Everything Series at The King's University
The Everything Series explores all things—everything—in God’s creation. It can be easy to feel pressure to have all the answers. We don’t. But through the Everything Series, we'll explore some of the most important questions of our time and the myriad ways God is bringing renewal and reconciliation to our world.
2022-23 Lecture Series: Collective Moral Conversations
This year, the Everything Series explores the theme of “Collective Moral Conversations.” How do our collective goods relate to personal interests? What do we do with multiple, at times competing, moral priorities? The series will take seriously the idea that there are moral conversations and tough dialogues that need to be engaged with and offer guidelines for how to have these conversations well.
Everything Series: Reading Rainbows; How Our Psychology Shapes How We React to Gender and Sexual Diversity
April 04, 2023
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
The King's University - N102 Theatre
Sexual and gender diversity generates much controversy, emotional intensity, and division, particularly among Christians. Why is it so challenging to exemplify truth, love, and Christian unity when we engage the rainbow? How can we develop relationships of mutual trust and understanding even when we sometimes profoundly disagree? This talk explores some of the psychological factors that hinder our ability to have respectful conversations. Because these psychological factors function automatically and unconsciously, awareness is a first step in moving forward constructively.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Looy’s research interests relate to two basic elements of human experience: sex and food. Specifically, she studies the biopsychology of human sexuality and gender as well as attitudes toward insects as human food. She is especially passionate about finding ways to help people understand the value and the limits of biopsychological research for dealing justly with real-life issues of reproductive technology, creation care, gender, sexuality, and nutrition. Students are welcome to ask about and participate in her research.
Everything Series: Addressing Poverty as a Moral Conversation
April 18, 2023
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
The King's University - N102 Theatre
Modern society is grounded in two foundational myths: autonomy and scarcity. These myths are intertwined with an understanding of humans as innately rational, independent, self-interested, competitive, and seekers of utility.
This perspective leaves us materially, socially, and spiritually impoverished. Accepting the logic of scarcity involves acquiescing to the systems that produced it. Accepting the goals of autonomy and competition encourages people to be more competitive and individualistic. Most importantly, failing to challenge the foundational myths of modern society leads us to frame arguments for poverty reduction in rational, rather than moral, discourse. In this way we reproduce the conditions that create poverty, even in our attempts to eradicate it.
By challenging this paradigm, however, we can discover an alternate understanding of humanity and society that points toward a form of community better able to meet our material, social, and spiritual needs.
Keynote Speaker
Joining us via video link, Derek Cook serves as Director of the Canadian Poverty Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. Over the past thirty years he has been active in the field of poverty reduction and community development across Canada, working in the non-profit sector, government, and academia. Derek also serves on the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Canadian Council of Churches, on the Board of Mennonite Central Committee Alberta, and is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Poverty Research and Management at the University of Malaysia Kelantan. He holds an M.Sc. in Rural Development and a Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization from the University of Guelph, a B.A. in Political Studies from McGill University, and is a Registered Social Worker with the Alberta College of Social Workers.