LOCAL NEWSProvidence Kicks Off Annual Lecture Series

Providence University College is once again setting out on its annual Public Lecture Series, with many of its professors holding free lectures throughout southern Manitoba. The goal of the program, currently in its sixth year, is to give members of the community an opportunity to engage post-secondary academics on a range of relevant subjects.

“Two themes this year are ‘communication’ and ‘contention,’” says Dr. Dennis Hiebert, Providence’s Professor of Sociology and head of the public scholarship committee. “Putting them together, we could say that the series is about communicating about contentious issues—something public education is obliged to do. Public education is part of the reason Providence exists. Events like this series are an important way to increase general understanding of the world, the issues and the human condition we share, with the intent of contributing to human flourishing.”

The 2018 series will kick off at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg on February 3 with a lecture entitled “Beyond the ‘Pro-Life’ Versus ‘Pro-Choice’ Debate,” which asks whether it’s time to abandon both contentious positions and navigate a new path through the divisive abortion issue. The lecture, led by Dr. Randall Holm, Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation, will run from 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Other topics to be explored this year include “The Religious Impulse in U2’s Mediated Brand,” “Pandora’s Gifts: Language Learning through Expressive Arts,” “The Beginning in Light of the End: Re-thinking Evolution Theologically,” and “Helen Keller and the Power of Language to Actualize Humanness.”