Thursday Night Interfaith Supper 2007-2008

Celebrating 41 Years of Interfaith Dialogue
in the Brown Community

The Thursday Night Interfaith Supper (TNS) 2007-2008 series continues this week on
February 21, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., with Rabbi Alan Flam. He will speak about "Caring for the Soul." Flam is a senior fellow at the Swearer Center for Public Service ,where he coordinates the University-Community Academic Advising Project (UCAAP), Housing Opportunities for people Everywhere (HOPE), Affordable Housing Action and Advocacy (AHAA), and Break Projects. He also serves as an associate chaplain of the University, a position he has held since he came to Brown in 1982. As part of his collaborative work with the Swearer Center and Office of Chaplains and Religious life, he is interested in provoking and supporting conversations on campus and in the
community about service, values, faith and conviction.

All members of the Brown community are welcome to join us at the home of the chaplain of the University, the Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson (directions below), close to the Main Green. Thursday Night Supper is free and open to the community.

See the Spring 2008 schedule below.

Sign-up for the Thursday Night Supper listserv with Coordinator Liz DiCocco '08 (just click on Liz's name here).

The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life sponsors TNS. It gathers each week during the academic year for dinner and conversation with invited speakers who discuss how the life of the spirit guides their professional and personal lives. TNS comprises members of the Brown community from all faith traditions. Come each Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. during the academic year.

Directions: 58 Keene Street, Providence. To get there, walk through the Faunce Arch (walking north). Go straight for 8 blocks. Turn right. The house is on the left. The dinner is delicious. Kosher meals are available upon request. A vegetarian option is always available.

Schedule for Spring 2008

January 24: Liza Lerman of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange will speak on "Arts and Spirituality" This event is part of a week long program with Lerman, who is in residence at Brown University and in the city of Providence from January 21 to February 3, 2008.
January 31: Bill Patenaude of Rhode Island Interfaith Power and Light will speak about the threat of climate change, what that has to do with religion/spirituality, and what actions we can take to remedy it. This supper is part of a broader schedule of events led by Empower and Focus the Nation.
February 7: An interfaith discussion on "Worry, Peace, and Religious Holidays," in honor of the upcoming Christian season of Lent.
February 12: A panel of Brown students will discuss the Winterbreaks Project on Environmental Justice
February 21: Rabbi Alan Flam of the Swearer Center for Public Service and the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life will speak about "Caring for the Soul."
February 28: Casey Marks, a graduate student in Computer Sciences, will speak about the relationship between spirituality and rationality.
March 6: Eric Rodriguez '08 will speak about his experiences in Iraq.
March 20: Elizabeth Walsh will speak about human rights work in Colombia
April 3: Professor Mark Cladis of Brown's Religious Studies Department will present on spirituality and the environment .
April 10: A program about the elections from a religious perspective.

Schedule for Fall 2007

September 20: Ginny Fox, Preparing to Celebrate International Peace Day with the Peace Flag Project @ www.thepeaceflagproject.org
September 27: Ryan Bouton of College Hill for Christ
October 4: Virginia E. Law, J.D., President of PeacePaths, LLC, a Center for Mediation and Education "Leading the Way to Greater Understanding"
October 11: Rebecca Russo '08, a concentrator in religious studies and leader in both Brown Hillel and the Multifaith Council,she spent the spring semester in Morrocco living with a Muslim family. She will share share pictures and her cross-cultural adventures,
October 18: "Student Activism for Social Justice in Israel." Four Israeli students touring American Universities will speak about social justice (Tzedek Chevrati) and Israeli culture (Tarbut), share personal stories of social activism in Israel (especially a discussion of the motivation for the Israeli students' strike in 2007), and address the challenges of being a student in the Middle East and how their education may be different than American education due to factors such as Jewish identity and political
activities on campus. TNS will also discuss cultural relations within Israeli society.
October 25: TBA
November 1: Merry Boak '05, Recruitment Director for Teach for America @ www.teachforamerica.org
November 8: Chris Morrison of Care Highway @ www.carehighway.org
November 15: Peter Scharf, professor of Sanskrit at Brown, on "Silent Awareness:  The Spiritual Foundation of Religion"
November 22: TBA

Below, you can read about the programs offered during the 2006-2007 season!

TNS Programs during Fall 2006
August 31: This TNS event welcomed the newest members of the Brown University community—the Class of 2010. More than 150 members of the newest Brown class, some with parents and family in tow, and TNS regulars spent the evening with the University's chaplains, Janet Cooper Nelson, Henry Bodah, Allen Callahan, Serena Eisenberg, and Rumee Ahmed.
September 14: The students of Arava Institute, an environmental teaching and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges
September 21: The Rev. Dr. Allen Callahan, newly appointed Associate Chaplain of the University for the Protestant community
September 28: Steve D'Evelyn on "Haiku: Politics of Identity and the Poetry of the Liturgy"
October 5: Rabbi Laura Geller, Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California, and a Brown alumnae
October 12: The Rev. Beth Sherman, an Episcopal priest and Religious Life Affiliate to the Brown Episcopal community, on chanting in the Taizé tradition
October 19: Russell Carey, the Interim Vice President of Campus Life and Student Services and Brown alumnus, who serves as a Brown Trustee
October 26: Barnaby Evans, creator of Providence's Waterfire
November 2: Robin Pringle, a John Nicholas Brown Center Fellow, on "What I Learned in Islamic School: The Role of a Private School as a Public
Cultural Institution in the Interface of Community Change and World Events"
November 9: Sheila Curran and Suzanne Greenwald, the authors of the new publication Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads. Curran is the Fannie Mitchell Executive Director of Duke University's Career Services Office and is the former director of Brown's Career Services. Greenwald is an educational advisor to the Cambridge-MIT Institute.
November 16: Annie Doran, a member of the board of directors for Fairloom, an organization that serves to enrich the lives of the international community through the cultural exchange of knowledge, crafts, and stories (with a particular focus on communities in northeast Brazil)

TNS Schedule for Spring 2007
February 1: "Cooking for the Soul," cooking lessons provided by the Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson, chaplain of the University, and members of cooking house followed by a discussion of the spiritual significance of preparing and enjoying food.
February 8: James Campbell, associate professor of American civilization, award-winning author, and chair of the Brown University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. For this TNS event, dinner and discussion will be switched. Professor Campbell will speak at 5 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6 p.m.
February 15: Elizabeth Spring, professional astrologer, counseling therapist with a background in Jungian psychology, and freelance writer, speaking on "Astrology; Myth, Magic, and Mystery.”
February 22: Patrick Rastelli, cancer survivor and Brown undergraduate, Class of 2008.
March 1: The Reverend Henry Bodah, associate University chaplain for the Brown-RISD Roman Catholic community, and priest of the Diocese of Providence, on traditional just war theory and the war in Iraq.
March 8: Ivy Booth of Whitmarsh Corporation, which creates housing communities and provides support services for at-risk boys and young men who are under the custody of Rhode Island's Department for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).
March 15: Martin Bell, a United States veteran and Brown undergraduate, Class of 2010.
March 22: CANCELLED: Rabbi Alan Flam, senior associate University chaplain, senior fellow at the Swearer Center for Public Service, co-founder of the Brown University Mediation Project (BUMP), and coordinator of the University Community Academic Advising Project (UCAAP).
April 12: The Rev. Prof. Dr. Sjoerd L. Bonting, on chaos theology. Bonting, a biochemist and Episcopal priest, will give a proseminar at 4:00 p.m. in the Memorial Room, Faunce House. (See a full story on the main OCRL website.)
April 19: A.T. Wall, director of the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute (ACI) will speak about his work running the Rhode Island prison system.
April 26: Thursday Night Supper Birthday Party! Celebrate the 40th birthday of Interfaith Thursday Night Suppers with coordinators and attendees of the past and present.

Click here for more photos from President Ruth Simmons' talk at Thursday Supper from 2005-2006.