George Gilder
The Moral Crisis of the Telecosm
Wednesday, January 7
Underwritten by: J.C. Huizenga
The many telecom bankruptcies of the last two years are often ascribed to greed and graft. Yet many of the leaders of the industry, such as Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom, are active and devout Christians. Are they hypocrites? Or is the story of the recent crash far more complex and intriguing than the press and courts have revealed? George Gilder, chairman of Gilder Publishing, LLC, editor of the Gilder Technology Report and author of several books including the bestseller Wealth and Poverty, addresses the moral sources of the telecom crash and the new telecosmic revival now under way. In his futuristic thinking about technology, he draws together science, business history, social analysis and prediction to make sense of the titanic changes afoot in our lives.
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Kenneth Woodward
Spiritual Pilgrimage in an Age Of World Views
Thursday, January 8
Underwritten by: Comerica Bank
Christians have traditionally looked on this life as a pilgrimage to the next. Indeed, the idea that we all are embarked on a journey of faith has become a cliche in contemporary homiletics, church hymns and even liturgies. But what does going on a pilgrimage mean in the context of the convergence of world religions so evident in our time? Are all religions basically the same thing in different packages? Have other religions something to teach Christians? Kenneth Woodward, longtime religion editor and senior writer for Newsweek, will explore these questions based on his professional experience of writing about world religions and his personal experience with religious leaders as diverse as Billy Graham and the Dalai Lama.
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Jeremy Begbie
Music, Emotion and Worship: Is There Anything to Fear?
Friday, January 9
Underwritten by: Friends of the January Series
Professor at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina and Cambridge University in England, and founder of Theology Through the Arts, Begbie has performed extensively as a pianist, oboist, and conductor. He is the author of several publications as well as the co-editor of Resonant Witness: Conversations Between Music and Theology. He studies philosophy and music at Ebinburgh University and theology at Aberdeen and Cambridge. He is the ordained minister of the Church of England, having served for a number of years as the assistant pastor of a church in West London. He has taught widely in the UK, North America and South Africa.
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Fareed Zakaria
The Future of Freedom
Monday, January 12
Underwritten by: Miller Johnson
To the popular mind - and most politicians - more democracy means more freedom. Not so, according to Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, which is described as “one of the most important books on global political trends to appear in the past decade.” Widely respected for his ability to spot economic and political trends around the world, Zakaria will shed light on the complex interaction between economics and politics, on America’s role in the world - particularly pertinent with allied forces attempting to bring freedom to Iraq by imposing democratic standards, and on the way in which democracy is changing every aspect of our lives - from economics and technology to politics and culture.
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Joel Carpenter
Hope for Africa
Tuesday, January 13
Underwritten by: Peter & Pat Cook
Famine, wars, AIDS, extreme poverty…this is the news we usually hear of Africa. But there is another side of the story. Even in some of the continent’s most volatile regions there are reasons to be hopeful. Stability is now gaining in some nations that were once ravaged by war. In a number of countries, economics ruined by misgovernment are now growing again. Christianity, in many vibrant new expressions, is flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa. Calvin College provost and history professor Joel Carpenter has traveled extensively in Africa and has worked with many African leaders in churches, government, education, healthcare and business. He presents the ideas, opinions and vision of contemporary African leaders who have reasons to hope for their beloved continent.
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Randall Balmer
After Billy Graham: The Future of American Protestantism
Wednesday, January 14
Underwritten by: Lawrence D. Sr. and Dolores Bos
As Protestants embark on the 21st century, they no longer enjoy the dominance they once held in North America. Changes to immigration laws have gradually altered the religious landscape of the United States, but Protestantism in America faces internal crises as well, notably an appalling lack of leadership such as was provided for more than half a century by Billy Graham. Randall Balmer, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of American Religion at Columbia University and senior writer for Christianity Today, has published widely and speaks frequently on religion in America. His lecture speculates on what lies ahead in a religious world without Billy Graham, a world where Baptists no longer behave like Baptists.
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Michelle DeYoung
Michelle DeYoung: Mezzo-soprano, 2001 Grammy Award Winner
Thursday, January 15
Underwritten by: Priority Health
Internationally acclaimed mezzo soprano Michelle DeYoung returns to her alma mater to perform selections that highlight her lustrous voice. Since attending Calvin in the late 1980s, she has established herself as one of the most exciting artists of her generation. This season DeYoung returns to the Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Orchestras. She also makes her debuts with the Orchestra de Paris, the Betroth Festival, and the Milwaukee, Puerto Rico and New Mexico Symphonies. DeYoung’s most recent recording, Les Troynes, with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, won the 2001 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording. Her program will feature Rossini’s Le Regata Veneziana, Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder and various selections by Strauss.
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Harm de Blij
China in the World Ahead: Avoiding Cold War II
Friday, January 16
Underwritten by: Varnum Law
Among the great events that will mark the 21st century - climate change, civilization conflict, medical miracles, technological triumphs - the rise of China as a global force is likely to figure prominently. This will happen at a time when the United States is the world’s sole superpower; conflicts of interest will be inevitable. In fact, they already exist. Harm de Blij, a world-renowned geography scholar, television personality and Distinguished Professor of Geography at Michigan State University, returns to the January Series to discuss the possibility of a Second Cold War, which may vex this new century as the First Cold War bedeviled the last, and what can be done to avert this threat.
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Eugene Rivers
On Christian Philosophy & Politics in an Age of Terror
Monday, January 19
Underwritten by: Mercantile Bank of West Michigan
A former gang member from Philadelphia who studied at Harvard, Eugene F. Rivers III is pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Dorchester, an inner-city neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Jacqueline C. Rivers, and their three children. His programs to get churches involved in curbing youth violence have been emulated nationwide. Rivers has been active for over thirty-five years working within local communities and with the federal government on issues of domestic and foreign policy. He advised both the Bush and the Clinton administrations on their faith-based initiatives and issues of foreign policy in connection with the African AIDS crisis. In his work to shine a spotlight on street violence and underprivileged youth, Rivers has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and Fox. He is a contributing editor to Sojourners magazine. Rivers is the co-founder of the Boston TenPoint Coalition and co-chair of the National TenPoint Leadership Foundation.
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Clifford Stoll
Throw Away Your Computer and Get an Education
Tuesday, January 20
Underwritten by: Huntington National Bank
Clifford Stoll is best known for work in tracking down the hacker Markus Hess in 1986, and his book which documents the event -- 'The Cuckoo's Egg.' After graduating from the University of Arizona with a PhD in 1980, he worked as the chief assistant engineer at WBFO, a Buffalo-based radio station. He worked here until beginning his investigation into Markus Hess, at which point he became employed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In addition to 'The Cuckoo's Egg,' Stoll also wrote 'Silicon Snake Oil' and 'High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian.' The keynotes by Clifford Stoll provide fascinating insight into his exciting and interesting career and life experiences.
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Bartha Knoppers
'Genetic' Predestination?
Wednesday, January 21
Underwritten by: Spectrum Health
Intimately linked, as it is to market forces and investment, the hype and hope surrounding genetic research focuses on the determining power of the gene. This spills over into the information provided to patients and recipients and influences ethical frameworks and evaluation. Genetic determinism is shaping socio-ethnic policies and legislation around the world. But is that determining power omnipotent? Or are there other factors and influences that need to be considered? Named Scientist of the Year in 1996 by Radio-Canada, Bartha Knoppers, a law professor and bioethicist at the University of Montreal, will discuss the trends, the models for policymaking and whether any model can be as epigenetic and dynamic as the human person.
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Richard Lapchick
Leaders Breaking Down Barriers: Sport as a Model to Bridge the Racial Divide
Thursday, January 22
Underwritten by: The Richard & Helen De Vos Foundation
Author, scholar, human rights activists, President & CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Chairman of the DeVos Sports Business Management Program at the University of Florida.
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Leon Plantinga
How the Middle Class Remade Music
Friday, January 23
Underwritten by: Howard & Marilyn Schuitema
The fabled growth of the middle class in Europe in the later 18th century produced profound changes. Among them was a striking transformation in musical style. Radically different was the early 18th century career of J.S. Bach from his son’s in the latter part of the decade. The father was entirely dependent upon employment with the patronage system at court or church, while Johann Christian Bach addressed his effort, through opera, concerts and music publication, to an urban public, largely comprised of the new middle class. Leon Plantinga, Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Music at Yale University, will demonstrate this complete metamorphosis in musical style through recorded examples and live performance that should not be missed.
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Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Islamic Reformation: An Overdue Quest
Monday, January 26
Underwritten by: Macatawa Bank
Much of the debate on Islam and the West has concentrated on militant hard-line Islamists. This small minority of political actors has “hijacked” perceptions of one of the great monotheistic religions. Missing from the debate is awareness of a thick but silent trend toward genuine Islamic reformation that is growing across the Muslim world. Saad Eddin Ibrahim will present the features of this important trend in Islamic reformation and attempt to draw attention to other aspects of a rich and varied religious mosaic. Ibrahim, a world-renowned sociologist and advocate of democracy and human rights, is the director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Egypt. He was jailed and later acquitted - after garnering tremendous international attention - of charges denounced as politically motivated.
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Cleophus LaRue
The Heart of Black Preaching
Tuesday, January 27
Underwritten by: John & Mary Loeks
Though far from perfect, black preaching is regarded in many circles as the most vibrant, imaginative and communicatively effective preaching on the scene today. In fact, homileticians see much that is admirable and attractive in black preaching. If studied for more than its cosmetic effects of style and delivery, or its more widely known feature of celebration, black preaching has something of note to contribute to traditional homiletics in the 21st century. Cleophus J. LaRue, Princeton Seminary’s Francis Landey Patton Associate Professor of Homiletics, specializes in the theory and method of African American preaching. He will address the need for appreciation of and understanding between all homiletic traditions to make for stronger preachers, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, regional differences and denominational ties.
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