7th Aasta Hansteen Lecture on Gender and Religion
Professors Janet R. Walton and Claudio Carvalhaes, Union Theological Seminary, New York, give the 7th Aasta Hansteen Lecture on Gender and Religion:
"We are all strangers. Rehearsing another way of being in the world through worship"
About the lecture
Rituals are marked by boundaries, necessary and unnecessary ones. Within these boundaries, lays the body. The body is the fundamental site of liturgy, a queer site, known and unknown, seen and unseen, cared and uncared. The (un)doing of liturgy is a constant facing of our strangeness, our queerness, an endless movement in, through and out of thresholds. This lecture will engage notions of gender fluidity, social structures, ecological relations and liturgical boundaries, immersing ourselves in ritual fluidities and searches
The lecture will be followed by an afternoon seminar from 13:15 -15:00 in room 214, Domus Theologica. Oslo bishop, dr.theol. Kari Veiteberg will give a first, invited response to the topic addressed in the lecture. Lecture and seminar are open to all.
On 5 Sep 2018 Professor Walton and Associate Professor Carvalhaes offer a four hour workshop titled "Ritual/liturgical change beyond inclusive language. Why? How? For whom? followed by an informal dinner and social gathering in the evening." Workshop and dinner are open to all, pre-registration required.
For workshop registration, please go to this page.
About the lecturers
Janet R. Walton is Professor of Worship and the Arts Emerita at Union Theological Seminary in NYC. She is a musician, liturgical scholar, and worship consultant. Her research and teaching focus on ritual traditions and practices in religious communities, with particular interest in artistic dimensions, feminist perspectives, and commitments to justice. Professor Walton is a past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy (1995-97), a Henry Luce Fellow in Theology and the Arts (1998), the 2003 recipient of the AAR Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2009 recipient of the North American Academy of Liturgy Berakah Award.
Claudio Carvalhaes is a theologian, activist, liturgist and artist. Currently he is the Associate Professor of Worship at Union Theological Seminary in NYC. His work at Union focuses on liturgy, art, liberation theologies, immigration, postcolonial theory, performance & ritual theories, and inter-ritual practices. In 2019 he will travel collecting ritual resources from communities around the globe. Carvalhaes is originally from São Paulo Brazil and publishes in English, Portuguese and Spanish. In 2009-2010 he received The Kentucky Metroversity Outstanding Faculty of Adult Learners Award.
Preparing for the Aasta Hansteen Event
“Practicing for Life” is a unique video documentary that offers ideas and rationale for change while respecting traditions. The video is the story of what the worshipping community at Union Theological Seminary did (1980-2015) when the Union board and faculty decided to renovate the chapel so that the space would be completely open (no pews, nothing fixed). This commitment intends to connect worship, more visibly and tangibly, with what is studied in class and for advocacy in the world.
Janet R. Walton, “Improvisation and Imagination: Holy Play,” Worship 75 no 4 Jul 2001, p 290-304.
“The Road is Made by Walking,” New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views, eds. Mary E. Hunt and Diann L. Neu, Skylight Paths Publishing, 2010, p 206-213.
Other publications by Claudio Carvalhaes and Janet R. Walton
- Claudio Carvalhaes, Eucharist and Globalization. Redrawing the Borders of Eucharistic Hospitality. Wipf and Stock, Pickwick Publications, 2013
- Only One is Holy: Liturgy in Postcolonial Lenses. Palgrave, 2015 (editor)
- What Worship has to do with it? Interpreting Life Liturgically (forthcoming)
- Personal Website: www.claudiocarvalhaes.com
- Janet R. Walton, Feminist Liturgy: A Matter of Justice. The Liturgical Press, 2000.
- Worship and Art: A Vital Connection, Sacred Sound and Social Change, co-edited with Lawrence Hoffman, University of Notre Dame, 1992
- Women at Worship: Interpretations of North American Diversity, co-edited with Marjorie Procter-Smith, Westminster John Knox Press, 1993
- Improvisation, Imagination and Imperialism in Congregational Worship (forthcoming)