2006 Fig Tree Assembly

in the Coming Generation

October 6th, 7th & 8th

What is the Fig Tree Assembly?

Nathaniel asked the Rabbi, “How do you know me?”

And the Rabbi answered, “I saw you under the fig tree.”

The Fig Tree Assembly is a program of study sponsored by

Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church to promote the contemplation of the life of the spirit:

 

Convened to provide an opportunity for worship, study and conversation relating to spiritual insight and growth…

 

Led by scholars and artists whose work is both well-known and respected…

 

You are invited to gather “under the Fig Tree” in the hope that we each will benefit from this enlightening experience.

 

Past Speakers include:

Walter Bruggemann – 1994

Stanley Hauerwaus – 1995

Don Saliers – 1997

Marva Dawn – 1999

Bill Carter – 2001

Luke Timothy Johnson – 2003

Friday, October 6

6:30 p.m. Opening Reception

8:00 p.m. Opening Lecture:

The Public Role of Mainline Protestantism

 

Saturday, October 7

10:00 a.m. Coffee

10:30–12.30 Presentation and Response Panel:

The Next Wave:

Young Adults and the Future of the Church

Panel Members Include:

Dr. Gustav Niebuhr, Syracuse University

Rev. Lawrence Bartel,

Niccolls Memorial Presbyterian Church, Old Forge, NY

Moderator: Rev. Dr. Peter Shidemantle

 

12:30 Lunch (reservations required, see return card)

2:00 p.m. America & the Challenges of Religious Diversity

Sunday, October 8

9:30 a.m. Worship Service

11:00–12 noon: Q & A with Robert Wuthnow

We are commanded to love the Lord God with our entire being— mind, heart and spirit—not simply with some part of ourselves. The sages of the Church, in reflecting upon the experience of this love among God’s people, have found it useful to distinguish the ways of reason in search of faith, on the one hand, and the ways of faith in search of understanding, on the other. We do not believe anyone comes to faith simply by thought. The planting of faith is the work of God. Neither do we believe, however, that faith is ever as complete as it can be without the search for understanding.

 

This program is made possible by the generous contributions of community groups, members and friends of Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church.

About Robert Wuthnow

 

Robert Wuthnow is Andlinger Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. He received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

After teaching for two years at the University of Arizona in Tucson, he relocated to Princeton in 1976. Between 1976 and 1979 he was the William Paterson Bicentennial Preceptor.

 

In addition to his teaching, he has served as director of Princeton’s Program in Science in Human Affairs and was a founding member of the executive committee of the University Center for Human Values. He was founder and director of the Center for the Study of American Religion, and since 1999 has served as founding director of the Center for the Study of Religion. As of July 2006, he is serving as chair of the Sociology Department.

 

Professor Wuthnow is the author of more than twenty books, including Acts of Compassion, which received a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1991, and Loose Connections: Joining Together in America’s Fragmented Communities, which received the Distinguished Book Prize from the Association for Research on Nonprofit and Voluntary Associations in 1998.

His recent books include Growing Up Religious: Christians and Jews and Their Journeys of Faith, published in 1999; All in Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion, published in 2003; and American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short, published in 2006.

He has received numerous grants and scholarly awards, including the Martin Marty Award for Religion and Public Life from the American Academy of Religion; a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work on religion and diversity; and the 2003 Graduate Mentoring Award in Social Science from Princeton University.

For further information, call 315.446.0960

or address e-mail to petephpc@twcny.rr.com