Friends Association for Higher Education
2008 Conference

Where Faith and Practice Meet

Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre

June 19-22, 2008

Conference Schedule - with Abstracts

(To see a streamlined version without abstracts, click here!)

Thursday June 19

Arrivals, as indicated on booking form.

Other conferees arrive, register, and make choices for small groups between 10:00 AM and 4:30 PM

2:30 PM – Optional (free) Tours

• Bournville tour with many of the local places of interest.  3 groups.  Meet on the Verandah.  Led by Lizz Roe, Helen Rowlands, and Judith Jenner.

• Tour of Woodbrooke Library.  Led by Ian Jackson.  Meet in the Library.

• Tour of Woodbrooke. Meet in the Front Hall.

3:30-4:15 - Afternoon Tea is available in Dining Room

4:20 – Conference Welcome:  Rebecca Mays and Jennifer Baraclough  (Cadbury Room)

4:30-6:00 – Plenary: Jocelyn Burnell, “Heavens Above and Heaven on Earth” (Cadbury Room)

Jocelyn (Bell) Burnell is a life-long Quaker, for the first 20 years in Ireland Yearly Meeting and latterly in Britain Yearly Meeting. She has also been a sojourning member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She has been Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting and of several its committees, most recently of Testimonies Committee. In 1989 she gave the Swarthmore Lecture (Broken for Life), and has visited (and sometimes addressed) other Yearly Meetings in Europe and North America. An astronomer by profession, her career started with the discovery of pulsars while a graduate student (her supervisor got the Nobel prize!). She has held research, teaching and senior management positions in numerous universities. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society (London) and a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Now officially 'retired' she is a Visiting Professor in Oxford, undertaking a lot of committee work and public speaking engagements. Jocelyn’s talk is entitled "Heavens Above and Heaven on Earth." She writes: "In this talk I will reflect on the interaction of faith and witness in my life as a research astronomer, a university teacher and a senior university manager, as well as one much involved with British Quakerism."

6.15-7.15 – Dinner (Dining Room)

7:15-8:30 – Session B

James W. Hood: “John Keats & Ethical Practice”  (Cadbury Room)

In an essay entitled “The Ethical Practice of Modernity: The Example of Reading,” John Guillory argues that the act of reading attentively can be an ethical practice, an action that occupies the space between simple, aesthetic enjoyment and didactic morality. The ethical, in Guillory’s terms, constitutes a condition or domain in which we consider the choice between goods, which he distinguishes from morality, where alternatives are either right or wrong, and the aesthetic, where various attractive objects present themselves simply as beautiful. This paper considers how some of Keats’s mature odes, written in 1819, exemplify Guillory’s ideas about what I will call the ethical domain, a moment of awareness the reader experiences when a text presents the paradox of competing goods granted equal consideration. Keats, whose letters demonstrate his deep engagement with the concepts of “negative capability” (which he defined, in part, as the ability to remain in uncertainty) and “disinterestedness” (an early nineteenth-century concept relating to the ability to identify sympathetically with that which lies beyond the ego or self), creates in these poems the space for readers to enter this ethical domain, albeit momentarily, in which various opposing ideas (such as joy and melancholy or life and death) exist not as right or wrong choices or simply aesthetically pleasing entities but rather as equally valid goods to be sought. Therefore, an encounter with such poems engages the attentive reader deeply, if subtly, in the ethical, the locale of difficult and deliberate consideration. Ultimately, this kind of engagement on the part of a reader works to improve one’s character or ethos, so this paper will conclude by arguing the efficacy of reading for character development.

Eric Kristensen: “Workshop: Religion and Spirituality in the Classroom: Where Faith and Practice Meet”  (Quiet Room)

As a professional educational developer, I have noted with interest the growing intensity of exchanges among my colleagues on issues of faith, religion and spirituality. Many of them work and teach in large public institutions, not places where these issues have arisen with much regularity in the 25 years I have been working in the field.
 

Recently, a group of scenarios concerning religious and spiritual issues were developed for use among teaching staff at a large public institution. A larger program, funded by the Ford Foundation at several institutions, has also been created on that campus. In this session, participants will learn about the Difficult Dialogues program at the University of Michigan and use these scenarios to discuss the issues as well as implications for themselves as teachers and for possible use in instructional development on their home campus.
 

In terms of outcomes, participants will address individual and corporate responses to the scenarios, consider their own faith and its practice in their classrooms, and discuss how their home departments, schools, faculties or institutions might use these tools (or develop others) to help individual instructors prepare for these discussions and consider their place in the curriculum.
 

At the end of the workshop, participants will have

• taken part in a discussion of several cases addressing religion, faith and spirituality in the classroom
• learnt about the University of Michigan’s Difficult Dialogues program
• considered their own readiness to handle matters of faith, religion and spirituality in their classes, and
• reflected on their own institution’s support and readiness for open discussion of these issues.

Susan McNaught & Leslie Hickcox:  “Workshop: Learning Styles: Overview, Application, and Use in a Quaker Learning Setting”  (Art Room)

The session will focus on four things: an introduction to learning styles, an overview of two learning style models, how to apply learning styles, and a Quaker connection with learning styles. We will examine what learning styles are and why they continue to be a part of education and regarded as important in best practices. We will examine how teachers develop cues for learning style awareness and help students become aware of their own preferred learning style. We will look at two specific styles (among the myriad of choices) which appear most often in the literature: Witkin’s Model of Field Dependence/Field Independence and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, providing participants a theoretical background and some practical application. We will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the application and use of learning styles in their classrooms.  We will also discuss the Quaker connections with learning styles. Focus will be on involvement of the participants and a shared learning experience.

Yoko Koike: “Queries of a Teacher at a College with Quaker Roots:  What Is It That I Do Differently Because I Am a Friend?" (Holland House Garden Room)

My query is as follows: If being a Quaker means a way of life, is there anything I do differently at my work place because I am a Quaker?  If there is, what is it? In searching for answers, I have been keeping a journal.

My journal shows that in the first two months of the academic year, I attended three “Quaker events” at the College: a gathering of Friends and those who are interested in Quakerism at the College and in the neighborhood, a pot-luck dinner that a Quaker students’ organization held for fellowship, and the Academic Council meeting where those among the faculty who are interested in the direction of the College in terms of courses offered about Quakerism were invited to give suggestions.

In addition, I have attended the weekly meeting for worship at the College several times.  I also had an opportunity to be interviewed by a non-Quaker student, for an assignment given to her in a course on Quakerism. At this student’s request, I took her and another student to our Meeting on one Sunday.

At my home when I invited some students for dinner, unsolicited questions came up about Quakerism, and my husband, also a Quaker, and myself tried to answer them.

As I started this journal, I began to wonder whether our practice of bowing to each other at the start and the end of each [Japanese] class is not somewhat like a moment of silence.

These entries do not show what goes on in my mind or the minds around me in a deeper sense.

At FAHE, I would like to present what will emerge from my journal as to what is Quakerly, what is teacherly, and what is the overlap.

8:40-9:25 – First Small Group Meeting (lists in front hall)

9:30 – Epilogue (close of day worship) with Lenora Wilson in the Cadbury Room, followed by hot drinks and biscuits

10:15 – An opportunity to share 1 or 2 educational videos for those staying in the main facility at Woodbrooke in the Holland House Garden Room

10:15 – Minibuses depart for off-site accommodation.

Friday June 20

7:15 AM: Breakfast available at off-site accommodation

8:00 AM: Minibus collection for off-site accommodation

7.45-8.30 – Breakfast at Woodbrooke

8.30-9:00 – Unprogrammed House Worship  (Cadbury Room)

9:15-10:45 – Session C

Margaret Benefiel: “Being Present to Students and Colleagues: Where Faith and Practice Meet”  (Cadbury Room)

How can we be more present to our students and colleagues? As Friends, we believe in that of God in everyone. Yet in the rush of daily pressures in our institutions, we easily miss seeing the sacred in one another.  This workshop uses guided meditations and mini-clearness committees to help participants be more present to themselves and one another, and to reflect on how to be more present to students and colleagues. This workshop doubles as a pedagogical demonstration, since the practices used in it can also be used in the classroom. I’ll talk about how I have used these practices extensively in the classroom, and we’ll spend time reflecting on various settings in which they might be used.

Ben Pink Dandelion, Mike Heller & Laura Rediehs:  “Plaining the Academy: How Are We To Write as Quakers?”  (Quiet Room)

Peter Collins has claimed that Quakers can be most readily identified by their tendency to 'plain' and that Quakers collectively have been involved in 'plaining' throughout their history. Within Quakerism, the testimony to plainness has been converted into a testimony to simplicity and yet 'the plain' endures as a consequence of Quaker affiliation. How then are Quakers to write for the academy where erudition and skill with language is valued? How are we to enhance 'clarity' in disciplines driven by a twentieth century agenda based on a scientific model seeking to establish authority and proof? Where are the Quaker role models? What might it mean to write in the plain style? Indeed, how 'plain' is this proposal? This workshop will begin with the reflections of three scholars working in different disciplines on what 'plain' means to them, how plain their academic writing is and what could enhance this critical aspect of Quaker integrity within higher education.

Helene Pollock, Diana White & Jeffrey Dudiak:  “The Revivification of Quaker Truth in and for a Postmodern Age”  (Art Room)

One of the most conspicuous casualties of our postmodern age is “truth.” In a period in which “truth,” indeed “reality” itself, is taken as a contingent construct of the interrelationships between diverse and ultimately unfathomable forces, how are we as Quakers, as Friends of the truth, to faithfully undertake our religious task of living in, being obedient to, and publishing the truth, and this in a way that allows us to think fruitfully through some of the most pressing issues of our times? In this presentation we are interested in exploring how the notion of truth in early Quaker discourse can be revived (recovered and rethought and applied) in our postmodern period. In brief reflections that together will attempt to bridge contemporary issues surrounding the idea of truth, early Friends experience, and the presuppositions that go into the contemporary constitution of “disease,” we will invite Friends to think with us what it might mean to faithfully practice Truth in our time.

Jeffrey Dudiak will provide a reading of our postmodern age with specific attention to its incredulities regarding truth, suggest in response some of the possibilities that might yet remain for a truth re-visioned, and the possibility that Quaker experiences of truth might contribute an opening toward a revivified “truth.” Continuing the conversation, Helene Pollock will invoke Rex Ambler to speak about early Friends and their experience of truth. She will suggest that while we cannot be creatures of another historical period (and so should not merely repeat our tradition), we should rather seek ways of relating to our Quaker foundations that are true for us today. Diana White will then, by means of example, illustrate how modern science has provided information about disease which is constructed within a particular understanding of discovery, confirmation, definition, and treatment, or within what we are calling a particular protocol for truth. Disease definition and treatment are changed by social, political and economic forces as well as by scientific discovery, becoming a contested arena for truth in ways that affect human lives, with personal, relational, and economic consequences.

 

Jan Sellers: "Quietness and Reflection: Working with a Labyrinth as a Teaching and Learning Resource" (Holland House Garden Room)

Labyrinths have an ancient history, occurring in many faith and cultural contexts. Unlike a maze (with dead ends, designed to confuse) a labyrinth has a single convoluted path leading to the centre and back again. A labyrinth walk is a peaceful experience and can lead to unexpected insights.
 

In the last year I have led a ‘labyrinth project’ at the University of Kent (UK), introducing a canvas labyrinth as a teaching and learning resource in a highly diverse and secular university. Interest has been such that a permanent labyrinth is now being built in the University grounds. For me, this has been an unexpected and fascinating journey, both personally and professionally, bringing changes to my experience of faith and practice at work. I’ll tell the story, discuss possibilities and share information and ideas about using labyrinths in HE. Weather permitting, we will visit Woodbrooke’s own labyrinth (with time to walk it later, during conference quiet times). Bring umbrellas!

 

10.45-11.30 – Morning Drinks available (Dining Room)

11:30-12:45 – Session D

Deborah Shaw, Cheryl Snider Bridges: “Stories from the Faith and Practice Field”  (Cadbury Room)

Guilford College's Initiative on Faith and Practice (IFP) has been a six-year program funded by Lilly Foundation to integrate education, faith and vocation. The IFP staff, consisting mainly of members in the Religious Society of Friends, has worked in a variety of areas on campus to help students, faculty and staff discover their own deepest calling in life so that they might bring their gifts, purpose, reflection, reflective self-care and service into their daily lives, now and into the future. IFP staff will share stories and examples of their work in this session, and seek input from participants of their own experience.

Deni Elliott and Caroline Whitbeck: “Friends' Approaches to Practical Ethics”  (Quiet Room)

Deni's Elliott’s brief description focuses on teaching practical ethics, but she will also touch on conceptual issues. She writes:  Using one's spirituality in teaching ethics presents concerns and opportunities. Students and teachers need to be able to separate their personal religious or spiritual beliefs from the ethical expectations that are reasonable to have for all people. Yet, we also need to integrate our beliefs and ethical choices in creating expectations and goals for our personal conduct.  In this presentation, I will illustrate how Friendly beliefs and process assists in the modeling and teaching of ethical practice in personal, public and professional life.

Caroline Whitbeck’s focuses more on the conceptual tools that are adequate to represent practical ethical problems as Friends practice deals with them. She will also draw out some implications of Friends practices for the teaching of this subject, especially emphasizing methods to think through a moral problem from the perspective of the situated person who must respond to the problem in contrast to the perspective of an ahistorical reasoner who views moral problems from nowhere (as described in Tom Nagle's The View from Nowhere) and who makes judgments on (others') responses to moral problems rather than constructing such responses.

Whitbeck will discuss the view, first developed by John Ladd in connection with medical ethics, that takes responsibility (in the prospective sense of "responsibility for" [some future outcome or state of affairs] as the fundamental ethical notion and show how this approach regards people as fundamentally in relationship to others, rather than as atomistic individuals possess of rights, or the ability to make agreements/"contracts", but for whom relationships to others are incidental. This responsibilities view does have a place for human rights, however, as the claims on strangers and institutions that must be honored if people are to be able to fulfill their moral responsibilities. The responsibilities view provides a conceptual framework that is a viable alternative to the individualism of Liberal Theory, and to the assumption that, as John Rawls expressed it in 1957, the task of philosophy is to order ethical considerations and decide which trumps. The latter view feeds disputes over what consideration trumps what, rather than an attempt to satisfy multiple considerations. In contrast, Friends decision-making practice (like engineering design practice) typically simultaneously satisfies a variety of considerations.

Pam Lunn & Lizz Roe:  “Workshop: Our Concern for Sustainability: How to Mainstream Across Our Institutions”  (Art Room)

We will present Woodbrooke as a case-study to help us all look at how we can embed sustainability in all areas of our work and workplaces. We will look at the nature of this Concern and its roots in our theology, ethics and spirituality. We will look at: the natural and built environments of our institutions; at issues for whole-staff engagement; at our curriculum content; at our institutional culture and how that speaks to those who visit or study with us.

We will consider changes already implemented, changes in the pipeline, and desirable outcomes not yet started. We will also look at how we might begin to imagine changes that we have not yet even conceived of. This presentation will be one step in an ongoing process of joining up our work in this area.

This is a concern at Woodbrooke in terms of how we run the institution, how we present ourselves to our clients and what we teach in our courses. There is not yet full congruence between all these, and there is huge variation between departments and individual members of staff in terms of the extent to which this is embraced: knowledge, understanding, attitudes, willingness, engagement, etc.

This is an account of the process we have been going through in the past few years, and we hope to engage others in thinking about their own institutions and possible ways forward.

Donald A. Smith: “Science, Religion, and Magic: Interdisciplinary Team-Teaching”; and Gary Farlow: “Walking Cheerfully into the Classroom and Detecting Intellect in Everyone”  (Holland House Garden Room)

Donald A. Smith:  In the spring semester of 2008, I will join Prof. Eric Mortensen of the Religious Studies Department at Guilford College in teaching a senior-level interdisciplinary course that will study the different modes of understanding the world that we generally characterize as "Science" and "Religion", with "Magic" occupying a shifting zone between them. We live in a technological society in which matters of faith dominate the cultural landscape -- this course aims to explore how each of these paradigms can illuminate and be illuminated by the others. Are science and religion asking similar or different questions about the world? Is science a belief system? How can we ask religious or theological questions in a Western academic empirical context? Issues we will examine in class include contrasts of magic vs. empiricism, reason vs. revelation, and biology vs. theology on the issue of creation. We will consider the scope of rationality, examine religious pluralism and relativism, and grapple with physics and the ultimate nature of reality. Prof. Mortensen and I intend that both our students and ourselves be challenged and transformed by the experience of stepping outside our comfort zones and crossing the point where faith and practice meet. I propose to report on the outcomes of this course, as a professional educator, an astrophysicist, and as a member of the Religious Society of Friends. I will discuss our selections for the reading list, critique our classroom activities, and share highlights of student contributions. I will reflect on how we met (or in what ways we failed to meet) our goals, and I will indicate what we will do differently if we have the opportunity to teach this course again in the future.

Gary Farlow:  During this last year I have made use of what has been called an Immediate 'Student Response System'. These are more commonly called 'clicker' systems. These systems are touted by their manufacturers as a dependable way to get into the student's mind. This presentation will address 1) how the system used at Wright State actually functions from a mechanical point of view, 2) what administrative procedures are needed for getting them into and out of the students hands, 3) the effect on classroom participation in contrast to material presentation and understanding, 4) the effectiveness of clicker us on retention of knowledge or understanding, and 5) the benefit to the instructor.  I will argue that these systems are primarily of benefit to the instructor and may in fact produce class interest only because they are new rather than from intrinsic effectiveness.

12.45-2:00 – Lunch (Dining Room)

2:00-3:30 – Session E

Barbara Dixson, David Ross & Patricia Finley: “Making It Real”  (Cadbury Room)

Barbara Dixson:  "Crafting Student Assignments for Audiences Beyond the Classroom"

I will focus centrally on my Spring 2008 freshman English class, in which students will create a literary newsletter for the university nature reserve. The Schmeeckle Reserve Newsletter will appear both as an online publication, which will be available to the university community, and as a hard copy publication, which will be distributed in places such as the public library and thus available to the community as a whole. My hope for the class is that having a genuine purpose will transform the typically routine writing assignments of a required freshman class into work that is meaningful and engaging for each student.

David Ross:  "Useful Writing in the Social Sciences"

Although social science graduates bring excellent writing and analytical skills to their first jobs, the focus on academic research limits their initial value to an NGO, Congressional office, or business. In my senior seminar, “Policy Analysis and Economic Advocacy,” we seek to bridge the gap between student preparation as economists and the roles they are likely to play as policy analyst, consultant or citizen activist. The primary objective -- the focus of the course -- is the production of a publishable piece of advocacy for a specific target.
We've just finished the first phase of the course -- what I called "advocacy boot camp" -- with visits from newspaper editors, legislative assistants, economic analysts, and NGO advocates. The students are now working through a practice module. It's been a blast and I look forward to sharing the experience.

Patricia Finley:  "Implementing a Proposal for Lifting up Communication among Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting"

In collaboration with the dean of the Temple University School of Communications and Theater, the Peace and Concerns Standing Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is currently developing an extensive and long term communications project with the intention of bringing PYM Quakers together into a cohesive and active faith community with a much stronger and more effective voice. We will be implementing the communicative action and discourse theories of Jurgen Habermas by way of traveling speakers, newsletters, regularized phone conferencing, a series of educational and networking retreats, and projects designed to encourage collaboration and discourse across Monthly Meetings. The projects will focus primarily on working to heal the harm done by the current war and on bringing a Yearly Meeting closer to unity.

“Philosophers Roundtable:  In What Ways Does Your Quaker Faith Impact upon Your Philosophical Practice?,” Jeffrey Dudiak, convener; with Newton Garver, Laura Rediehs, and Steven Smith  (Quiet Room)

Recalling the surprising and encouraging level of interest in the “Philosophers’ Roundtable” at the recent FAHE conference at Earlham (which, in addition to being very well attended, was the motivation for establishing the Quaker/Philosophy Blog), we are proposing a second (annual?) Philosophers’ Roundtable at the upcoming FAHE conference at Woodbrooke. While last year’s session was a good chance to begin to organize, this year we intend to gather around a more focused query by inviting several prepared responses (of a maximum of five minutes each, and from diverse philosophical perspectives) that can serve as the stimulus to a broader ranging discussion for the rest of the session. Those from last year’s session were asked if they would like to participate this year by preparing a response to the following query: “In what ways does your Quaker faith impact upon your philosophical practice?” (There is a broader question implicit here, of course, as to how one’s Quaker faith impacts upon academic work in any discipline, so the discussion might be of interest to others too.) Four philosophers have committed themselves to preparing responses, and we will not exclude one or two more from presenting prepared comments if further interest is shown.

Judith Jenner: “Leaving Quaker Values at the Classroom Door?” (Art Room)

Judith Jenner:  The case studies/scenarios will introduce teaching situations when there is a dilemma for the teacher. They will bring out the questions faced by teachers when there is a conflict between personally held values grounded in Quaker beliefs and those of one the students, especially when they are not specifically related to the subject being taught. For example, challenging sexist behaviour or comments may take the focus of the class away from the subject.  Is it the role of the tutor to change attitudes or to teach the subject?  Do I have to leave my own values at the classroom door?

“Historians Roundtable,” Jacci Welling & Muriel Blaisdell, conveners  (Holland House Garden Room)

This session will be open to all for a discussion with Jacci Welling, Malone College, and Muriel Blaisdell , Miami University (Ohio). We will discuss the question, How do we, as historians, see ourselves as scholars for peace, justice, or sustainability? How does this understanding find a place in our teaching? Issues in the history of science as well as in US and British political and social history are likely starting points for the open discussion.

3:30 – Afternoon Tea (Dining Room)

4:30-6:00 – Plenary:  John Punshon “The Pinnacles of the Temple” (Cadbury Room)

Now retired, John Punshon taught Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke, taught at Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion, and is a recorded minister in Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends. Two of his books, Encounter with Silence, and Testimony and Tradition, deal with aspects of Quaker spirituality, and his latest work, Reasons for Hope, is a study of evangelical Quakerism.  John’s talk, "The Pinnacles of the Temple" will reflect on the place, the Temple, where faith and practice meet. He will consider the nature of how we maintain our integrity in both our faith and our practice and how we need to ask for help in the protection of that integrity.

6.15-7.15 – Dinner (Dining Room)

7:15-8:30 – Session G

Jennifer Barraclough: “Presidents Panel”  (Cadbury Room)

Mike Heller & Deborah Shaw: “Workshop: To ‘Listen’ to Another’s Soul: Listening and Speaking in the Classroom”  (Quiet Room)

Douglas Steere observed that “To ‘listen’ another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.” We have experienced in Quaker settings a distinctive kind of classroom, where people speak from a deep place, not necessarily expecting a response, and where others listen deeply, compassionately. This experience of another way of speaking and listening redefines the individual not only within the classroom discussion but also within the community. Participants will be invited to share their ideas as we explore the significance and characteristics of this alternative way of speaking and listening, based on Quaker spirituality.

Steven Smith: “Scholarly Detachment and Quaker Spirituality”  (Art Room)

Steven Smith:  During his peregrinations in 17th-century England, George Fox often engaged in theological debate with persons whom he called "professors" -- men who had received education at Oxford or Cambridge, but whose religious knowledge was merely conceptual, lacking the living experience of God. He concluded that "being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ" -- observing that "people and professors . . . fed upon words, and fed one another with words, but trampled upon the life . . . and they lived in their airy notions . . ."  As one who has lived too long in my own world of "airy notions" (many of them induced during my years of academic training) I feel a tension between the demands of the academy for intellectual detachment, and my deeper longing for spiritual authenticity. We know that persons who are capable of impeccable academic scholarship may exhibit despicable personal values and behavior. The more interesting question for me, however, is whether a certain ideal of scholarly detachment -- in which the personal values and religious orientation of the author are to be regarded as irrelevant to the topic being addressed -- is fundamentally at odds with a life of religious integrity. If we feel a dissonance between who we are as Friends and what is expected of us by the academic institutions that employ us, might that dissonance be intrinsic rather than accidental? Is the phrase "a Quaker professor" an oxymoron?

Elwood G. Parker: “Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) & Query-Based Faith”  (Hugh Lawson Room)

A birthright Friend with 40 years of teaching experience at a Quaker-affiliated college reflects on connections between his favored pedagogical style of leading students through questions and problems rather than with textbook readings and Friends’ practice of substitution of queries for formal creeds. In particular, connections between desired outcomes of IBL and QBF are suggested.

Included are examples of formats for IBL from both disciplinary and cross/inter-disciplinary courses. Particular types of inquiries used in such courses are compared with queries taken from Quaker organizations. Also discussed are considerations found useful in deciding how to conduct IBL courses—i.e. queries from IBL practitioners that have potential broader application, maybe even to development of queries for Friends’ groups.

In the spirit of the topic, after a bit of history and explanation about IBL to set a context, the presentation is done in an IBL mode.

“Discussion: Are We Still, Collectively, ‘A Peculiar People’ or Just Quirky Individuals (Like Many Other Academics)?” with brief presentations from Eric Kristensen, Donn Weinholtz & Caroline Whitbeck  (Holland House Garden Room)

The discussion will start with three very brief presentations:

Eric Kristensen will approach the topic through a personal reflection on the question, "What makes us a peculiar people?"

Donn Weinholtz will approach the subject from his experience building a campus peace network. Starting with a personal decision to conduct a peace vigil at a central location on the University of Hartford campus, he became involved with a whole new set of colleagues and engaged in a new line of peace-related scholarly and service activities.

Caroline Whitbeck will approach the subject by examining the accounts the 17th C. Friend, Thomas Lurting, gives in his The Fighting Sailor Turned Peaceable Christian of his convincement and subsequent actions that, by his account, he and others recognized as peculiar to Quakers.

8:40-9:25 – Second Small Group Meeting

9:30 – Epilogue (Close of Day Worship) with Rebecca Mays in the Cadbury Room, followed by hot drinks and biscuits

10:00 – "Open Mic"  (Cadbury Room).  Share your talents!  No need to sign up.

10:15 & 11:00 Minibuses depart for off-site.

Saturday June 21

7:15 AM – Breakfast available at off-site accommodation

8:00 AM – Minibus collection for off-site accommodation

7.45-8.30 – Breakfast at Woodbrooke

8.30-9:00 – Semi-programmed Worship  (Cadbury Room)

9:15-10:45 – Business Meeting (Cadbury Room)

10.45-11.30 – Morning Drinks (Dining Room)

11:30-12:45 – Session H

Gary Farlow:  “When is the Practice of Tenure Faithful?”  (Cadbury Room)

If you are like most tenured faculty you have suffered through the process of having others judge your long term worth to the academy of which you are a part. If you are like most tenured faculty, you have had to suffer through the process of rendering judgment on whether someone else is of long term value to the academy. You may even had been assigned to mentor a junior faculty member through this process.

I propose to examine, through a set of case studies, the processes of tenure at a large state institution and a small Quaker college. The queries I will propose to analyze these case studies are: 1) Why are we doing this? 2) Why do we go about it the way that we do? 3) What practices reflect a faithfulness to the junior faculty member? 4) What practices reflect faithfulness to the academy. 5) How do we instill faithfulness into our colleagues in this regard.

Finally, I will ask, "Does our Quaker faith show us a third way?"

Douglas J. Burks:  “Attitudes of Students at U.S. Quaker and Non-Quaker Colleges towards War and Violence”  (Quiet Room)

The peace testimony of Friends and the Christian pacifism of Quakers make them a distinctive religious sect in the United States of America. Quakers, Brethren, and Mennonites have actively supported anti-war initiatives in the U.S. One might ask if Quaker colleges have an impact on the attitudes and beliefs of their non-Quaker students towards violence and war.

A number of researchers have developed surveys to measure attitudes of people towards war and violence. Alfred McAlister developed a survey that studies the attitudes and social-psychological processes that influence opinions and actions of individuals towards war. In McAlister’s study, a high score on his moral disengagement survey is associated with an individual supporting military action in general and a low score with nonsupport of military action. This study has been used several times and has been extensively tested and validated.

In the McAlister study, one question that was addressed was whether education or exposure to ideas changes the opinion and attitude of people. In the study, students were given a pre-experience survey (moral disengagement war survey) followed by either a lecture morally favoring taking a military action or a lecture morally opposed to taking military action. McAlister found that both lectures influenced student attitudes. He concluded that education influences an individual’s level of moral disengagement in terms of violence and war. This suggests that speaking out against war has an impact on others who hear the message of peace and pacifism.

At Quaker colleges, students are exposed to many educational and community experiences that speak to Christian pacifism and the immorality of war. One would expect that this exposure would be greater at a Quaker college than at public and other religious colleges. If McAlister is right about the impact of education on moral disengagement, then students at a Quaker College should have attitudes and opinions that reflect the moral educational message they are exposed to concerning the immorality of war and violence. One would predict that they would have a lower moral disengagement score than students from other colleges on McAlister’s survey instrument.

As with several other U.S. Quaker colleges, most students who attend Wilmington College are non-Quaker. Wilmington College’s student body is similar to the demographics of other surrounding regional colleges and universities. To determine if an education based on Quaker values does influence attitudes and opinions of individuals, the moral disengagement survey developed by McAlister will be given to students at Wilmington College, a regional small Roman Catholic college, and at a regional public university to test if exposure to Quaker values impacts moral disengagement/moral engagement of students. The Survey will be completed by students in January and February of 2008 and the results and implications will be discussed at the FAHE conference.

Newton Garver: “Wittgenstein on Living Decently”  (Holland House Garden Room)

Many are called, but few are chosen

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) often spoke of being “decent” as a high moral achievement, perhaps as high a moral achievement as most of us could aspire to. In his notebooks he left many remarks about the difference between ordinary and “decent” living. His haunting, paradoxical, insistence on combining living up to one’s potential with renouncing pretensions and recognizing limitations – integrating ambition with humility, so to speak – speaks to the condition of many Friends. I will examine some aphorisms that serve as markers along the path of Wittgenstein’s religious quest.

John Yoder: “Questing for Athens via Zurich and Pendle Hill: Reflections on the Nature of Two Universities with Mennonite and Quaker Origin” (Hugh Lawson Room)

This paper will be a comparative reflection on my seventeen years as a dean and a chief academic officer in two universities, one in California and one in Kansas, whose origins are, respectively, Mennonite and Quaker. The paper will be a reflection on how those institutions are both similar and different from each other and, more specifically on how their respective faith traditions seem to have shaped the institutional culture and perspectives. In addition to comparative reflections, both institutions will be briefly located within the religious, social and epistemological milieu of universities within the broader American and Western European traditions of higher education.

Michael Birkel:  “Margaret Fell's Wisdom for Quaker Educators”  (Art Room)

Looking at excerpts from Margaret Fell's letters of spiritual counsel, this workshop will explore how her wisdom may be applicable to us as Quaker educators who hope to encourage the spiritual growth of our students. Margaret Fell is often remembered -- and rightly so -- as an organizer of the Religious Society of Friends, but she merits fuller attention as a spiritual nurturer as well, and that will be the focus of our time together.

Margaret Fell's letters of spiritual counsel are full of wisdom that is applicable to the act of teaching and learning. These letters outline a process of listening, of practicing patient waiting, of quieting our dispositions that get in the way, of mindfulness and receptivity to the Light. She encourages her readers to "be faithful to the particular measures" of the Light of God within -- as a wise spiritual guide, she knows that one size does not fit all. But the results are predictable: peace, joy, and unity with those who are also open to being led. All this, she warns, can lead to counter-cultural results in a world based on lust for power and possessions, and isn't that also what we seek to teach as Friends? I propose to bring some excerpts from some of these letters for Spirit-led consideration in a workshop.

12.45-2:00 – Lunch (Dining Room)

2:00 – FREE TIME

2:00-4:00 – Free Tour of Quaker Birmingham with Pam Williams - first fifteen to sign up at Registration. Meet in Front Hall.

2.30-3.30 – Tour of the Garden with Lizz Roe.  Meet on the Verandah.

3:30 – Afternoon Tea available until 4:25

4:30-6:00 – Plenary:  Satish Kumar “Education for a Sustainable Future”  (Cadbury Room)

Satish Kumar, formerly a Jain monk, walked 8,000 miles around the world for peace, ending his journey in the White House. He is currently the editor for Resurgence magazine and the programme director for Schumacher College, Devon, internationally recognised for its pioneering environmental programmes. Satish is the author of three books, No Destination, You Are, Therefore I Am, and The Buddha and The Terrorist, and has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Plymouth and Lancaster. He is working on his latest book, A Spiritual Imperative.  The title of Satish’s talk is "Education for a Sustainable Future."  It is about how higher education should respond to the current challenges facing key environmental issues, such as global warming, within the context of spiritual values and social justice.

6.15-7.15 – Dinner (Dining Room)

Those who want a box/pack lunch Sunday should order them between Saturday dinner and 10:00 pm.  Sign up outside the Dining Room.

List to sign up for taxis to the airport goes up outside Dining Room.

7:15-8:30 – Session J

Paul Anderson: “A Dynamic Christocentricity -- The Center of Quaker Faith and Practice”  (Cadbury Room)

At the heart of Quaker faith and practice is the belief that the Light of Christ is present in unmediated ways. Around this center revolve the testimonies: authentic worship, inclusive ministry, incarnational sacramentology, nonviolent peacemaking, discerning consensus, and plain simplicity. This paper shows how each of these testimonies is rooted in faith and lived out in practice, making connections between different groups of Friends in different settings of the larger Quaker world.

Mary Garman: “Quaker Women Reformers in the Mid-west of the USA"  (Quiet Room)

I focus on the lives of a few not-so-well-known Quaker women who lived in the mid-west during the major changes that happened between about 1870 and 1940 or 50. Emma Cook Coffin, for example, was born into a devout rural Indiana Quaker family, attended Earlham in the 1870s, was married in the "new style" (that is, by a Quaker minister), became an evangelist and preacher, and wrote a powerful series of articles in the American Friend in the 1920s advocating women's rights. There are more -- many more! -- women, and I'd love to introduce some of these women to a wider audience.

Donn Weinholtz, Diane Thistle Weinholtz, William Upholt, and Mary Lee Morrison:  “The Intersection of Faith and Practice: Building Community Action toward a Sustainable World”  (Holland House Garden Room)

At FAHE’s 2007 Annual Meeting, we presented a description of our plans to align with local educators from the Connecticut Alliance of Concerned Educators to organize a “community conversation” for 100 diverse individuals from the greater Hartford area on the topic “Education for Global Sustainability: How do we prepare our children for their roles in creating a future with a healthy environment, a strong economy, and a just society?” Born out of our Quaker commitments to stewardship of the environment and to fostering community, the conversation was not intended to “educate” the participants or be a meeting of experts, but rather to involve members of the community in discussing issues and taking ownership of “action plans” arising from the discussions.

 
Since last year’s Annual Meeting, we conducted both the initial community conversation and a follow-up conversation with individuals especially committed to pursuing ambitious action plans. The first session was conducted in mid-June 2007. It was a lively, well-attended, participative problem-solving session that yielded four clear foci for the follow-up action-oriented meeting, which was held in mid-October 2007. These foci were: 1) advocacy with policy makers; 2) programs in low-income communities; 3) community center based programs (e.g. those based in libraries, senior centers etc.) ; and 4) working with schools and home schoolers. At the October meeting, each of these areas was tackled by small groups of individuals particularly called to addressing the identified issues. During the meeting, the groups developed plans that could be immediately begin being implemented.

 

During the workshop, overviews of the ongoing work of all 4 groups will be presented, along with insights about maintaining and nurturing such efforts. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of our Quaker faith in sustaining our work.

Malcolm Gold: “Patriarchy and Violence in an Evangelical Men’s Ministry”  (Art Room)

This paper presents early work on the emergence of a ministry specifically designed for men within evangelical Christianity in the United States. GodMen has been described in the Los Angeles Times as a "contrarian movement where thousands of Christian men are reaching for more forceful, more rugged expressions of their faith." The organization espouses the claim that church involvement holds no appeal to Christian men because of its ‘feminized’ structure, appearance, and programmes. The GodMen seek to address this concern by creating a space in which, according to their literature, "Men can be unapologetically…men! True to their God created nature." The movement holds to a strict gender essentialism which, although not particularly unusual in many conservative evangelical traditions, is striking in its understanding and depiction of masculinity. The perception of ‘maleness’, within GodMen, draws heavily on an advocacy of violence and aggression. Their teaching on the person of Jesus Christ undermines the concept of ‘turning the other cheek’ while evoking the physically aggressive image of a Christ who fashioned a whip and drove the money-changers from the temple courtyard. As a new initiative, the GodMen ministry lacks the respectability of the Promise Keepers and it has no best-selling publications behind it as does John Eldredge (Wild at Heart) and his related men’s ministry. As such, the GodMen ‘movement’ is quite fragile and yet its emergence is indicative of a growing (disturbing) trend, within conservative Evangelicalism in the United States, which seeks to emphasize culturally ‘taken-for-granted’ assumptions and stereotypes regarding gender characteristics to a new extreme.

8:40-9:25 – Third Small Group Meeting

9:30 – Epilogue (Close of Day Worship) with Mike Heller in the Cadbury Room, followed by hot drinks and biscuits

10:15 – Possibly a second opportunity to share 1 or 2 educational videos in the Holland House Garden Room for those staying at Woodbrooke  

10:15 Minibuses depart for off-site accommodation

Sunday June 22

8:00 AM – Breakfast available at off-site accommodation

8:45 AM – Minibus collection for off-site accommodation

8:00-9:00 – Breakfast at Woodbrooke

Vacate Woodbrooke rooms by 9:30.  (A luggage room is available.)

List to confirm names who have signed up for taxis to the airport goes up outside Dining Room.

 9:30-10:45 – Session K

Laura Rediehs:  “Quaker Epistemology: A Different Kind of Empiricism?”  (Cadbury Room)

Quakerism was taking form at the same time as the rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy and the rise of modern science. While none of the early Quakers were themselves participants in these debates at the academic level, an implicit epistemology can be drawn from some of their theological writings.
 

The predominant summary account of the rationalism/empiricism debate is that empiricism ultimately “won” through the ascendancy of modern science, leaving us no longer in need of the “God hypothesis.” The implication is that the only way to support belief in God, if God does exist, is with some version of rationalism. Sense experience can give us no knowledge of God because God is not a physical being detectable by the senses. The only possible way to have access to knowledge of a supreme spiritual being would be through innate ideas, or through a reasoning process capable of producing substantive knowledge (hence rationalism rather than empiricism).

But, surprisingly, the early Quakers who did write specifically about knowledge (such as Penington) did not seem to be supporting a version of rationalism. They were much too critical of human reasoning. Instead, their implicit epistemology is better described as a version of empiricism that assumes a broader notion of “experience” than we currently assign to empiricism.

In my paper, I will describe the version of empiricism I see underlying early Quaker thought, with special attention to different ways of understanding “experience,” and then I will discuss the further implications of this epistemology and its relevance for today.

Timothy Ashworth: “Confident Quaker Faith: The Biblical Roots”  (Quiet Room)

Over the twelve years of his time as Biblical Studies Tutor at Woodbrooke, Tim Peat Ashworth has been seeking to get clear about the nature of early Christian experience. What has emerged connects not only with the experience of early Friends, but is also supportive of distinctively Quaker ways of worship and witness today. During this session, Tim will share some of the insights that Friends in Britain have found helpful and which provide support for a confident and nourishing Quaker relationship to the biblical tradition. Early Quaker texts reveal the centrality for early Friends of direct revelation; Friends today still claim access to the living word of God. The session will show how, although translations of the Bible usually interpret texts concerned with the word of God as referring to scripture or gospel preaching, there are strong arguments for understanding these texts as referring to the 'living word' of God. Careful reading of Paul shows how he understands this 'living word' as giving guidance as clear as that given by 'law'. This is the guiding word that the prophets heard and which the early Christians claim is at work among them now. Just as the prophets went through a process of purification in the power of the Spirit so the first Christians speak of being liberated from sin. They find that their experience validates the sense of calling of the people of Israel yet also leads them to make affirmations about Jesus that bring them into conflict with the wider Jewish community.

C. Wess Daniels: “Convergent Friends”  (Art Room)

I would like to continue my role in introducing Friends to the convergent Friends conversation, which has been taking place over the past two years through blogs, during yearly meetings and in the homes of Quakers in the US and abroad. I propose two parts to the presentation: first we will look at some of the convergent history, its main themes, and some concerns, as well as offer some proposed ways forward for the Society of Friends. Second we will discuss how the cultural, technological and philosophical shifts of the last century (from a modern to hyper-modern) directly relates to both the convergent Friends conversation and Quaker education.

The Convergent Friends is best thought of as a conversation among a variety of Friends from every branch, and more technically it can be thought of as a hermeneutic from which Quaker theology and history is read in light of today's cultural transitions and philosophical challenges. It rejects the idea of being called a movement, organization or something that indicates institutionalization. It has no official ties and operates more as a meta-community for Quakers. On the one hand, convergent Friends appeal to the important role of tradition in shaping the spiritual and moral lives of the people within that particular historical community. In this way it is a conservative sensibility because it takes seriously the primary texts, virtues and practices of those who started and shaped the Quaker tradition. This means that while not all convergent Friends are Christian, all are willing to wrestle with and acknowledge the importance of Quakerism as a part of the Christian narrative. On the other hand, it sees faith (and the church) as always emerging and thus needing to engage with the questions of the world in every new generation. In this sense, these Friends have had a specific affinity to the emerging/emergent church conversation because their theologians have sought to disengage the church from the ill effects of modernity, while engaging the questions and issues that revolve around late-modernity, or post-modernity.

Mike Moyer: “The Professor as Change Agent?”  (Holland House Garden Room)

It is a common precept in academia that professors should not impose their own values upon students. I agree. However, Trueblood (The Idea of a College), among many others, has pointed out that every professor teaches from a set of values -- a point of view. If there is truth in this assertion, then it is axiomatic that whether intended or not, values are being taught and to one degree or another are caught (at least in the sense of awareness) by our students.

Trueblood states, “The professor who does not have the courage to state his own position, both unapologetically and humbly, is not likely to win the enduring respect of those who are under his care.” Quaker professors are perhaps more cognizant of the values informing their point of view than many of their colleagues. We believe the values we hold have important positive, transformative ramifications for a more just and peaceful world.

Do we then have some responsibility, to structure the classroom learning environment in such a way as to expose students to these values? How intentional should we be in exposing students to these potentially transformative values we so highly prize? Can such be done without violating the academic precept that professors should not impose their values upon students? These are at least some of the questions this seminar would discuss and address.

 

10:45 – Collect your Box Lunch, if you ordered one.

10:45-11.30 – Morning Drinks & Evaluations (Dining Room)

11:35-12:35 – Closing Worship  (Cadbury Room)

12.45-2:00 – Lunch and Farewells!

The above schedule for contributed papers was made in consideration of the following desiderata:

·       Fewer simultaneous sessions

·       Presentations of a similar type or on similar or closely related topics scheduled for different times, so that those presenting on a topic could attend others on that topic and develop a fuller exchange

·       Availability of AV equipment to those who want to use it and minimal to-ing and fro-ing of that equipment

Because of these constraints, it would be difficult to change the scheduling of a presentation.

Except at small group times, the Eva Koch and Sitting Rooms are available to groups of <20 looking for a place to meet.

The Silent Room (next to the Quiet Room) and the Gazebo in the garden are available for private prayer and contemplation.

Updated 11 June 2008; for a listing of changes made since the original version was posted, please click here.

• For questions about the conference program or website, please contact Laura Rediehs.
• For other questions about FAHE, please contact Kori Heavner.