With this month's inauguration of the "Sexuality and Religious Ethics Lecture Series," Emory will take a significant step in generating such discourse in the University community. Mark D. Jordan, professor in the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss "Excavating Sodom: Same-Sex Love and the Construction of Catholic Moral Tradition" on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in 207 White Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The idea for such a lecture, which is being sponsored by the Provost's Office and the School of Theology, took root two years ago as a possible joint effort between the Emory Gay/Lesbian Faculty Group and the theology school, according to Pamela Hall, associate professor of philosophy. "The purpose of this lecture series is to foster substantive and scholarly reflection on issues of sexuality in relation to various religious traditions," said Hall, who co-chaired the series planning committee.
A widely noted scholar on the work of Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas, Jordan is completing a book titled The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology, to be published by Oxford University Press next year. The book deals with the Catholic church's construction of the concept of sodomy in the Middle Ages. Jordan also is author of Ordering Wisdom: The Hierarchy of Philosophical Discourses in Aquinas (University of Notre Dame Press, 1986).
A Notre Dame faculty member since 1985, Jordan also serves as secretary for the Medieval Institute's Joint Program in Medieval Philosophy and fellow of the graduate program in History and Philosophy of Science. In 1990 he was a visiting professor at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and the University of Toronto Centre for Medieval Studies. Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, Jordan taught philosophy at the University of Dallas for six years.
On Friday, Oct. 13, the day after Jordan's address, he will attend an open luncheon/discussion at noon in 202 Cannon Chapel. Those who wish to attend must RSVP to 727-6226 by noon on Oct. 9.
Hall feels this is the ideal time for Jordan to discuss his work at Emory. "There is lots of conversation now, both at Emory and in the larger society, about issues of sexuality," Hall said. "There is also a great need for mutual education and a deepening of understanding about these issues on all sides. A rigorous thinker such as Mark Jordan is an ideal person to contribute to those processes here at Emory."
The second installment of the lecture series is set for Feb. 27, with an address by Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, who recently became rabbi of Congregation Bet Haverim, a gay/lesbian Jewish congregation that meets in Decatur.
If the lecture series is continued beyond this academic year, Hall would like to see it encompass discussions on a variety of religious traditions and their perceptions of and beliefs about sexuality.
--Dan Treadaway