A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E R O B E RT N U S B A U M C E N T E R AT V I R G I N I A W E S L E YA N U N I V E R S I T Y
DIVERSITY
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DIALOGUE
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FAITH
LOOKING THROUGH NEW LENSES: SEEING WITH NEW EYES
In a frequently quoted commencement address, Bill Bullard said, Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. . . .The highest form of knowledge, according to George Eliot, is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose-larger-than-the-self kind of understanding.
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FALL 2021
FREEDOM
CATHARINE COOKSON LECTURE
Thursday, October 14 | 11 AM – NOON SUSAN S. GOODE FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
How Shall We Remember? Changing Narratives around Early Virginia, Slavery, and the Confederacy CHRISTY COLEMAN
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ach of us is shaped by the lenses through which we experience life. Our views are influenced by where we live, our socioeconomic status, the color of our skin, our ethnicity, and our political, religious, and cultural beliefs. Since we’ve been at the Nusbaum Center, what’s been most meaningful are the moments when we’ve seen life more clearly by looking through new lenses. One person who has helped us with that is author/illustrator Christopher Noxon, who wrote Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook. On pages 16 and 17 of that book, he includes sketches made from mug shots of civil rights protestors whose pictures he saw at the National Civil Rights Museum. About the people in the mug shots, Noxon says, “They should be angry, fearful, bitter. Maybe they were? Their faces are pictures of calm, clarity, dignity, defiance, poise . . . There is so much to learn.” The images of those freedom fighters who had clarity, dignity, and poise create a lens that has stayed with us this year. How can we develop that approach to life, particularly during a time when so many people express themselves in terms of unbridled id? How do we appeal to our better angels? How do we find the sorts of lenses that helped those civil rights activists make sense of the world—especially in volatile and challenging times—and move forward? This semester we hope to provide some new lenses that will help us all see more clearly the ways in which others experience the world. We hope you’ll join us.
Craig and Kelly
History lessons taught a generation ago have been challenged recently by new or expanded narratives that include the voices of previously marginalized people. Join Christy Coleman as she discusses questions on the presentation of Jamestown and early Virginia history, on the display of Civil War symbols in public spaces, and on issues of historical memory. Christy Coleman grew up in Williamsburg and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hampton University. She serves as the Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. She also has served as president and CEO of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, where she was instrumental in furthering discussion on the Civil War, its legacies, and its relevance to our lives today.
CONSTITUTION DAY EVENT
Thursday, September 23 | 11 AM – NOON SUSAN S. GOODE FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
The DNA of the United States:
The U.S. Constitution ERIC W. CLAVILLE
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any of our nation’s founders considered slavery ethically immoral, but other factors—particularly economic ones—influenced them to embrace it. To that end, the Constitution they created—our DNA—has shaped economic and social structures, laws, and public policy in ways that have disadvantaged certain groups. It has shaped us in meaningful ways, but also in ways that have fallen short of our highest ideals relating to race and gender. Learn how the Constitution frames our understanding of American democracy and how we—as a country—continue to be shaped through changes like the 15th and 19th Amendments.
Eric W. Claville, J.D., M.L.I.S. serves at Norfolk State University as the Interim Executive Advisor to the President for Government Relations and as the Director of the Center for African American Public Policy (CAAmPP). The Center focuses on how public policy affects African Americans and communities of color.
N E X U S I N T E R F A I T H D I A LO G U E S : E XO D U S I N A M E R I CA Monday, September 27 | 7–8:30 PM
Thursday, October 7 | 7–8:30 PM
JANE P. BAT TEN STUDENT CENTER, PEARCE SUITE
JANE P. BATTEN STUDENT CENTER, PEARCE SUITE
Exploring Coastal Virginia’s Racial Legacy of Place and Displacement
Faith Perspectives on Why Exodus Matters in Coastal Virginia
Intense issues in our community’s history relate to race and displacement. How can such issues be approached thoughtfully and creatively?
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he In[HEIR]itance Project (I[H]P), a national arts organization, creates space for communities to navigate challenging conversations through collaborative theater projects inspired by sacred texts. Those attending will be co-creators in a play that explores the racial dynamics of the region’s legacy of place and displacement in relation to themes from the Book of Exodus. The finished play premieres at the 2022 Virginia Arts Festival. This evening’s interactive salon—facilitated by I[H]P co-founders Chantal Pavageaux, Jon Adam Ross, and Ariel Warmflash—is the first step in this process. This program made possible, in part, by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and Virginia Humanities.
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n America’s Prophet, author Bruce Feiler claims that no figure has inspired Americans more than Moses and that no book of the Bible has influenced Americans more than Exodus. In Exodus, Black Americans have found hope and inspiration, Jews have found identity and an origin story, and Christians have found deeper appreciation for freedom and the responsibilities created by the ten commandments. But—on a personal level—why else does Exodus matter? HUBB Co-leaders Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg (Ohef Sholom Temple), Rev. Dr. Sharon Riley (Faith Deliverance Christian Center), and The Rev. John Rohrs (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church) discuss the historical significance of the Book of Exodus and its enduring importance in their faith. They each highlight specific passages and themes from Exodus that continue to inspire, ground, and guide them as pastors.
Nexus is sponsored in partnership with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC) and Hands United Building Bridges (HUBB). Hands United Building Bridges (HUBB) is an interfaith, interracial network of clergy, congregations, and community leaders in Coastal Virginia.
CHRYSLER GALLERY TALK
ZOOM LECTURE
Thursday, November 4 | 10-11 AM CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART, NORFOLK (Meet in Chrysler Lobby. Face masks required)
Controversial Women in Awkward Places Sex, Betrayal, and Biblical Women
Lot’s daughters. The woman caught in adultery. Lilith, Hagar, Mary, Abigail, Eve. Some of the most striking paintings in the Chrysler collection focus on women in the Bible who faced challenges. Join Nusbaum Center Director Craig Wansink on a walking tour through the Chrysler Museum of Art, as we look through the eyes of women in the Bible.
Tuesday, November 23 | 10-11 AM
Registration required by November 19 Call 757.455.3129 to register
The Bible With and Without Jesus How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently
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hristians frequently have read Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Genesis 1-2, and other scripture passages in ways that differ radically from how Jews would understand the same texts. In The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (HarperOne, 2020), AmyJill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler look at such texts and explore not only how Jews and Christians read the same Bible stories through different lenses, but also how Jews and Christians can learn from and understand each other better. Dr. Levine is a widely appreciated and prolific New Testament scholar who has spent the great majority of her career teaching—as she describes it—in a predominantly Protestant divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt. In this Zoom presentation, Levine discusses this ground-breaking book, and shows us how to read scripture more critically.
Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Amy-Jill Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford Seminary, and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of many books, including The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus and Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.
Sunday, October 17 | 1–3:30 PM Darden College of Education Auditorium OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY Registration required.
UNPACKING
Anti-Semitism AN ACTION-BASED WORKSHOP
Keynote speaker Dara Horn discusses her new book, People Love Dead Jews, a startling exploration of how Jewish history is exploited to flatter and comfort the living. Additional speakers and facilitators represent the Anti-Defamation League, FBI, Robert Nusbaum Center, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC), and other organizations.
Register online at www.JewishVA.org/UnpackingAntisemitism or call 757.455.3129 In partnership with the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding at Old Dominion University, and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Norfolk, VA Permit 27
5817 Wesleyan Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23455
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
ROBERT NUSBAUM CENTER
ROBERT NUSBAUM CENTER
Unpacking Anti-Semitism SEPTEMBER 17 An Action Based Workshop Sunday, 1–3:30 PM The DNA of the United States: The U.S. Constitution 23 Thursday, 11 AM–Noon Darden College of Education Auditorium Susan S. Goode Fine & Performing Arts Center
xodus in America: Exploring Coastal Virginia’s 27 ERacial Legacy of Place and Displacement onday, 7-8:30 PM M Jane P. Batten Student Center, Pearce Suite
OCTOBER xodus in America: Faith Perspectives on Why 7 E Exodus Matters in Coastal Virginia Thursday, 7-8:30 PM Jane P. Batten Student Center, Pearce Suite
ow Shall We Remember? Changing Narratives 14 Haround Early Virginia, Slavery, and the Confederacy Thursday, 11 AM–Noon Susan S. Goode Fine & Performing Arts Center
Old Dominion University ROBERT NUSBAUM CENTER Registration required VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY D I V E R S I T Y | D I A LO G U E | FA I T H | F R E E D O M
NOVEMBER Controversial Women in Awkward Places: 4 Sex, Betrayal, and Biblical Women Thursday, 10–11 AM Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
he Bible With and Without Jesus: 23 THow Jews and Christians Read the Same Story Differently
Tuesday, 10–11 AM ZOOM PRESENTATION Registration required by Friday, November 19
ROBERT NUSBAUM CENTER VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY D I V E R S I T Y | D I A LO G U E | FA I T H | F R E E D O M
Craig Wansink, Ph.D. Joan P. and Macon F. Brock Jr. Director of the Robert Nusbaum Center, and Professor and Chair in the Department of Religious Studies Kelly Jackson Associate Director for the Robert Nusbaum Center 757.455.3129 vwu.edu/nusbaumcenter NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu
Understanding DIVERSITY | DIALOGUE | FAITH | FREEDOM
is published twice a year by the ROBERT NUSBAUM CENTER at Virginia Wesleyan University EDITOR Craig Wansink, Ph.D. MANAGING EDITOR Kelly Jackson ART DIRECTOR Christine Hall