There were two Faculty and Student Forums in the 2007 calendar year. On October 2, 2007, the first Faculty and Student Forum were presented at McCormick Theological Seminary with Dr. Edmund Chia, Ph.D., as the speaker. His topic was named “The New Evangelization A Post-Colonial Approach”. Dr. Chia focused on missions and evangelizations, which are integral components in a Christian’s life. Christians evangelize believing that the Good News and the message of salvation through their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is to be preached to the ends of the earth. The purpose for evangelizing is seldom questioned. However, methods used to evangelize have been a source of much debate. In the colonial era, missionaries’ ventures of conquering hearts and winning souls for Christ were compared to colonialists who were known for conquering lands and plundering resources. However, in today’s world of increasing sensitivity for religious pluralism, other means of evangelization have developed. The lecturer also spoke about evangelization as dialogue. He stressed triple dialogue of the church with cultures, religions, and the poor as the new evangelization for a post-colonial age.

Dr. Edmund Chia, a Malaysian of Chinese descent, is on the faculty at the Catholic Theological Union (CTU). He served as Executive Secretary of the Asian Bishops’ Conferences in the Office of Interreligious Dialogue for many years. Dr. Chia has a M.A. in Human Development, a M.A. in Religion, and a Ph.D. in Interreligious and Intercultural Theology. His areas of expertise include Inculturation and Dialogue, Christology and Cultures, and Asian Theologies.

The second Faculty and Student Forum occurred on November 14, 2007 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Dr. Ted Hiebert, the speaker for that event presented information on the subject of “Perspectives on the World’s Cultures in Genesis”. His presentation focused on the traditional interpretation in which authors of Genesis are described as holding a dim view of the world’s cultures and presenting cultural diversity as a punishment for humanity’s pride in the story on the Tower of Babel and presenting the call of Abraham as God’s abandonment of the world’s sinful peoples. However, these are the views of Genesis’ interpreters rather than its authors. Genesis actually describes all the world’s cultures after the flood as God’s peoples. It views cultural diversity as God’s plan for the post flood world rather than God’s punishment of it.

Dr. Ted Hibert is Francis A. McGaw, Professor of Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary. He is the author of “Tower of Babel and the Origin of the World’s Cultures” (JBL 126 [2007] 29-58). He is at work on a commentary in the book of Genesis for the Abingdon Old Testament Commentary Series.