map
Professor Mary Poplin

poplinProfessor Mary Poplin of Claremont Graduate University will speak from her recently published book, Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service (InterVarsity Press).

teresa"Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are. . . . You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see." --Mother Teresa. Lifelong educator Mary Poplin, after experiencing a newfound awakening to faith, sent a letter to Calcutta asking if she could visit Mother Teresa and volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity. She received a response saying, "You are welcome to share in our works of love for the poorest of the poor." So in the spring of 1996, Poplin spent two months in Calcutta as a volunteer. There she observed Mother Teresa's life of work and service to the poor, participating in the community's commitments to simplicity and mercy. Mother Teresa's unabashedly religious work stands in countercultural contrast to the limitations of our secular age. Poplin's journey gives us an inside glimpse into one of the most influential lives of the twentieth century and the lessons Mother Teresa continues to offer. Upon Poplin's return, she soon discovered that God was calling her to serve the university world with the same kind of holistic service with which Mother Teresa served Calcutta.

Thursday, February 7, 2008
11:30 a.m. - 12:55 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map
Donna Kafer - “Women of Courage”


donna Donna Kafer is Chaplain of the Arizona State Legislature and Director of Leadership Challenge of Arizona (see www.lcarizona.org). She will challenge all -- men and women -- to live lives of courage and faith no matter the hardships and circumstances we face, for such lives can quite literally change the world.

bookWhat do Corrie Ten Boom, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Julia Ward Howe, Amy Carmichael, Marian Anderson, Pandita Rambai, and Mahalia Jackson have in common? They, and others, are “women of courage” profiled by Donna Kafer in her recent book, Women of Courage: Great Women in History whose Devotion to God Changed our World. Throughout history much has been recorded concerning the great achievements of notable women, women who have accomplished many critical and thought-provoking wonders for humanity. However, most history books do not share the faith of the amazing women who have shaped families, nations and governments through the power and love of Jesus Christ. Women of Courage explores the lives of ordinary women who defied the odds, counted the cost, and took up their cross to overcome difficult and trying times that could have crushed them. Through their faith in Christ they persevered against all odds, gaining Courage for Suffering & Injustice, Courage for the Great Commission, and Courage through Loss. Each woman grew into a "display of His splendor" in "Gardens of Grace." May their stories nourish your faith for the journey that lies ahead to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)

Tuesday, December 4 , 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map

Join us as we begin the holiday season and end the fall 2007 semester by singing Christmas carols accompanied by Professor Walter Cosand at the Aslan
Society luncheon on Tuesday, December 4, at the University Club. The luncheon buffet begins at 11:30 a.m. and costs $10. The music will begin shortly thereafter.

Friday, October 26, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map

“Are Truth Claims of the Bible Intolerant?”
Amy Orr-Ewing, Training Director, Ravi Zacharias Trust, London, England

Amy Orr-Ewing is Training Director of RZIM Zacharias Trust. She gained a first class degree in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford University, before receiving a Masters degree in Theology at King's College, London. As well as overseeing the Trust's apologetics training program, Amy is invited to speak at many universities, churches and conferences.  She has authored several books.  Her new book Why Trust the Bible? (published by InterVarsity Press in North America under the title Is the Bible Intolerant? ) was shortlisted for the 2006 UK Christian Book Awards.  Amy has traveled widely, including visits to Afghanistan, China and South Africa. She is married to Frog (Francis), who is a vicar in the Church of England, and they live in London with their twin boys.  For more information about Amy and the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry, please see http://www.rzim.org/.

Is the Bible Intolerant?  Why bother with the Bible?  Of all the books in the world, the Bible sticks out like a sore thumb. For some, it's uniquely and divinely inspired, and thus the only authoritative source of truth. For others, it's a quaint relic from a bygone era that offers personal comfort to some but little more to anyone else. For still others, the Bible is a tool of sexist oppression, or a reactionary account of a violent God, or an arrogant detractor of other holy books, or even an indecipherable mess.  But the Bible has withstood such criticism over the centuries, and as Amy Orr-Ewing contends, it bears surprising relevance to this generation. Facing contemporary critics square-on, with refreshing honesty and wit, Amy will help you understand the Bible and the world it inhabits today. Bring your questions about the Bible, listen with an open mind, and discover for yourself just how relevant -- and how good -- the Good Book can be.  Find out more about Amy Orr-Ewing and watch a video clip. <http://www.rzim.org/apologetics/apologetics.php?personid=18 >   Download a page of brief excerpts < http://www.ivpress.com/title/exc/3351-short.pdf >  from Is the Bible Intolerant?



Wednesday, September 26, 2007 (last Aslan event of the year)
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map

“Communicating Forgiveness”
Professor Douglas Kelley

The buffet lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Cost of the luncheon is $10 per person, while the program is free. All university faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome to attend this luncheon.

dougDouglas Kelley received his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of Arizona. He spent five years at Seattle Pacific University before moving to the West Campus of Arizona State University. Professor Kelley teaches relationship-based courses such as Family Communication, Conflict and Negotiation, Relational Communication, and Inner-City Families. He studies interpersonal communication processes, focusing on marital communication, including how couples negotiate privacy and relational expectations. His 1998 study on The Communication of Forgiveness launched a decade of work with his colleague, Vince Waldron, on various forgiveness processes. Dr. Kelley considers teaching a primary focus. He has been nominated for various teaching awards and takes great pride in the creation of a service-learning course in which students work with children and youth in inner-city contexts. He also puts in numerous hours each week as faculty advisor to the college Young Life club. He has served on the editorial boards of journals including The Journal of Family Communication. Doug loves to spend time with his wife, Ann, and sons, Jonathan and Daniel. He enjoys kayaking and swimming, and running with his beagle/lab, Allen.

bookCommunicating Forgiveness provides a synthesis of the literature on forgiveness in relationships, with special emphasis on the central but understudied role of interpersonal communication. Authors Vincent Waldron and Douglas Kelley define forgiveness as a communication process which allows partners to confront relational wrongdoing, manage intense emotional responses, forgo legitimate claims to revenge, and potentially repair the relationship. They see forgiveness as a positive, hopeful alternative to estrangement, bitterness and retribution. By focusing on communication behaviors and offering research-based guidance on effective forgiveness practices, the authors present an alternative to the prevailing psychological frameworks. Communicating Forgiveness offers new insights to anyone interested in the dynamics of personal and work relationships, conflict management, relational justice, family functioning, and related topics.


Wednesday, April 25, 2007 (last Aslan event of the year)
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus - Map

Jannah Scott, Policy Advisor on Faith and Community Initiatives in the Arizona Governors Office

The buffet lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Cost of the luncheon is $10 per person, while the program is free. All university faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome to attend this luncheon.

jannah scottJannah Scott will speak on emerging collaborative efforts among governmental, educational, community and faith-based organizations to address the serious social needs of our state. Also, she will present information on the upcoming Arizona White House Conference on Faith and Community Initiatives at the Phoenix Convention Center on May 15-16 (see below for more about the conference). Ms. Scott is the policy advisor on Faith and Community Initiatives for Governor Janet Napolitano. An ordained minister, she has served in a variety of capacities with government, faith organizations and the nonprofit community. Prior to her appointment by the Governor in August 2005, Ms. Scott was an associate with the International Foundation in Washington, D.C., the host of the annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast. She also served for seven years as the executive director of the Collaboration for a New Century, supporting the work of faith-based and community organizations in serving needy Arizonans. The Collaboration was part of a four-city project funded by the federal Compassion Capital Fund to provide training and technical assistance to faith-based and community groups in Phoenix. Ms. Scott has a graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley.


Friday, March 30, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus

Mary Jo West
“Media, Madness, Motherhood, and Miracles.”

The buffet lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Cost of the luncheon is $10 per person, while the program is free. All university faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome to attend this luncheon.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, March 28 to (480) 242-2836 or


Mary Jo WestMary Jo West is an award winning television journalist who anchored both locally and with the CBS network in New York. She has won two Emmys, the prestigious Peabody Award, and countless other accolades. She is also a popular speaker who has shared her story of overcoming bi-polar disorder not only on the Oprah Winfrey show, but also at The White House and the Democratic National Convention .   She is an advocate for the mentally ill, seeking to erase the stigma of their illness.  She has worked with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity at their orphanage in Honduras.  Mary Jo has also worked as a public and media relations professional for the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and Arizona State University. She is currently the Director of Communications and Public Affairs with the Bashas’ Family of Stores.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus

“The Christian and the Contemporary University”
Dr. J. Stanley Mattson,
Founder and President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation of Redlands, California, and Oxford, England

The buffet lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Cost of the luncheon is $10 per person, while the program is free. All university faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome to attend this luncheon.
In addition to the luncheon on Feb. 27, Dr. Mattson will be giving a free public lecture on “Engaging Culture with Grace & Truth: C.S. Lewis, the ‘Bonny Fighter’” on Wed., Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Murdock Lecture Hall at ASU’s Tempe Campus. This lecture is open to all on the campus and in the community. See www.aslansociety.org or www.azcslewissociety.org for more information.

About the talk, “The Christian and the Contemporary University”: Charles Malik, eminent Christian philosopher and former President of the UN General Assembly, rightly observed, "The universities ... directly and indirectly, dominate the world; their influence is so pervasive and total that whatever problem afflicts them is bound to have far reaching repercussions throughout the entire fabric of Western Civilization." Given this truism, how should Christians relate to so powerful and influential an institution? Dr. Mattson will highlight current trends and underscore those conclusions that ought to inform our conduct as Christians working within and around the academy, whether as students, faculty, administrators, alumni, or parents.

mattsonAbout the speaker, Dr. J. Stanley Mattson: Dr. Mattson is the Founder and President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation of Redlands, CA and Oxford, England. He has long been active in advancing the legacy of C.S. Lewis, renowned scholar of English medieval and renaissance literature, author, and Christian apologist. An American social and intellectual historian by training, with advanced degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Dr. Mattson has served as Headmaster of The Master’s School in West Simsbury, CT, and as a member of the teaching faculties of North Carolina State University, Gordon College, MA, and the University of Redlands, CA. At Redlands he also served as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations until leaving to establish the C.S. Lewis Foundation in 1986. Inspired by the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis, Dr. Mattson has labored extensively over the past twenty years to advance that legacy –

  • lecturing widely on C.S. Lewis and related subjects;
  • directing the Foundation’s highly regarded C.S. Lewis Summer Institute at Oxford and Cambridge universities;
  • ·overseeing the restoration of “The Kilns,” C.S. Lewis’ beloved home in Oxford, which now serves as home to the C.S. Lewis Study Centre for visiting scholars and hosts the Foundation’s annual C.S. Lewis Summer Seminars-in-Residence;
  • ·and, finally, pioneering in the development of the C.S. Lewis Faculty Forum, a faculty-led initiative dedicated to networking Christian faculty from universities and colleges throughout North America and abroad with the goal of encouraging them, in the tradition of C.S. Lewis, to assume a more vital and visible role in shaping the academic and cultural climate of our time.

cslewisThe C.S. Lewis Foundation is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, donor supported 501(c)3 corporation. For more information about the Foundation, go to www.cslewis.org or e-mail info@cslewis.org or call (909) 793-0949.

 

 


Tuesday, December 5, 2006
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus
Denver Seminary professor Doug Groothuis
spoke on “Is Jesus the Only Way?”


groothuisDouglas R. Groothuis
(pronunciation: grote-hice) received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oregon. He is Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary, where he has served since 1993. He has written ten books, most recently On Pascal and On Jesus in the Wadsworth Philosophers Series (Wadsworth, 2003). His book Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism, (InterVarsity Press, 2000) won a 2001 Christianity Today Award of Merit. In addition, Groothuis is a contributing editor for the Dictionary of Contemporary Religion in the Western World (InterVarsity, 2002). His books have been translated into French, German, Korean, Norwegian and several other languages. Groothuis has published articles in scholarly journals such as Religious Studies, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Philosophia Christi, Inquiry, Christian Scholars Review, Asbury Theological Journal and Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. He has written, too, for popular periodicals, including Christianity Today, National Forum, Books and Culture and The Christian Research Journal, and for newspapers such as The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Times and The Denver Post. For three years he wrote a regular column for Moody Magazine called "Culture Watch." His observations on religion and culture have been quoted in Time, The New York Times and US News and World Report. Groothuis's primary passion is to make Christian truth known in contemporary culture and in the church. To that end, he speaks at many colleges and universities on apologetics and ethical themes. He is married to author and editor Rebecca Merrill Groothuis.


 

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club at ASU Tempe Campus
Journalist Gabriel Meyer - “War and Faith in Sudan”

gabriel meyerGabriel Meyer is an award-winning novelist, poet and journalist. A resident of Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter in the 1980s, he won Catholic Press Association (CPA) awards for his coverage of the first Palestinian intifada in 1989. He also traveled widely in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt and Turkey, covering the plight of the region’s ethnic and religious minorities. Assigned to write on Yugoslavia for the National Catholic Register in 1990, he lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina and chronicled the region’s descent into civil war. Meyer returned frequently to the Balkans during the Bosnian war, writing principally on the plight of war orphans and the politics of aid. His dispatches from Sarajevo on the last day of the war (October 1995) were nominated for several journalism awards. Meyer published two novels in 1994, both with Middle Eastern settings: In the Shade of the Terebinth and The Gospel of Joseph. In 1997, Meyer interviewed legendary human rights champion Bishop Macram Max Gassis of Sudan, and traveled with him to the war-torn Nuba Mountains in central Sudan the following year. Subsequent trips to Sudan in 1999 - 2001 provided the basis for a feature-length documentary, “The Hidden Gift: War & Faith in Sudan,” on Bishop Gassis’s work among the Nuba and other “forgotten” peoples of Sudan’s civil war, which Meyer wrote and narrated. The film premiered at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. His book of essays, War & Faith in Sudan (Eerdmans), was released in fall 2005. Meyer lives in Los Angeles where, in addition to free-lance writing, he serves as President of the historic Ruskin Art Club. He is also a longtime member of the Keats-Shelley-Byron Memorial Association in Rome. For more information, see www.warandfaithinsudan.com.

War adn faith in SudanExcerpt from War and Faith in Sudan, by Gabriel Meyer, with photography by James Nicholls: “I have always believed that it is one of the functions of journalism to bring to light what is hidden, to tell not the story that everyone is telling, but the one that no one is, to seek out the “invisible” realities that, all too often, can’t be seen from our customary vantage points and with our typical points of reference — victimizations that fall through the cracks of things, the very invisibility of which give their perpetrators a free hand. That was my first reason for going to the remote Nuba Mountains of central Sudan, where a military junta had been conducting a ruthless war of liquidation against a civilian population for years with impunity. The second reason for going, or, rather, for going back, had to do with something that I heard there. It was, I think, my first interview, as it happened, with a commander of the insurgent forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the Nuba Mountains. I knew that the SPLA’s war against government troops in the region had bogged down and I had been told that they were looking for more sophisticated weapons systems to fight Khartoum’s bombers — “stinger” missiles, for example, from discreet U.S. suppliers. I asked the young commander a question that I thought might launch us into that discussion. “So, what’s the most important thing your soldiers need out here in the Nuba Mountains?” I said, getting my notebook out. “The most important thing?” he asked back through translators, with a wistfulness I hadn’t expected from a military man. “The most important thing my soldiers need,” he said, “is to learn to fight and not to hate.”


Wednesday, October 25, 2006
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club
Dale Dauten - Better Than Perfect: How Gifted Bosses and Great Employees Can Lift the Performance of Those Around Them


Dale DautenDale Dauten, ASU graduate, has written extensively in his syndicated newspaper columns about leadership innovations in business and industry. His books are used in a wide range of situations that require courage and creativity in building productive teams that preserve the integrity of both the leader and the employee.  Dale presentation is titled

“How to Enjoy Killing the Status Quo.”


He will discuss the theme of his book The Laughing WarriorThink like a Hero, Work like an Artist. There are ways of working with people that combine service and creativity, producing individuals and organizations that put up great numbers and good destiny.

Dale will present some specific leadership ideas relative to a university setting and answer questions about their applications in personal and professional settings. I have all of Dale’s books and have been blessed by Dale’s insightful focus on information (head knowledge) and passion (heart experiences). He presents a unique point of view that values the personal integrity and uniqueness of each individual while establishing a productive team for an organization. You can check out his web site at www.dauten.com .


Tuesday, September 19, 2006
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., University Club

Dr. Bruce McNicol,
president of Leadership Catalyst,
will provide after-meal remarks based on his recent book TrueFaced,
co-authored with Bill Thrall and John Lynch (pastors, Open Door Fellowship)

Bruce guides Leadership Catalyst as president, combining degrees in finance law, theology, leadership, and organizational development with extensive international work experience. Bruce is co-author of the best-selling books, The Ascent of a Leader and TrueFaced. From 1985-1995, Bruce served as president of Interest Associates, based in Chicago. In that role he helped maximize the callings of business, professional and church leaders in multiple countries and led urban groups in establishing over a hundred organizations in 12 different cultures throughout North America. Bruce's greatest thrill is to watch the gradual transformation of people, and the subsequent influence of their lives. Bruce is married to Janet, who is a homemaker, nurse and mentor. Bruce and Janet are enjoying their three children, Nicole, Chad and Ryan.

As a follow up to the luncheon, Jim Pourchot will be leading an eight-week study of True Faced on Thursdays, from September 28 to November 16, from 12 – 1 p.m.  The study will be in the Memorial Union in the Hopi Room (MU 208C), except for October 5 when the study will be in the Chrysocolla Room (MU 206).  For more information, contact Jim at 602-471-5489 or jimpourchot@att.net.


Wednesday, March 8, 2006
11:45 a.m., Carson Ballroom in Old Main
President Michael Crow
"The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in the New American University"

crowMichael M. Crow became the 16th president of Arizona State University on July 1, 2002. He is guiding the transformation of ASU into one of the nation’s leading public metropolitan research universities, one that is directly engaged in the economic, social, and cultural vitality of its region. Under his direction the university pursues teaching, research, and creative excellence focused on the major intellectual questions of our time, as well as those central to the building of a sustainable environment and economy for Arizona. He has committed the university to global engagement, and to setting a new standard for public service.

Since he took office, ASU has marked a number of important milestones, including the establishment of the Biodesign Institute; the initiation of many new interdisciplinary research initiatives; the groundbreaking for new state-of-the-art research facilities; and the announcement of two $50 million gifts, endowing the W. P. Carey School of Business, and the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, and a $10 million gift to establish the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.

Prior to joining ASU, he was executive vice provost of Columbia University, where he also was professor of science and technology policy in the School of International and Public Affairs. Dr. Crow oversaw Columbia's research enterprise, technology and innovation transfer operations, strategic initiative program, and interdisciplinary program development.
He played the lead role in the creation of the Columbia Earth Institute (CEI), and helped found the Center for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO) in Washington, D.C., a think tank dedicated to linking science and technology to desired social, economic, and environmental outcomes.

He is the author of books and articles relating to the analysis of research organizations, technology transfer, science and technology policy, and the practice and theory of public policy.


Tuesday, February 14, 2006
11:45 a.m., University Club

"Dr. FUN's Stupid Cupid & Realistic Romance® Awards
for Mass Media Portrayals of Sex, Love, & Romance"


Dr. Mary-Lou Galician, "Realistic Romance® Guru" & Media Literacy Advocate (The Original "Dr. FUN") Read more about Mary-Lou


Thursday, December, 2005
11:45 a.m., University Club
Dr. Del  Kehl on “The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”

This is our annual Christmas luncheon of the Aslan Society.  We will celebrate this holiday season with traditional carols and a special presentation on C.S. Lewis’s classic book, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Dr. Del Kehl, emeritus professor of English, will share his insights as a Lewis scholar in a talk entitled, “The Place of the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia : Theology of the Lion’s Tale”– especially appropriate as Aslan the Lion is our Society’s namesake.  In addition, we will show a brief preview of the outstanding new film based on the book, to be released in theatres on Dec. 9.  As a final bonus, Turkish Delight will be served!  Cost of the luncheon is $10, but anyone may attend the program without charge.

Dr. D.G. (Del) Kehl, Professor of English Emeritus at ASU, received the Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and did further graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Fordham University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Occidental College.  He has been Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School and Research Fellow at both Yale Divinity School and Princeton Theological Seminary.  He has done research on John Steinbeck at the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas, on Mark Twain at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, on Flannery O’Connor at Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia, and most recently on C.S. Lewis at the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.  He has published three books and numerous articles on American literature, and has taught a variety of courses dealing with American literature and ethics, American literature and humor, American literature and the Holocaust, literature and the visual arts, literature and theology, as well as courses on C.S. Lewis and, most recently, a course on “C.S. Lewis and His American Cousin, Mr. Hawthorne.”  Dr. Kehl’s talk, titled “The Place of the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia : Theology of the Lion’s Tale,” will discuss the identity and role of Aslan (Turkish for “lion”) as a fitting prelude to the release of Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on December 9.  Attendees will also be able to sample Lewis’s symbolic Turkish Delight, fresh from the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul, Turkey.

c.s.lewis
C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis’ timeless adventure The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe follows the exploits of four siblings -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter -- in World War II England.  They enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of hide-and-seek in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover that a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants has become a world cursed by the evil White Witch, Jadis, to be “always winter and never Christmas.” Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch’s powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle to free Narnia from Jadis’ icy spell forever.  

 

Thursday, October 27, 2005
11:45 a.m., University Club
Dr. Peter Flint on the “Dead Sea Scrolls”

Dr. Peter W. Flint received his Ph.D. in Old Testament and Second Testament Judaism from the University of Notre Dame. as well as Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada, and Co-Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Biblical Studies Dr. Flint has been profiled in Who’s Who in Biblical Studies and Archeology and is the leading authority and world expert on the Isaiah Scroll from Cave One. Dr. Flint was part of an elite group of Scrolls Editors that were instrumental in arranging for the Isaiah Scroll to be exhibited for the first time outside Israel as part of a 2003 Canadian exhibition. He is an engaging and widely recognized public speaker, teacher and motivator.

Read more on Dr. Flint.


Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005
11:45 a.m., University Club
Dr. Michael Mobley, Associate Director for the Biodesign Institute at Arizona
“Embryonic Stem Cell Research: An Examination of Scientific and Ethical Issues”

The President’s Council on Bioethics recently concluded that "proposals to engage in cloning-for-biomedical-research necessarily endorse the creation of (cloned) human embryos solely for the purpose of such research. Public policy that specifically promoted this research would thus explicitly and officially approve crossing a moral boundary." However, there remains considerable pressure within the research community endorsing the production of embryos for research, noting the potential that embryonic stem cells might have in the treatment of various diseases.  The advance of this research is coming up against some major ethical concerns.  This talk will examine some of the critical issues regarding embryo cell research and possible responses by the Christian community.

Michael Mobley's Bio and Related Links


Andre Kole
Thursday, August 25, 2005
11:45 a.m. –- 1:00 p.m. at the South Room of the University Club
Cost is $10 for lunch. No cost if you just want to attend the program.
Please send reservations to aslan@asu.edu by Aug. 22

Considered to be one of the great magical entertainers of our time, Andre Kole has performed before millions of people through live and televised audiences in all fifty U. S. states, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa--76 countries in all. Kole is currently a leading inventor of magical effects, and for a number of years owned a successful business that built and marketed magical inventions that he had developed. In addition to holding the highest award from the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood, Kole is a creative consultant for David Copperfield, probably the best known magician in the world today.

Several years ago Andre was challenged to examine the miracles of Jesus Christ from the standpoint of an illusionist and a skeptic to determine if the miracles of Christ could have been the work of a master magician. In making his investigation, he says, he made some discoveries that changed the course of his life, and he shares some of these findings during his performances.

Andre Kole often appears as a special traveling representative for Campus Crusade for Christ International, an inter-denominational Christian organization founded in 1951. Andre graduated from ASU and lives in Tempe.

Read more on Andre Kole.


 

 

 


For more information contact: