DATE: Saturday February 27, 2010
TIME: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
LOCATION: Illinois State University, in the Bone Student Center’s Founders Suite
PRESENTER: Dr. Kurt Schaefer REGISTER NOW or Download brochure or Visit the Symposium Website
COST: $40! (includes lunch and refreshments!)
Read the descriptions of his two talks below. Kurt will help us see the Old Testament and the New Testament with fresh eyes, and help us better understand what it means to follow Christ today. But also come to meet other Christian faculty in downstate Illinois. The ride over to Illinois State University together will also give you a great time to catch up with other U of I faculty who love and serve Christ. There will also be refreshments served and opportunity for lunch together.
Professor Schaefer (B.A. summa cum laude, Bradley University, Ph.D. University of Michigan) has taught economic theory and econometrics at Calvin since 1987. He has directed Calvin's Center for Social Research, the Comenius Scholars program, and semester-abroad programs in Budapest and London. He has served as an elder and musician at his church, is Secretary/Treasurer of the Association of Christian Economists, and is managing editor of Faith and Economics.
Morning Talk: Justice and the Hebrew Sabbatical and Jubilee Laws: Ruth's World
In the context of reading the book of Ruth together, I will review the dominant interpretations of the Hebrew sabbatical and jubilee laws that have been offered by theologians, social scientists and biblical scholars. In general, these authors believe that the laws imply such a massive, uncompensated redistribution of wealth that they could never have been practiced, and may not have been intended as practicable. After reviewing the contents of the laws (summarized in Leviticus 25), I will offer an alternative interpretation. I argue that the laws would have been workable, would not necessarily require coerced participation, and would have a positive effect on economic vitality. I will draw some parallels to modern economic policy issues.
Afternoon Talk: Husband, Wife, Parent, Child, Master, Slave: The Economic Context of the New Testament Household Codes
The New Testament’s “household codes”--passages dealing with household relationships among husband, wife, slaves and children- are all references to the default economics text of first-century Mediterranean culture, the household codes that derive from Aristotle. The household (oikos/oikia) was taken to be the natural basic element of the economy, and its proper ordering was a fundamental economic and moral issue. By reading the New Testament documents in this cultural context, I hope to offer something fresh addressing on issues surrounding gender and race that have deeply divided the Christian community and sometimes separated it from others.