Princeton Seminary’s Fall Book Series focuses on Faith and Citizenship and on Spirituality

Princeton, NJ, September 5, 2007–This fall, Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center of Continuing Education will offer a “Meet the Author” book series, featuring four distinguished authors speaking on the topics of faith and citizenship and spirituality.  

On Thursday, September 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Dr. Mark Toulouse, author of God in Public: Four Ways American Christianity and Public Life Relate and professor of American religious history at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, will speak. Toulouse has studied religious periodical literature since the mid-1950s and integrated these studies with his analysis of landmark events in American history. From this, he presents a method for understanding how Americans have related their Christian faith to public life. He holds a Ph.D. from The University of Chicago and is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and regularly conducts workshops for ministers and lay people on topics such as American Christianity, Disciples history and theology, and theological education.  

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, and author of Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way, will speak on Wednesday, October 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. As a member of America’s famous Catholic family, Kennedy Townsend grew up with the idea that to be religious was to be part of a community, and that the purpose of faith was to improve the world. In Failing America’s Faithful, she recounts her father’s struggle to realize these goals amidst the turmoil of the 1960s—in stark contrast to today’s politicians and religious leaders, whom she believes divide communities and preach personal salvation over the creation of a more just nation. She is an adjunct professor of Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy and is a visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the chairman of the Institute for Human Virology and currently serves on several boards, including the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Points of Light Foundation, National Catholic Reporter, and the Character Education Partnership. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

On Wednesday, November 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Rabbi Irwin Kula will speak about his book, Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life. Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award and Spiritual Book of the Year 2006, Yearnings applies traditional Jewish practices to help search for meaning in seven areas of yearning. Kula demonstrates an “openness to truths of all religious traditions, and is committed to disciplined practice and inclusiveness.” Named by both Fast Company magazine and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly (PBS) as one of the new leaders shaping the American spiritual landscape, he is a provocative, inspirational educator providing a broad vision of religious pluralism. Kula is president of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a leadership training institute, think tank, and resource center, and he is widely featured and quoted as an analyst in the media, including Frontline (PBS), and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The Reverend Dr. Kathy J. Nelson, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister and president of the Funding Individual Spiritual Health Foundation of Plainsboro, New Jersey, and author of Listen with Your Heart, will speak about how to turn one’s prayer time into a deeper connection with God, through picture and word, on Saturday, December 1 from 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. The book is a collection of photographs taken by Nelson on her travels to such diverse global destinations as Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Turkey, Israel, France, Crete, Rhodes, and Italy. Accompanying the photographs are quotes from Scripture, Gandhi, Brother Roger of Taize, and Marcus Borg, to name a few. Nelson has lectured in spiritual formation at Princeton Seminary, and has served as pastor of The First Presbyterian Church in Dayton, New Jersey.

The book series, free and open to the public (space is limited, so please register early), will be held in the Erdman Center, 20 Library Place in Princeton. To register online, go to www.ptsem.edu/ce/bookclub or call 609.497.7990.      

Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812, the first seminary established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. It is the largest Presbyterian seminary in the country, with more than 700 students in seven graduate degree programs.