Boston College Front Row

Theologians Jon Levenson and Gary Anderson critique the Pontifical Biblical Commission's 2001 document, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, which affirms the essential place of the Jewish Scriptures in the Christian tradition, and examines the depictions of Jews in the New Testament. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School, and Anderson, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, speak separately, and then answer questions. The symposium is moderated by Richard Clifford, SJ, professor of Old Testament at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and introduced by Philip Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. Speaker: Gary Anderson, Jon Levenson Date: April 24, 2006 Length: 1:51:21

Garret FitzGerald, twice prime minister of Ireland (1981-82, 1982-87), speaks on the decline of the Catholic Church's influence in the education and lives of Irish citizens. As prime minister, FitzGerald signed the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He is currently the chancellor of the National University of Ireland, and writes a weekly column for the Irish Times. FitzGerald is introduced by Burns Librarian Robert O'Neill, following opening remarks by Fred Lawrence, associate professor of theology and director of Boston College's Lonergan Workshop. Speaker: Garret FitzGerald Date: April 20, 2006 Length: 1:15:43

Boston historian Thomas H. O'Connor discusses his 16th book, The Athens of America: Boston, 1825-1845 (UMass, 2006), about leaders of the post-Constitutional generation whose personal talents and financial resources made Boston the nation's cultural, intellectual, and humanitarian center. O'Connor is the University Historian at Boston College, where he began teaching in 1950. Among his recent books are The Hub: Boston Past and Present (Northeastern, 2001), Boston A to Z (Harvard, 2000), Civil War Boston (Northeastern, 1997), and The Boston Irish (Northeastern, 1995). O'Connor is introduced by James O'Toole, professor of history, following welcoming remarks from Ben Birnbaum, editor of Boston College Magazine. This event is a part of "Writers Among Us: Boston College Readings," a series spotlighting recent book publications by Boston College faculty. Speaker: Thomas O'Connor Date: April 19, 2006 Length: 42:22

Jonathan Haidt discusses his research on three rarely studied emotions-moral elevation, admiration, and awe-in the field of positive psychology, which is the scientific study of positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions. Haidt is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (Basic, 2005). Speaker: Jonathan Haidt Date: April 13, 2006 Length: 51:18

Clair Wills speaks on representations of domesticity and female sexuality in the fiction of Irish writers Mary Lavin and Maura Laverty. Wills is a professor of Irish literature at Queen Mary, University of London, and the author of Improprieties: Politics and Sexuality in Northern Irish Poetry (Oxford, 1993) and Reading Paul Muldoon (Bloodaxe, 1998). Wills is introduced by Marjorie Howes, codirector of the Irish Studies Program and associate professor of English. Speaker: Clair Wills Date: April 10, 2006 Length: 53:53

Mark Singer reads from his new book Character Studies: Encounters with the Curiously Obsessed (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), a collection of nine profiles, from Donald Trump to card illusionist Ricky Jay. Singer has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1974, and is the author of five books, including Funny Money (Knopf, 1985) and Somewhere in America: Under the Radar with Chicken Warriors, Left-Wing Patriots, Angry Nudists, and Others (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). Singer is introduced by Michael Smyer, dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Speaker: Mark Singer Date: April 10, 2006 Length: 1:28:20

Astronomer Michael A'Hearn '61, principal investigator of NASA's Deep Impact Project, returns to campus as part of the "Master Class: Alumni in Residence" series. A'Hearn, also a professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, led the team of physicists and engineers that in July 2005 intentionally collided a rocket with the comet Tempel 1, the first time humans had touched a comet in space. A'Hearn is interviewed by Michael Naughton, a professor of physics at Boston College. Speaker: Michael A'Hearn Date: April 10, 2006 Length: 59:06

Dalia Feldman discusses how Jewish writers in Latin America, including Margo Glantz, Victor Perera, Moacyr Scliar, Ilan Stavans, and Jacobo Timerman, understand their identities as Jews and recent immigrants, and how that understanding is manifested in their literature. Feldman is a doctoral candidate in the modern Jewish studies program at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she is researching the literature of Jewish diaspora communities. Feldman is introduced by Dwayne Carpenter, professor of Hispanic studies and codirector of the Jewish studies program. Speaker: Dalia Feldman Date: April 4, 2006 Length: 1:04:28

Gary Okihiro gives the keynote speech during the opening ceremonies of Boston College's Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Okihiro is the director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, and a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies. He has written nine books on U.S. and African history, including Common Ground: Reimagining American History (Princeton, 2001) and The Columbia Guide to Asian American History (Columbia, 2001). Okihiro is introduced by Min Song, associate professor of English. Speaker: Gary Okihiro Date: March 31, 2006 Length: 1:02:12

David Bethea gives the annual Heinz Bluhm Memorial Lecture in European Literature, a discussion of the adolescence of Alexander Pushkin, the Russian poet and novelist. Bethea is the Vilas Professor of Slavic Languages at the University of Wisconsin and the author of four books, including Realizing Metaphors: Alexander Pushkin and the Life of the Poet (Wisconsin, 1998) and Joseph Brodsky and the Creation of Exile (Princeton, 1994). Bethea is introduced by Cynthia Simmons, professor of Slavic and Eastern languages. Speaker: David Bethea Date: March 30, 2006 Length: 1:07:11

Lawrence Joseph is a poet, critic, essayist, and professor of law at St. John's University. His first three volumes of poetry are collected in Codes, Precepts, Biases, and Taboos: Poems 1973-1993 (FSG, 2005). His most recent volume of poetry, Into It (FSG, 2005), was written in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowships. Joseph is introduced by Paul Mariani, University Professor of English. Speaker: Lawrence Joseph Date: March 30, 2006 Length: 47:07

Joseph Bottum, Ph.D.'93, presents "What Death Is For: Mortality in Philosophy, Art, Political Theory, and Religion." Bottum, who earned his doctorate in philosophy, is the editor of First Things, a monthly journal published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York City. He has also served as an arts and culture editor at the Weekly Standard and poetry editor at First Things. His books include The Fall & Other Poems (St. Augustine's, 2001) and, edited with David Dalin, The Pius Wars: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII (Lexington, 2004). Bottum is introduced by Jorge Garcia, professor in the philosophy department. Speaker: Joseph Bottum Date: March 27, 2006 Length: 48:36

Ann Patchett reads from her novel-in-progress, Run, set in Boston. Patchett is the author of four novels, including Bel Canto (HarperCollins, 2001), winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most recent book is Truth & Beauty (HarperCollins, 2004), a memoir about her long and complicated friendship with the late poet Lucy Grealy. Patchett is introduced by Elizabeth Graver, professor of English. Speaker: Ann Patchett Date: March 15, 2006 Length: 42:23

William Finnegan presents "What's the Story? Journalism and Power," a lecture on the relation between media and the power of ideas. Finnegan has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1987, traveling around the world to report on international issues. He is the author of four books, including Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country (Random House, 1998) and Crossing the Line: A Year in the Land of Apartheid (Harper Collins, 1986). Finnegan's writing has also appeared in Harper's, The New York Review of Books, and Granta. Finnegan is introduced by Carlo Rotella, professor in the English Department and director of the American Studies Program at Boston College. Speaker: William Finnegan Date: February 22, 2006 Length: 56:05

Gerardine Meaney, senior lecturer and Director of Irish Studies at University College Dublin, presents "The Sons of Cuchulainn: Violence, the Family, and Irish Canons." Meaney is the author of (Un)like Subjects: Women, Theory, Fiction (Routledge, 1993) and serves as general editor of the Liverpool University Press series of new critical editions of Irish women's writing. Meaney is introduced by Joseph Nugent, associate professor in the Boston College Departments of English and Irish Studies. Speaker: Gerardine Meaney Date: February 20, 2006 Length: 50:54

Richard Blake, on Gotham, as imagined by Lumet, Allen, Scorsese, and Lee. Speaker: Richard A. Blake, SJ Date: February 17, 2006 Length: 43:53

Gareth Cook, science journalist for the Boston Globe, presents a lecture on the complex relationship between science and politics in the stem cell debate. Cook was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for his investigation of stem cell research and its scientific, social, and ethical ramifications. Cook is introduced by Kevin Bedell, chairman of the physics department and Rourke Professor of Physics at Boston College. Speaker: Gareth Cook Date: February 8, 2006 Length: 38:35

Photojournalist Carol Guzy, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, presents "From Despair to Hope," a lecture and slideshow of her photographs, including award-winning images from Kosovo and Haiti. Guzy has worked as a photographer at the Washington Post since 1988 and has been named White House Press Photographers Association "Photographer of the Year" eight times. Guzy is introduced by Robert Sherwood, Boston College's dean for student development. Speaker: Carol Guzy Date: February 7, 2006 Length: 1:08:57

Stanley Hauerwas, the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at the Duke University Divinity School, presents the Candlemas Lecture for the Lowell Humanities Series, a tribute to theologian David Burrell, CSC. In 2001, Hauerwas was named "America's Best Theologian" by Time magazine and appointed to give the distinguished Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. These lectures are collected in his latest book, With the Grain of the Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology (Brazos, 2001). Hauerwas is introduced by Lisa Sowle Cahill, the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology. Speaker: Stanley Hauerwas Date: February 2, 2006 Length: 59:46

Paul L. Locatelli, SJ, is the president of Santa Clara University and the author of "For One World With One Justice: Education for Globalization," which appeared in the May 2002 issue of America Magazine, and "Globalizing the World: Linking Integration and Solidarity," which appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of Explore magazine. Locatelli is introduced by David McMenamin, adjunct associate professor in the philosophy department. McMenamin also serves as director of the PULSE Program and coordinator for the Social Justice Program in the University's Office of Mission and Ministry. Speaker: Paul L. Locatelli, SJ Date: February 2, 2006 Length: 46:09