Jay Phelan will speak on October 3-4, 2015 on Wendall Berry: Culture, Agriculture, and Church. There will the two session on Saturday the third: 10:30 and 1:00. Lunch will be provided. Jay will speak during Faith Covenant’s normal worship service (starting at 10:30 on Sunday). Please RSVP by emailing rsvp@withallyourmind.org.
John E. (Jay) Phelan is senior professor of theological studies at North Park Theological Seminary. He has served North Park for nearly 25 years, fourteen of those as President and Dean of the Seminary. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church and served churches in Florida and Kansas. He is the author or editor of four books and many articles and book reviews. He writes a regular column in The Covenant Companion, the denominational magazine of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Wendell Berry has been called the finest essayist writing in America today. He is a Kentucky farmer, poet, novelist, and essayist. His work has addressed culture and agriculture, religion and politics, and just about everything in between. He is passionate about the preservation and sustaining of healthy communities and good practices whether these communities are urban, suburban or rural. He is deeply concerned about the ruination of agricultural lands and wild places. He is critical of the overweening power of governments. He is respected and critiqued by cultural conservatives and liberals, by traditionalists and radical reformers. His voice is unique and profound. He has had a long struggle with the church. He identifies as a Christian, especially in more recent decades, and yet challenges the church to pay attention to its own foundational documents and earthly commitments.