Vsevolod A. Marinov
Russia in Search of Democracy
Wednesday, January 5
Underwritten by: Lawrence D. Sr. and Dolores Bos
Vsevolod Marinov is an analyst with the Voice of Russia World Service and consultant of the State Duma (the Lower House of the Russian parliament) on public opinion issues. He has a Ph.D. in history and was a guest professor with Calvin College for Interim 2005. He is a consultant with the Federal Affairs & Regional Policy Committee and former senior researcher with the Institute of Sociology that conducted over 30 major surveys throughout all of Russia for Time Magazine, The New York Times, and Newsweek. He is also the former desk head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR.
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Alan Wolfe
American Greatness
Thursday, January 6
Underwritten by: Comerica Bank
Alan Wolfe is the director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and a professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is the author of many books on religious issues including: "The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith," "An Intellectual Public," "Moral Freedom," and "One Nation, After All."
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Kathleen DeBoer
Gender & Competition: How Men & Women Approach Work & Play Differently
Friday, January 7
Underwritten by: Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett, LLP
Kathleen DeBoer is a former Senior Associate Athletic Director, University of Kentucky and former player and collegiate coach. She is the author of "Gender & Competition: How Men & Women Approach Work & Play Differently."
Paul Farmer
Pathologies of Power: Rethinking Health and Human Rights in the Global Era
Monday, January 10
Underwritten by: Priority Health
Renowned doctor, specializing in infectious-diseases, and anthropologist from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health, a public health charity established to help care for the world's most impoverished communities in Haiti, Russia, Peru, and most recently, Rwanda. Dr. Farmer drew an overflow audience in 2005 and will return to share more about his work and the fight for human health rights.
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Eugene Rivers
Our New Post Civil Rights Reality: A Christian Perspective
Tuesday, January 11
Underwritten by: Mercantile Bank
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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Brian Greene
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time & the Texture of Reality
Wednesday, January 12
Underwritten by: Howard & Marilyn Schuitema
Brian Greene is a physicist, string theorist and author. He has a Ph.D. and is a professor of Math & Physics at Columbia University. He is the best-selling author of two books, "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time & the Texture of Reality," and "The Elegant Universe". He is also the host of the NOVA / PBS mini-series, "The Elegant Universe" and has appeared extensively on television and radio.
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The Ivory Consort
Music in the Land of Three Faiths
Thursday, January 13
Underwritten by: Spectrum Health
The Ivory Consort was founded and directed by Jay Elfenbein. It is a six person ensemble that specializes in medieval music performed on period instruments in an exciting and historically informed manner. The program is a fascinating mosaic of songs from the Golden Age of Spain when Jews, Muslims and Christians forged a common musical language and features 10th & 13th century songs in Ladino, Hebrew, Arabic and Galician-Portuguese and provides a historical context for the intermingling of cultures that took place.
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Frederica Mathewes-Green
When Every Day is Casual Friday: Anxiety Hangs Over a Culture When Adults Act Like Children
Friday, January 14
Underwritten by: Huntington Bank
Frederica Mathewes-Green is a wide-ranging author who has published 10 books and over 700 essays, in such diverse publications as the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal. She has been a regular commentator for National Public Radio (NPR), a columnist for the Religion News Service, Beliefnet.com, and Christianity Today, and a podcaster for Ancient Faith Radio. (She was also a consultant for Veggie Tales.) She has published 10 books, and has appeared as a speaker over 500 times, at places like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Wellesley, Cornell, Calvin, Baylor, and Westmont. She has been interviewed over 700 times, on venues like PrimeTime Live, the 700 Club, NPR, PBS, Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. She lives with her husband, the Rev. Gregory Mathewes-Green, in Johnson City, TN. Their three children are grown and married, and they have fourteen grandchildren.
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Barbara Omolade
"My Story" in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Monday, January 17
Underwritten by: Peter & Pat Cook
As Calvin College's first Dean of Multicultural Affairs, Barbara Omolade is a Christian scholar specializing in African-American and women's issues. She is the co-director of the 2004 Consultation of Afro-Christian Scholars in Higher Education and over the past 40 years she has journeyed through civil rights activism, African-American cultural awakenings, early feminism, and the dawning era of women's studies. During this time she also raised a family, earned two graduate degrees, taught college, did pioneering scholarship, home-schooled her son and converted to Christianity.
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Jon Meacham
From FDR and Churchill to Bush and Blair: The Changing Face of Leadership
Tuesday, January 18
Underwritten by: Macatawa Bank
Newly appointed Editor of Newsweek Magazine who was named "one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business" by The New York Times. This best selling author returns to TJS after a brilliant presentation in 2005.
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Tom Ackerman
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction
Wednesday, January 19
Underwritten by: J.C. Huizenga
Tom Ackerman is the chief Scientist for ARM, the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He graduated in Physics from Calvin College and received a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Washington in Physics and Atmospheric Sciences. He is a former member of the NASA Ames Research Team.
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Peter Steinfels
One Fourth of the Nation: Catholicism & Politics in 2005
Thursday, January 20
Underwritten by: Friends of the January Series
Peter Steinfels is a writer, speaker, and the former senior religion correspondent for the New York Times until 1997. He currently writes “Beliefs”, a bi-weekly column for the Times and is the author of many books including his most recent, “A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America.”
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Frank Deford
A Conversation with Frank Deford - Writing, Sports & Frolics
Friday, January 21
Underwritten by: Miller Johnson
Frank Deford was a sportswriter, broadcaster and author and the former senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He is the author of fourteen books including, "An American Summer," "Everybody's All-American," and "Alex: The Life of a Child." He has been a commentator on ESPN, NPR's Morning Edition, & HBO's RealSports with Bryant Gumbel and was elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters.
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Howard French
A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy & Hope of Africa
Monday, January 24
Underwritten by: John & Mary Loeks
Howard French is the senior writer for the New York Times and has been serving as the newspaper's Shanghai Bureau Chief since August 2003. He served as the Tokyo Bureau Chief for the New York Times from 1999-2003 covering Japan, the Koreas and the Russian Far East. He covered West & Central Africa from 1994-1998, devoting particular attention to the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the late dictator of Zaire, in 1997. French's work in the Congo was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and won the Overseas Press Coverage Award for best interpretation of foreign affairs. During the course of his career, the New York Times has awarded him its highest prize, the Publisher's Award, six times. Most recently, the prize was given for his coverage of Pakistan in 2002.
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Fleming Rutledge
Christian Right, Christian Left: The Polarized American Religious Scene
Tuesday, January 25
Underwritten by: Friends of The January Series
Fleming Rutledge is an episcopal Priest, Pastor, Speaker & Conference Leader. She is the author of many books including, "The Bible and The New York Times," "The Battle for Middle-earth" and "The Undoing of Death."
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