GRAND RAPIDS WORLDVIEW CONFERENCE Grand Rapids Worldview Conference Rekindling Christian Imagination with    David Smith    Saturday, November 7, 2009 Bytwerk Theater Devos Communications Center Calvin College http://www.calvin.edu/map

 
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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-Sponsored By

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
Tony Campbell is vice President of Focused Impact at heart of West Michigan United Way, associate Track and Field Coach at Calvin College, and associate Pastor at Messiah Missionary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids. Tony also serves on the Michigan Community Service Commission, the Mentor Michigan Task Force, and the Student advancement Foundation. With an undergraduate degree from the U.S. Naval academy, Tony earned a M.Div. from yale University. he and his wife Molly have five children.

SECOND RESPONDENT
Debra Paxton-Buursma is an associate Professor of Education at Calvin College and Director of Calvin’s Graduate Teacher Education Program. She received her Ph.D. from MSU in Special Education. Debra’s research and publications center on identity formation of students identified with learning disabilities, teacher learning and culturally responsive literacy instruction, and learning communities. Debra and her husband, Randy have three children and develop mentoring relationships with young adults in their home.

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
Joyce Wandawa is an Educational Support Services teacher at Oakdale Christian. In her native Uganda Joyce earned a B.a. and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and helped start a Special Needs program at Rainbow International School. She holds a M.a. in Intercultural Communications from Wheaton and a M.Ed. in Learning Disabilities from Calvin. Joyce looks forward to the day when Ugandan public schools acknowledge the needs of students with learning difficulties. Joyce and her husband, Philip have three boys.

SECOND RESPONDENT
Kent Dobson teaches religion and is a Spiritual Life advisor at Grand Rapids Christian Schools. he holds a M.a. in historical Geography from Jerusalem University College and further graduate work in Comparative Religion at the hebrew University. While in Israel he participated in the Ecumenical Fraternity of Jerusalem, a group dedicated to bringing Christian and Jewish Leaders together for dialogue and academic purposes. Kent leads pilgrimage tours to Israel and has been featured in Biblical programs for both the history and Discovery Channels.

Registration

Please register by the 4th of November to ensure lunch.

Michigan educators desiring 0.5 SB-CeUs for attendance at the conference should apply via email to gradstudies@calvin.edu An additional charge of $10.00 will apply.

If you have any questions please contact Debbie Abbott, 1 616 526 6105, dka2@calvin.edu

Bytwerk Theater
Devos Communications Center
Calvin College
http://www.calvin.edu/map or call 1 616 526 6158

Sponsors

• Peter and Janet Borgdorff
• Johannes and Lynda Witte
• Eenhoorn, LLC