. For more information, contact The Rev. Kathleen Reed kreed@ltsg.edu 717-338-3016 The Rev. Bill Gaventa Director, Faith Community Leadership Project bill.gaventa@umdnj.edu 732-235-9304

July 12, 2010  9am to 4pm
 

The 2010 Summer Institute for Ministry features exceptional programs exploring issues of theology and disability.
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One Day Conference Offers an Introduction to New Voices in Theology and Disability
Gettysburg Seminary’s Lifelong Learning program announces a one day conference on ministry and disability to be held July 12, 2010 at the Seminary’s campus on Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg. (See a detailed schedule)

The one-day conference is designed for clergy, seminary faculty, congregational lay leaders, people with disabilities and their families, disability service providers, and advocates with the opportunity to hear and be introduced to a number of the exciting new voices and leaders in the field of disability, theology, and ministry.

The event is designed by the Gettysburg Seminary Lifelong Learning program in partnership with William Gaventa, Director of Community and Congregational Supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, and Associate Professor, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ and Leonard Hummel, Gettysburg Seminary’s professor of Pastoral Theology and Care.

Presenters and Topics
Erik Carter will present “After the Benediction: Journeying with People with Developmental Disabilities in Faith and Life.”  Peggy Johnson’s presentation is entitled “Healing and the Deaf Community: ‘There’s Nothing Wrong with My Ears, I just Can’t Hear.’”  More presenters include  Hans Reinders who will offer “After Disability Theology: What's next?,” Tom Reynolds will present “Beyond ‘Normalcy’:  Reconsidering Disability and Theology,” and John Swinton, “Moving Through Sadness: Theological reflections on depression, suicide and the dark night of the soul.” Amos Yong will add “The Spirit Poured Out Upon All Flesh: Disability & the Renewal of the Church."

Costs and Other Information
This event is is sponsored by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and the Faith Community Leadership Project of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council.  The schedule for the day runs from 9am to 4pm, with lunch provided. The cost for the one day event is $50, which includes lunch; there is a special rate for students also $25, with scholarships available; you may download the registration form here.  This conference kicks off a week-long exploration of this topic as a part of the Seminary’s Summer Institute for Ministry.

For more information about the one day conference or the week long institute, contact the Rev. Kathleen Reed  at kreed@ltsg.edu / 717-338-3016, or The Rev. Bill Gaventa, Director, Faith Community Leadership Project at bill.gaventa@umdnj.edu  / 732-235-9304.

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Schedule for Monday, July 12th

New Voices in Theology and Disability: An Introduction

Registration and Resources, coffee, etc. 8:30 – 9:30

9:30   Welcome and Overview of the Day
9:45   Tom Reynolds
10:30     Break
10:45  Hans Reinders
11:30   John Swinton
12:15   Lunch and Table Discussions
1:15        Peggy Johnson
2:00        Erik Carter
2:45        Break
3:00        Amos Yong
3:45        Closing

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(See also) Summer Institute on Theology and Disability 
Disability and Theology: The Call and Promise for Pastoral Leadership and Theological Education
July 12 (evening) - July 16
Two tracks: I = Pastoral Track (clergy and lay church professionals), II = Theological Educator Track (faculty at a theological school or seminary)

Registration and program details are posted for downloading

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Presenters

Erik Carter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research and teaching focuses on strategies for supporting meaningful inclusion and promoting valued roles in school, work, and community settings for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Bill Gaventa serves as Director of Community and Congregational Supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, and Associate Professor, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ. In his role at The Boggs Center, Bill works on community supports, training for community services staff, supervision of a Clinical Pastoral Education Program, and the Faith Community Leadership Program of the PA Council on Developmental Disabilities. 

Leonard M. Hummel in Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care and Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Gettysburg Seminary. He has received theological training at Yale University Divinity School, Luther Seminary, and Boston University, from which he received his Ph.D. in pastoral psychology. His book Clothed in Nothingness: Consolation for Suffering (2003, Fortress Press) tells the story of seven individuals whose faith helped them in coping with suffering, one of several areas of Dr. Hummel’s interest and research..

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, a Baltimore native was born with sight in only one eye and wears a prosthesis. This was the beginning of a life calling to work with people with disabilities. She has a degree in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College, a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Bishop Johnson was an adjunct professor of Deaf and Disability Ministries at Wesley Theological Seminary. She was elected Bishop and assigned to the Philadelphia Area of the United Methodist Church in 2008. 

Hans S. Reinders teaches ethics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam since 1995. He has published widely on disability issues. Among his well known books are The Future of the Disabled in Liberal Society (The University of Notre Dame Press, 2000) and Receiving the Gift of Friendship (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008).

Thomas E. Reynolds is Associate Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College, of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. He did his graduate work at Vanderbilt University and holds a Ph.D. in Theology and the History of Christian Thought. Committed to an interdisciplinary and relational vision of theology, Reynolds’ teaching and research explore a range of topics related to Christian engagements with diversity in a global context.

John Swinton holds the chair in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom. He is also an honorary Professor at Aberdeen’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Nursing. John is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland who for more than a decade worked as a registered nurse specializing in psychiatry and laterally intellectual disabilities.

Amos Yong is J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology at Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His graduate education includes degrees in theology, history, and religious studies from Western Evangelical Seminary and Portland State University, Portland, OR, and Boston University, Boston, MA. He has published books on theology of religions, theological method, pneumatological theology, Pentecostal theology, and theology and disability.