Dean of Yale Divinity School to open Spring Living Theology Series at Fairfield University

December 19, 2006

Dr. Harold W. Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School, will open Fairfield University's Spring Semester three-part series, Living Theology: Updates for the Local Church, on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 9:30 a.m. The topic of the workshop, which ends at noon, is "What's So Fascinating About the Gnostic Gospels?" The series, presented by the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield, is open and free the public. All three workshops take place on Saturday morning from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the School of Nursing Auditorium.

Dean Attridge, formerly the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame, is a specialist in the texts of the Nag Hammadi codices, one of the basic sets of texts of the so-called "Gnostic gospels" that were lost for so long and which offer a very different view of the concerns of early Christians. They also form the background, among other things, to The Da Vinci Code. Dean Attridge has translated a number of the texts and is also the author of many books and articles on early Christianity.

The series continues on Saturday, Feb. 24, with Dr. Dennis Keenan and Dr. Liz Keenan presenting, "Where Is the Church and Where Is It Going? A View from the In-Between Generation." Dr. Dennis Keenan is professor of philosophy at Fairfield University, and Dr. Liz Keenan is associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University. They both recently gave a presentation at the national Collegium conference for junior faculty in Catholic colleges and universities on the topic of being a younger married couple in the Church today.

The semester's offerings will conclude on Saturday, March 31, when Dr. Paul Lakeland, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield, will discuss his new book, "Catholicism at the Crossroads: How the Laity Can Save the Church," to be published in early March by Continuum International.

All workshops are free and open to the public. Please call Ms. Carolyn Arnold with any questions at (203) 254-4000 ext. 3415.

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Vol. 39, No. 110

Fairfield University is a comprehensive Jesuit university that prepares undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students for leadership and service in a constantly changing world. In their 2007 editions, U.S.News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges" ranks Fairfield fourth among universities with master's programs in the North and The Princeton Review lists Fairfield among "The Best 361 Colleges." More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 35 states, 46 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University's six schools. The University was founded in 1942 in the scenic shoreline community of Fairfield, Connecticut.