Division of Philosophy and Theology 2000-01
PHILOSOPHY
Attended:
Leadership conference at the Lyndon Johnson School in Austin, Texas
Member:
Ethics Committee at University of South Alabama’s College of Medicine
Task force for business ethics at Chamber of Commerce
Lectures/presentations/workshops given:
Presentation at Mercy Medical in Daphne as a follow-up to Father Robert Spitzer’s talk
Faculty Friday presentation on research regarding merit pay
Invited to national meeting of ethics officers of power companies, to be held in Nashville in fall 2001
Asked to do a short essay for a futurist journal
Set up a “grand rounds” for an SHC student in the University of South Alabama College of Medicine’s department of pediatrics on the ethics of continuing the practice of circumcision
Established and maintained many professional contacts in the areas of leadership and ethics
President of Montessori Academy, a non-profit corporation
Works in progress:
Presentation to the Regional American Montessori Society meeting in the fall on Father Robert Spitzer’s ideas
Consulting work with Alabama Power
Developing contacts in the area of leadership education
Attended:
NEH Summer 2000 Seminar on Descartes and his contemporaries, Virginia Tech
Moderated SHC student’s presentation to the Ethics Grand Round at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital
Works in progress:
Preparing “Kant and Women” for submission to a journal
Preparing “Descartes and the Lateran Council” as a conference paper
Preparing “Locke and Personal Immortality” as a conference paper
Lectures/workshops/presentations given:
Faculty Fridays talk on extended discourse in description and considered communication
Organized discussion on epistemological implications of quantum anomalies (with George Gilmore)
Continued participating in and coordinating USA-SHC philosophers’ monthly discussions
Ross Romero, S.J.
Attended:
Heartland/Delta Conference, Creighton University
SHC faculty development workshop: Dr. Barbara Walvoord
SHC technology workshops: ERes, FrontPage
SHC plagiarism workshop
Participated in faculty discussion group on race, class, and gender issues
Incorporated Dr. Walvoord’s ideas into courses: began using ERes and placing quality student responses to course questions on-line
Began revising master’s thesis for possible publication
Awarded sabbatical for Spring 2001:
Investigated computer software tutorials for the teaching of logic
Did research in Hellenistic philosophy (ancient Stoicism, Skepticism, and Epicureanism); included a month’s research at the University of California at San Diego’s library
Prepared PowerPoint presentations for all lectures in LIS 501 Classical Antiquity (included art, architecture, historic sites, diagrams, maps, blueprints of housing and temples, etc.)
Works in progress:
Article on the 20th century analytic philosopher G. E. Moore and the Hellenistic skeptic Sextus Empiricus on the topic of certainty (result of sabbatical research)
THEOLOGY
Tim Carmody
Lectures/presentations/workshops given:
Lecture: Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “The Living Bible”
Lecture: Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “Truth, History and the Bible”
Lecture: Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “The Living Bible”
Lecture: Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “Genesis 2 and Defining Human Being”
Lecture: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Birmingham, Alabama: “Bible as a Living Document”
All-day retreat: St. Michael the Archangel, Woodstock, Georgia: “Experiencing the Power of God’s Word”
Evening workshop: St. Oliver Plunket, Snellville, Georgia: “Parables and Hearing the Word of God”
Attended:
Catholic Biblical
Association meeting:
Co-chair
of the Mark Task Force
Respondent
to one of three papers given at Task Force
Awarded sabbatical for Fall 2000
Worked on and finished the book, The Art of Reading the Bible, which will be used as the textbook for all sections of THL 101 Western Religious Heritage in fall 2001. Will work on having book published by an academic press (Paulist Press has expressed interest)
Spent year doing research in the Pitt Theological Library at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Also met with professors at Emory (Luke Timothy Johnson and Michael Brown) and Columbia Theological Seminary (Kathleen O’Connor)
Finished article on the Parable Chapter in Mark. Sent it to Catholic Biblical Quarterly; it was rejected but reviewers gave very good comments and helpful suggestions; will rewrite and resubmit
Works in progress:
Testing my book, The Art of Reading the Bible, as a textbook in class, refining it as a teaching tool, and getting it published
Rewriting article on the Parable Chapter in Mark for publication
Book on interpretation of the Bible for adults
Article on the Death of Judas
Attended:
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities’ Theology/Religious Studies Chairs/Representatives Conference
Roman Catholic Modernism Group meeting
Daylong workshop: “Yoga and Meditation” conducted by Geshe Dorjee and Gail Goodwin
Lectures/presentations/workshops given:
Baldwin County Public School Social Studies programs: Two full-day workshops on the academic study of the world’s major religions in the framework of separation of church and state – funded by Alabama Humanities Foundation
Ecumenical evenings with the St. Lawrence Parish Adult Education program; included representatives from Theodore United Methodist Church, Jewish/Christian Dialog, Twin Beech AME Zion Church, and Tibetan Buddhists as well as contact with Mobile Jewish Reform community, Prichard Life Church, Annunciation Orthodox Church and Fairhope Trinity Presbyterian Church
Faculty Friday presentation: “A College-Wide Comprehensive Experience”
Co-organized and co-led a faculty conversation on “The New Physics and New Paradigms in Theology/Philosophy” with Drs. Kobelja, Cyphert, and Cunningham
Initiated preparation of a course entitled “Philosophy for Theologians” in conversation with Roger Haight who teaches such a course at Weston Jesuit School of Theology
Member:
St. Lawrence Parish Adult Education Committee
Steering committee for the new comprehensive plan for the city of Fairhope (Fairhope’s mayor is the father of two SHC students
President of Marietta Johnson Museum Board in Fairhope
Re-elected president of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation
Handled details of transferring the 1894-1980 archives of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation to the University of Virginia for inclusion in its special collections
Book reviews for the in-house theology newsletter
Lectures given:
“The Annulment Process,” Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia
Incorporated cooperative learning principles into classes
Works in progress:
Preparing a possible course on “Proportionalism in Moral Theology”
Awarded sabbatical for fall 2001 – will go to the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley to finish the book Desert Christians
Publications:
Essay: “Remembering Poemen Remembering: The Desert Fathers and the Spirituality of Memory.” Church History 69, #3 (2000) pp. 483-518. September 2000 (refereed)
Forthcoming essay: “‘Salt for the Impure, Light for the Pure’: Reflections on the Pedagogy of Evagrius Ponticus.” Studia Patristica vol. 37 (Leuwen: Peeters, 2001) pp. 514-526. (Originally presented at the 13th International Conference on Patristic Studies in Oxford, England, in August 1999) (refereed)
Essay accepted for publication: “The Sapphire Light of the Mind: the Skemmata of Evagrius Ponticus.” Theological Studies, September 2001. (Originally presented at the annual conference of the North American Patristic Society, Chicago, May 2000) (refereed)
Two poems: “Cappadocian Voices: Two Poems” in Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version with Commentary and Supporting Studies. Proceedings of the Eighth International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa (Paderborn, 14-18 September 1998), ed. Hubertus R. Drobner and Albert Viciano, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae (Leiden: Brill, 2000), pp. xviii-xxviii (refereed)
Invited to be one of five keynote speakers at a week-long conference on the sermons of St. Augustine, to be held in Philadelphia in June 2001; conference was cancelled in mid-April due to insufficient registrations
Nominated to appear in Who’s Who in America (2002 edition)
Will attend annual conference of the North American Patristic Society in May 2001 in Chicago
Will deliver paper entitled “‘The Gift of Theology’: Evagrius Ponticus’ Gnostikos”
Did first English translation of the early Greek mystical text Gnostikos by Evagrius Ponticus (with a colleague) and wrote introductory commentary on it
Book reviews:
Augustine and the Bible, ed. Pamela Bright (Notre Dame, 1999), published in Augustinian Studies, vol. 32, #1 (2001), pp. 129-132
Augustine and His Critics, ed. Robert Dodaro & George Lawless, to be published in the Journal of Early Christian Studies, vol. 9, #3 (summer, 2001)
Lectures/presentations/workshops given:
All-day workshop,
Diocese of Birmingham: “Christian
Mystics: What They Can Teach Us About
God, Prayer, and Our Hard-to-Grasp Hearts (65 participants)
Developed
50-page anthology of writings of Christian mystics and a set of PowerPoint
presentations on a variety of mystics for this workshop
Lecture: Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, AL: “Teresa of Avila” (65 participants)
Lecture: St. Lawrence Church, Fairhope, Alabama: “Teresa of Avila” (40 participants)
Lecture: Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, AL: “John of the Cross” (65 participants)
Lecture: Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “Irenaeus and Gnosticism” (35 participants)
Lecture: Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, Georgia: “Augustine and the Pelagians” (35 participants)
Lecture: St. Ignatius Church, Mobile, Alabama: “Teresa of Avila” (25 participants)
Lecture: St. Ignatius Church, Mobile, Alabama: “John of the Cross” (25 participants)
Talk for seniors at Alabama School of Mathematics and Science on liberal arts education (15 attendees)
Developed new graduate theology course: The Search for the Historical Jesus. Entire course is in PowerPoint; course materials are posted on ERes (http://notes.shc.edu, under instructor Harmless and course Historical Jesus [password protected])
Developed PowerPoint presentations for several other courses
Member:
Board of Christus Theological Institute, a lecture series sponsored by the theology departments of Spring Hill College and the University of Mobile as well as several area churches; chair the Selection Committee which handles the choice and invitation of the speakers
SHC Board of Trustees; also serve on two Board committees: Academic Affairs and Buildings and Grounds
Board of Trustees, Loyola University New Orleans since Fall 1996: Vice-chair of its Academic Affairs Committee
Works in progress:
New book tentatively entitled Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism. Completed 5 chapters while on research fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study of Christianity and Culture at Loyola University Chicago in spring 1998. Have since completed two additional chapters, one in fall 1998 and another in summer 2000. Will complete the book while on SHC sabbatical in fall 2001.
Anthology: The Writings of Evagrius Ponticus. Translation of the mystical writings of Evagrius Ponticus. Had hoped to work with Robin Darling Young (Catholic University), a leading Syriac scholar, and perhaps publish it in Classics of Western Spirituality (Essay on Evagrius’ Skemmata and paper on Evagrius’ Gnostikos are steps in moving project forward)
Research on the Dolbeau Sermons (a set of 30 newly discovered sermons of Augustine published by François Dolbeau in 1996 and translated into English by Edmund Hill in 1998). Have collected material for two future essays: the first will focus on Augustine’s catechumenate in light of the Dolbeau sermons, while the second will focus on Augustine’s use of the Christus medicus figure in the Dolbeau sermons.
Attended:
Encuentro 2000 (national Catholic evangelization conference), Los Angeles, California
Conference on justice education in Jesuit higher education, Santa Clara University
AJCU Mission and Identity annual meeting, Loyola University Chicago
SHC Desotelle workshop: “The Context for Teaching and Learning in Jesuit Colleges and Universities”
SHC faculty development workshop: Dr. Barbara Walvoord
Lectures/presentations given:
Lecture: St. Lawrence Church Adult Education Program, Fairhope, Alabama: “Catholicism in America”
Lenten presentation on dialog between cultures: St. Ignatius Church, Mobile, Alabama
Preacher for Holy Week series: Hillcrest Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama
Extensive preparatory work on new theology course: Spiritual Direction Practicum
Several book reviews and translations
Member:
SHC Board of Trustees
Chair of Christus Theological Institute and Christus/Mercy lectures program
Extensive planning for the annual Summer Catholic Youth Seminar; coordinated further development and implementation of plans for Summer 2001
Ongoing projects:
Beginning to lay groundwork for a research project (which I hope will lead to a sabbatical for fall 2002) on the history of SHC (including the evolution of its curriculum, mission and identity, etc.), which would relate to my area of American Religious History. Dr. Charles Boyle, college archivist, is interested in working with me on this.
Attended:
North American Academy of Liturgy meeting
SHC Desotelle workshop: “The Context for Teaching and Learning in Jesuit Colleges and Universities”
Lectures/presentations given:
Lecture: McGill-Toolen High School
Interview on religion and film for Mobile Register