Bowen Conference: Faith and Reason in an Age of Violent Extremism

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Bowen Conference
One Nation, Under God:
Faith and Reason In an Age of Extremism
March 12 - 15, 2006
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee; thy elders and they will tell thee. Deuteronomy 32:7
Jon Meacham
Sewanee graduate, Episcopalian and managing editor of Newsweek magazine
In the Words of Jon Meacham
If Thomas Jefferson was wrong, a 19th-century biographer wrote, then America is wrong – an overstatement, perhaps, but close to the mark when we consider religion and public life. Of the Founders, Jefferson was the most eloquent advocate of keeping faith safe from the state and protecting freedom of conscience – a formula that has made America a haven for believer and nonbeliever alike.
Jon Meacham
"The Editor’s Desk"
Newsweek, Sept. 5, 2005
Cover Story: Spirituality in America
From Salem to the Scopes trial, of course, we have had our low moments, and religion can be more divisive than unifying. Today, in fact, people tend to talk about faith in terms of conflict – right vs. left, Red vs. Blue, evangelical vs. secular. In surveying spirituality in America, though, we found something that may surprise those who view faith as just another battlefield in the culture wars. For many Americans, including devout Christians, the spiritual quest is not about politics but about the hunger “to forge a personal relationship with God.�
Schedule Highlights
Sunday, March 12
4pm - Check-in
8pm - First address by Jon Meacham - IN THE BEGINNING, Tolerance Vs. Theocracy: Religion and the Making of America
Monday, March 13
Morning - Small group discussion, written reflections, plenary sharing
1:30pm - Second address by Jon Meacham - DIVIDING THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS, Rights and Race: Religion’s Mixed Legacy in American Life
2:30pm - Small groups: Discussion and Written Reflections
7 pm - Eucharist - Chapel of the Transfiguration
8pm - Fireside conversation – Meacham, other staff
9 pm - Social and book signing
Tuesday, March 14
9:15am - Third address by Jon Meacham - OUR HOPE FOR YEARS TO COME, Thinking About God: One Believer’s Reflections On the Road Ahead
10:30am - Small groups
1:30pm - Small groups: Discussion and written reflection
7pm - Closing Eucharist
8:30pm - Social - Johnson Fireplace Lounge
Wednesday, March 15
8am - Breakfast
A final plenary session may be held - to be announced
About
Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham arrived at Newsweek in 1995, quickly became national affairs editor, and was named managing editor in 1998. He supervises the magazine’s coverage of politics, international affairs, and breaking news, and has written cover stories on politics, religion, guns in America, and race. Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1969, Meacham graduated summa cum laude from The University of the South in Sewanee, where he was salutatorian and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is a member of the University’s governing Board of Regents.
Meacham’s book, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, a chronicle of the wartime relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill, spent 12 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
Meacham has also written for The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review and The Washington Post Book World. In 2001, he edited Voices in Our Blood: America’s Best on the Civil Rights Movement (Random House), a collection of distinguished nonfiction about the mid-century struggle against Jim Crow.
He is a communicant of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, where he serves on the vestry of the 175-year-old Episcopal parish. He is also a member of the vestry of Trinity Church Wall Street and Harvard Divinity School’s Leadership Council.
Meacham has written four Newsweek cover stories on religion in recent years: “What Would Jesus Do?� after the Roman Catholic abuse scandal; “Who Really Killed Jesus?� about Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ;� “The Birth of Jesus,� about the roots of the Christmas story; and “How Jesus Became Christ,� about the resurrection and the early formation of the church.
The covers have consistently been among the leading newsstand issues, and some 80 million people have read those pieces. He discussed these issues on “The Charlie Rose Show,� “Meet the Press,� “The Today Show� and “Good Morning America.�
Questions from Maria Campbell, Conference Coordinator, to Jon Meacham
Campbell. What is important right now about addressing “faith and reason in an age of extremism?�
Meacham. There isn’t anything more important. By its very definition, extremism seeks to impose views that are out of the mainstream of a society’s culture—otherwise we wouldn’t call it “extremism.� And as has often happened before in America, faith is now a battlefield on which different forces are contending for control. Far too often, people of belief are portrayed as literalists who value creeds over reason, and secular people are seen as godless and amoral. Neither caricature is true.
C. Pairing “faith and reason� with the title “One Nation, Under God� is intriguing. Help us understand this juxtaposition.
M. Religious belief and the question of freedom of conscience rests at the core of the American identity. We were founded, in part, by those seeking religious freedom, and that journey is still unfolding. And, in my view, the only way Americans will be able to maintain the best of our tradition of religious liberty is for both believers and secularists to properly appreciate that faith, like life, is a complicated thing that does not lend itself to easy explanation or application.
C. You’ve cited Deuteronomy 32:7. Why?
M. Because I firmly believe we cannot understand the present or intelligently look ahead to the future without a deep appreciation of the past in all its complexity. Christianity—like Islam and Judaism—is a religion grounded in history; that is, we profess the creeds we profess and keep the feasts we keep because of events which took place in time and space. Abraham was real, Moses was real, David was real, John the Baptist was real, Jesus was real, Paul was real. To grasp why we believe what we believe we must ... Click here to read more of this interview.
Conference Coordinator
Maria Campbell
Conference coordinator Maria Campbell is an experienced Kanuga conference leader and a past member of the program committee. She has a distinguished career in law and finance and is currently chairman, financial services, for SC&B Strategic Solutions, and an attorney with Steiner, Crum & Byars, both of Montgomery, Ala.
Campbell served as the Alabama Superintendent of Banks and as a member of the state cabinet. She was a senior operating officer of Trinity Church Wall Street from 1994-1999. From 1973 until 1994, Maria was with AmSouth Bank and AmSouth Bancorporation, where she served as executive vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel.
She is a member of the board of regents of the University of the South, former member of the board of trustees of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral in the U. S. and is chairman of the Episcopal Church’s national Investment Committee.
Conference Chaplain
Chloe Breyer
An Episcopal priest, writer and activist in the Diocese of New York, the Rev. Chloe Breyer is an associate minister at St. Mary's, Manhattanville in West Harlem. From 2000-2003, she founded and directed the Cathedral Forums on Religion and Public Life at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and served as chaplain to the Cathedral School. Following 9/11, she volunteered as a Red Cross chaplain at the World Trade Center site and led an interfaith initiative to rebuild a mosque in Afghanistan destroyed by U.S. bombs in November 2001.
Raised in an interfaith home, Breyer received her B.A. in Comparative Religion and Government from Harvard-Radcliffe in 1992. She co-founded and edited Who Cares: A Journal of Service and Activism following graduation and then earned her Masters of Divinity at the General Theological Seminary, New York. She is the author of The Close: A Young Woman's First Year at Seminary and a contributor to What Can One Person Do? Faith to Heal a Broken World and Challenging the Christian Right From the Heart of the Gospel. She also is an occasional contributor to Slate Magazine.
The Bowen Conference
The Bowen Conference was created through the generosity of Buford Bowen as an annual conference to explore Christian commitment. Bowen contributed an initial $100,000 to endow the Bowen Conference, and the first was held in 1989. Through the years, the Bowen Conference has grown into one of the premier conferences conducted by Kanuga and has consistently drawn outstanding keynoters and presenters.
Cost
Double Occupancy
$475 Per Person
Includes program, double occupancy lodging, meals and use of recreational facilities.
Single Occupancy
The initial allotment of single rooms has been filled. Please register as Double — Prefers Single. Single rooms cost extra, if available.
Participating Spouse
$395 Per Person
Includes same as above.
Non-Participating Spouse
$295 Per Person
Includes lodging, meals and use of recreational facilities.
Commuter
$295 Per Person
Includes program, lunches and suppers. (Residents of Henderson and bordering North Carolina counties)
Payment
Deposit
$50 Per Person
(Non-refundable)
Balance Due
February 10
(To register after that, please send a check or use a credit card for the full amount.)
Start/End Times
Check-In
4-6 p.m. Sunday, March 12
Check-Out
After breakfast Wednesday, March 15
Conference Registration
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