{"id":4188,"date":"2012-04-18T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=4188"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:18:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:18:20","slug":"bethany-seminary-presidential-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2012\/bethany-seminary-presidential-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminary Forum Discusses Intersection of Sexuality and Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small>
Dr. James Forbes speaks for the 2012 Bethany Seminary Presidential Forum. He is senior minister emeritus of New York\u2019s Riverside Church and Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bethany Seminary\u2019s Presidential Forum on \u201cJoy and Suffering in the Body: Turning Toward Each Other\u201d brought more than 160 people to the campus in Richmond, Ind., on April 12-14. Headlining the event was James Forbes, senior minister emeritus of New York\u2019s Riverside Church and Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

The forum was the fourth in a series inaugurated by Bethany president Ruthann Knechel Johansen, who said in her introductory remarks that this year\u2019s topic was sparked by controversy in the church and society over what it means to be sexual and spiritual beings made in the image of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Presidential Forums suggest another way of being in the world and publicly open the witness of Bethany Seminary to a church and world hungering for compassion, justice, and peace,\u201d she said. \u201cThe roots of this witness lie in several core practices of our Anabaptist-Pietist heritage. These include the study of scripture in community, the expectation that the Holy Spirit guides and continues to reveal God\u2019s truth to us, and the belief that loving our neighbor or the stranger, even our enemies, embodies Christ\u2019s way in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenary sessions led by James Forbes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forbes\u2019 sermon-like presentations offered more questions than answers at the intersection of sexuality and spirituality. Asking the group to remember there was a time when you could not talk about sex in church, his opening presentation included a long list of questions from many different points of view–seemingly intended to give permission to participants to ask any question of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t going to solve this one,\u201d he said at one point. Although conversation about sexuality \u201chas held the church in bondage for the last 50 years,\u201d Forbes said the church must continue the struggle. \u201cIt\u2019s not the achievement (of a conclusion) that\u2019s going to be impressive to God,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s in trying our best that God sees frail human beings pulled toward perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Three of the five panelists who presented at Bethany’s Presidential Forum (from left): Amy Bentley Lamborn, assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at General Theological Seminary; David Hunter, Cottrill-Rolfes Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Kentucky; and Dr. David E. Fuchs, medical director for the Brethren Village Retirement Community in Lancaster, Pa.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Panel presentations<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were also presentations by panelists from a variety of academic fields. Presentations ranged from a clinical medical approach to variations in human sexuality by David E. Fuchs, medical director for the Brethren Village Retirement Community in Lancaster, Pa.; to reinterpretation of St. Augustine\u2019s writings on sexuality and original sin by David Hunter, Cottrill-Rolfes Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Kentucky; to the psychological and symbolic significance of sexuality from a Jungian perspective by Amy Bentley Lamborn, assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at General Theological Seminary, who asked people to consider what gift may be sheltered in the “other” whom we fear or reject.<\/p>\n

Also panelists were Ken Stone, academic dean and professor of Hebrew Bible, Culture, and Hermeneutics at Chicago Theological Seminary, who argued for alternate \u201cqueer\u201d readings of Bible texts as a tool for preaching; and Gayle Gerber Koontz, professor of Theology and Ethics at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, who for years has taught sexuality to ministry students.<\/p>\n

Recommendations to the church were part of the presentations by Fuchs as well as Koontz. Fuchs urged participants to remember that when a family or a church rejects a person because of sexuality that serious harm is done, telling the story of losing a childhood friend to suicide. The church\u2019s response to sexuality should have the goal of reducing harm and working against violence, he said.<\/p>\n

Among her recommendations, Koontz called for the church to promote \u201csexual shalom\u201d or \u201choly love\u201d that is obliged to treat other people as sacred to God. She called for valuing singleness as a valid spiritual choice alongside marriage, called Christians to remember true family is not biological but found in the church community, and called for openness to conversation about sexuality in the church in a variety of ways including sex education from a Christian perspective. A lack of ability to talk gracefully about sexuality has led to anger, conflict, and self-righteous attitudes in the church, she said.<\/p>\n

Forum closed with prayer and service of communion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forbes closed the forum in an attitude of prayer and praise, calling on the presence of the Holy Spirit. The absence of God may be the reason for a less than satisfactory experience of love in human life, he said, adding that the intimacy of one person with another may be a gift intimating the ultimate experience of the presence of God. \u201cI want to know God through God\u2019s Spirit, such that there is nothing stronger,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dr. James Forbes (left) and Bethany president Ruthann Knechel Johansen (at center) during a time of prayer in small groups at the Presidential Forum. The event brought some 160 or more people to the seminary campus in Richmond, Ind.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

After Forbes led in prayer, a closing worship invited participants to a service of communion. Each day of the forum featured worship led by students, faculty, emeritus faculty, and alumni. A concert by Mutual Kumquat rounded out the evening on Friday.<\/p>\n

Pre-Forum Gathering<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Pre-Forum Gathering for alumni featured presentations by faculty of Bethany and Earlham School of Religion. Topics included the relational costs of pornography–with statistics on its growing use, influence, and addiction even among church members and pastors; pastoral care that is sensitive to sexuality; the ways young adults search for intimacy; and small group sharing around a Bible text.<\/p>\n

Pre-forum presentations were by Julie Hostetter, director of the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership; Jim Higginbotham, ESR assistant professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling; Russell Haitch, director of Bethany\u2019s Institute for Ministry with Youth and Young Adults; and New Testament professor Dan Ulrich, who led the devotional reading of Matthew 20 with Edward L. Poling.<\/p>\n

Excerpts from the forum presentations will appear in the Summer issue of Bethany\u2019s magazine \u201cWonder & Word.\u201d In addition, DVDs of the forum sessions will be made available for purchase. For more information contact Jenny Williams at\u00a0willije1@bethanyseminary.edu<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bethany Seminary\u2019s Presidential Forum on \u201cJoy and Suffering in the Body: Turning Toward Each Other\u201d brought more than 160 people to the campus in Richmond, Ind., on April 12-14. Headlining the event was James Forbes, senior minister emeritus of New York\u2019s Riverside Church and Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1268],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bethany-seminary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12121,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions\/12121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}