The One Hundred Fifty-Sixth Meeting

THE AMERICAN THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Midwest Division

The One Hundred Fifty-Sixth Meeting

Friday, October 28, 2005

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

1100 East 55^th Street, Chicago, IL 60615

THEOLOGICAL TABLE -TALK

1:00-2:45 p.m., Third Floor Common Room (Room 350)

Multiculturalism, Africentrism, and the Theology of World Religions:

The Theological Legacy of J. Deotis Roberts

Gary Dorrien

Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary (New York)

Registration and Afternoon Refreshments, 2:45-3:15 p.m.

AFTERNOON PROGRAM

3:15-4:30 p.m., Third Floor Common Room (Room 350)

Womanist Scholarship & Being Human in Black Folk Tales

Dwight N. Hopkins

Professor of Theology, University of Chicago

Hospitality Hour 4:30-5:00 p.m.; Dinner and Business Meeting, 5:00-6:30 p.m.

EVENING PROGRAM

6:30-8:00 p.m., Third Floor Common Room (Room 350)

Black Theology & Womanist Theology in Dialogue:

Which Way Forward for the Church and the Academy?

Linda E. Thomas

Professor of Theology and Anthropology, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

ATS Officers (Midwest Division)

Antje Jackelén, President
Mary C. Doak, Member-at-Large
Robert Cathey, Vice President
Paul P. Parker, Secretary/Treasurer

The Program: The Midwest Division of the American Theological Society is a regional organization of scholars who teach and publish in the fields of religious studies. The Society’s semi-annual meetings often reach beyond its local membership to invite scholars from across the country and around the world to present papers and to participate in vigorous discussions. For this meeting, the Executive Committee is pleased to call attention to the work of three scholars whose contributions are critical for African American religious studies. We are a community of scholars engaging each other’s best thinking.

The one hundred fifty-sixth meeting of the Society’s Midwest Division will open with Theological Table-Talk in which Gary Dorrien (the new Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary (NYC) and the immediate past president of the Midwest Division of the ATS) will offer a critical overview of the thought of Deotis Roberts followed by a discussion of Roberts’ place in the American theological scene. In the afternoon and evening sessions the Society will turn its attention to Womanist contributions to the academy and the church in papers presented by Dwight Hopkins and Linda Thomas. The tradition of the society is to have an extensive critical conversation after each paper.

Housing, Registration, and Dinner Reservations: The Executive Committee’s task of planning the Society’s semiannual meeting is greatly eased if members pre-register for the meeting and make reservations for dinner. To pre-register and to reserve your place at the table, please call, write or email Paul Parker and declare your intentions: office phone (630) 617-3559; paulp@elmhurst.edu; or Department of Theology and Religion–Box 26, Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126.

Because ATS meetings are partially supported by the host institutions of its semi-annual meetings, there is no registration fee and only nominal dining expense. For this meeting, the Society has asked the Zygon Center for Religion and Science to cater the evening meal for which members may pay at the meeting when they sign-in. We estimate that dinner will cost less than $18.00–and be excellent!

To arrange overnight housing, please contact Marcy Gaston of the Zygon Center: phone: (773) 256-0670, fax (773) 256-0682) or email .

Dues: Annual membership dues (to cover the costs of printing, postage, refreshments, and other incidentals) are $15 for members and $10 for associate members to be paid to the Secretary/Treasurer, Paul Parker, each year at the fall meeting. If you have not yet paid your dues for last year, you may attend to the oversight at this fall’s meeting or at any time through the mail. Attention to this is appreciated.

Directions and Parking: Directions to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, parking information, and a map of the campus are conveniently located on its website at www.lstc.edu.