BW Professor Provides Insight into Synod on the Family

Dr. Alan Kolp, chair of BW's religion department, lent his insight to a Channel 5 News story on proposed new approaches to families in the Catholic Church. In advance of  the 2014 Synod on the Family, Roman Catholic Bishops issued an 11-page document calling for tolerance and understanding for gay and unmarried couples.

Kolp told Channel 5 that the language (which ultimately did not make it into the final report) does not change the core values of the church, but can lead to a change in the way church doctrine is implemented.

 "How do we apply that in a way that is understanding of people's real lives, a way that has sensitivity to it?," Kolp says. " That's why you have words such as listening, discerning."

For the full story, check out "Roman Catholic leaders call for tolerance and understanding" at newsnet5.com.

"Why Everything You Know About the Bible Is Wrong"

BW religion professor, Dr. Robert Fowler, has been tapped to be the keynote speaker for the Fall 2014 Symposium at the Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) at Kent State University. Fowler will provide his scholarly analysis of “The Gutenberg Parenthesis of the Bible, or Why Everything You Know About the Bible Is Wrong.”

Prior to the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, the Bible was not the printed book we know today. In his keynote address, Fowler will walk the audience through four eras of human communication--oral, handwritten, printed and electronic--to demonstrate how the Bible is once again changing as we enter what he calls "a transitional moment between two grand eras in media history-- the ages of print and electronic communication."

Fowler has taught in BW’s Religion Department for 34 years, serving as the chair for 21 of those years. His keynote will take place on Monday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. in Kent's Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Update 10/7: The well-received talk was featured on kentwired.com. 

BW Alumni Pastoring Faith Journeys at area Churches

Two young alumni from Baldwin Wallace University are now full-time ministry leaders at area churches.
Quincy Wheeler '05, a Thompson Township native, graduated from BW with a BA in communications and went on to study at Ashland Theological Seminary, where he earned his Master's Degree.

A pastor's son, Wheeler now serves as assistant pastor at Mentor United Methodist Church where he leads the iConnect ministry of casual Sunday services. “My vision is to provide a service where anyone of any background feels comfortable and can connect for life with the word of God,” Wheeler told The News-Herald.

Phillip Kerlin '07, from Amherst, graduated from BW with a public relations major and a minor in religion. Upon graduation, Kerlin served as a director of the STORM youth center at Church on the Rise in Westlake where he also lead the production team.

Now, Kerlin is an assistant youth pastor at Journey Community Church in Fairview Park.

BW Religion Professor Published

BW's Chair in Faith & Life, Alan Kolp, had his article "From Cloister to Classroom: Thomas Merton and Today's College Student" featured in The Merton Seasonal - A Quarterly Review, a joint publication of the International Merton Society and Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.

The article is about Kolp's presentation at The Thirteenth General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society.

Religion Students Appear with Noted Theologian

BW students Matthew Gesicki '14, Johnathan Jackson '15, and Sophia Vigliane '14 recently had the chance to appear alongside a renowned author and theologian. The three students, all majoring or minoring in religion, were featured in a panel discussion with Dr. Paul Knitter, from Union Theological Seminary and BW professors, Dr. Alan Kolp and Dr. Ellen Posman. The group discussed the topic of "The Promise and Perils of Religious Pluralism."

Knitter, author of Without Budda I Wouldn't Be a Christian was on campus for BW's Faith & Life Lecture series. The panel was the final event in the two-day series.

Religion Students Experience Monastic Life

Students in Religion Professor Alan Kolp's seminar class spent a weekend finding out what it's really like to live in a monastery. The students fully engrossed themselves in the culture of the trappist monastery during the weekend at the Thomas Merton Center at Bellamire University in Louisville, Kentucky and at Merton's monastery--The Abbey of Gethesemani near New Haven, Kentucky.

"Visiting Gethsemani inspires a beautiful combination of rejuvenation and exhaustion," observed Sophia Viglione '14. "It is spiritually invigorating, but the schedule that the monks follow is somewhat draining. I think following the liturgy of the hours with the monks helped many of us appreciate Merton, monasticism, and Catholicim in a new light."

"Gethsemani is like a separate world, and in the axis of prayer upon which that world turns, I experienced a sense of fully inhabited faith," added Matt Gesicki '14. "To be in the presence of men of such a magnitude of faith, if only for a single luminous day, was profoundly humbling."

Click here to see more photos from this eye opening trip.

Religion Professor Gives Erie Audience a "Sacred Moment"

Dr. Kolp and Sister Stephanie Schmidt, Director of Ongoing
Formation at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery

Dr. Alan Kolp gave his audience at Saint Benedictine Monastery in Erie, Pa. a truly transcendental experience last week. Kolp, a BW professor of Religion, presented his lecture titled, "A Quaker in the Cloister: Shared Views of Contemplation." During the presentation, Kolp discussed the Quaker understanding of what being "centered" means and correlated it with Christian understanding of being contemplative.

Dr. Kolp explained how the process of contemplation can be summed up very simply in four words: discover, engage, embody and practice the Presence. The lecture concluded with a period of silence and stillness-- an opportunity for all present "to move the new information they learned from the head to the heart." Those in attendance said the experience was an indescribable "sacred moment."

Leading Religion & Innovation

BW religion professor Alan Kolp, who's also active in the Center for Innovation & Growth "CIG" Faculty Fellows, has been asked to take expert leadership roles in both of these areas this summer. He’s a panel member for a symposium focused on entrepreneurship on liberal arts campuses, leading a session with the International Thomas Merton Society and co-leading a monastic experience.

Religion Prof Selected for Summer Dive into Buddhism

Dr. Ellen Posman, professor in Baldwin Wallace University's religion department, is one of 16 national scholars who will be participating in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar on "Understanding Buddhism Through Its Classic Texts." She plans to use the experience to enhance her BW courses.