TORONTO WORLDVIEW CONFERENCE Toronto Worldview Conference Rekindling Christian Imagination with    David Smith    Saturday, September 26, 2009 King's Christian Collegiate 528 Burnhamthorpe Road West Oakville, ON              Also coming to · Ottawa: Oct. 3 · Grand Rapids: Nov. 7

 
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Rekindling Christian Imagination We tend to associate imagination with fantasy, and reality with facts, but the ways in which we picture the world to ourselves have a great deal to do with how we live in it. The Scriptures bid to shape our imaginations, weaning us away from reductive ways of seeing and towards a graced vision of the world. David I. Smith is the Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin College as well as Associate Professor, Department of Germanic and Asian Languages at Calvin College. He completed his MPhil at the Institute for Christian Studies and PhD at the University of London. David's interest lies in foreign language pedagogy, particularly in relation to moral and spiritual development as well as in Christian philosophy of education. David is a sought after speaker by Christian educators.

Co-Sponsors

Institute for Christian Studies			Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin College
Graduate Teacher Education Program

Schedule

Morning

KEYNOTE: The Garden of Delight
The world invites us to imagine ourselves as consumers satisfying needs, as competitors in a battle for security, as computers processing information. What if instead we followed a long tradition of biblical reflection that invites us to think of ourselves as called to be pleasure gardens, gardens of delight? What if we heard in present-day talk of Kindergartens a faint echo of an older image of school classrooms as gardens of delight? What if we began to wonder, in imitation of the biblical prophets, in what ways our society is a wilderness or a garden of delight? This first lecture will explore through this lens how Christian thinkers have imagined the threads linking learning to our life together.

FIRST RESPONDENT

JOHN DEBOER is Vice Principal of Academics at King's Christian Collegiate. He is especially intrigued by the relationship between expecting high standards (mastery, perfection, integrity) while supporting the learning of all students (process, growth, flexibility). Educators are continually discerning which metaphors and operating principles best describe the relationship between teaching and learning, and John finds an image of schooling that promotes the systemic care and passion with which we do our work to be most welcome.

SECOND RESPONDENT

JAMES OLTHUIS, PhD (Free University) is professor emeritus of philosophical theology at the Institute for Christian Studies where he taught full-time from 1968 to 2004. He is an inter-disciplinary scholar, author of 5 books and editor of 4. Jim served as mentor to David Smith while a student at ICS. As a practitioner of psychotherapy and author of The Beautiful Risk: A New Psychology of Loving and Being Loved, Jim’s response will apply the Garden of Delight motif to the area of counselling.

Afternoon

KEYNOTE: Learning from the Stranger
The world invites us to imagine foreigners as competitors for resources, as exotic objects of fascination, or as dark threats to our wellbeing. Scripture calls instead for a radical love of strangers, a practice of hospitality that reaches out to embrace the outsider. This call to hospitality can help us to see how learning from other cultures can connect with nurturing a Christian identity. It also challenges a variety of basic ways in which we tend to imagine our place in the world. This second lecture will explore how learning from the stranger can be a Christian practice, and what it means for how we teach our children.

FIRST RESPONDENT

ANGIE HOCKING has worked with youth in various settings for 10 years, and is currently serving street-involved youth as an Employment Counsellor at the Evergreen Centre for Street Youth (Toronto). She has also developed a mentoring program that connects homeless youth with a one-to-one supportive adult. This provides her with the amazing opportunity of being able to watch friendship and love transcend social class, race, religion, and ability. Angie is also currently working in post-graduate studies towards Nonprofit Management at Ryerson University.

SECOND RESPONDENT

GRACE WU is a Refugee Coordinator at Amnesty International (downtown Toronto). In addition to public education on refugee protection and Canadian refugee law and policy, the Refugee Program also assists individuals facing removal from Canada who fear grave human rights violations if removed from Canada. Grace studied Political Science at the University of Toronto before completing her MA in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University. In the course of her work in refugee protection, Grace has developed a particular interest in the understanding and application of Country of Origin Information in the refugee status determination process.

Registration

Please register by the 23rd of September to ensure lunch.

If you have any questions please email
or telephone Vidya Williams 1-888-326-5347 ext. 223

Directions:

King's Christian Collegiate
528 Burnhamthorpe Road West
Oakville, ON

From the West (via the QEW):
Travel along the QEW (from Burlington, Hamilton, etc.).
Exit north on Dorval Drive.
Travel north to Upper Middle Road.
Turn right at Upper Middle Road & travel west to Neyagawa Blvd.
Turn left at Neyagawa and travel north 4.3 kms to Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.
Turn left at Burnhamthorpe to King’s.

From the East (via the QEW):
Travel along the QEW (from Toronto).
Exit north on Trafalgar Rd.
Travel north on Trafalgar Rd to Burnhamthorpe Rd.
Turn left at Burnhamthorpe and travel west to King’s, located on the left just past Neyagawa Blvd.

From the 407:
Exit at Neyagawa Blvd. Travel .6 kms to Burnhamthorpe Rd W.

Sponsors