by Nick Glende | Jun 5, 2013 | News Slider
From June 6-8, the 33rd annual Christian Scholars’ Conference will be held at various locations around Campus including Ward Lecture Hall, Collins Alumni Auditorium and Shamblin Theatre. More than 500 theologians hailing from almost 100 different universities will be participating in a total of 92 sessions. In 1981, Dr. Thomas H. Olbricht, professor at Pepperdine University, created the conference. Their mission is “to create and nurture an intellectual and Christian community that joins individuals and institutions to stimulate networks of scholarly dialogue and collaboration.” This years theme is “Crisis in Ethics: theology, business, law and the liberal and fine arts.” Featured guests include John Dean, former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon (and a major player Watergate scandal), Charles Mathewes, author of Theology of Public Life and Understanding Religious Ethics and David Miller, founding director of Princeton’s Faith and Work Initiative and former director of the Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace Program of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. The following Plenary addresses are free and open to the general public: June 8 from 10:45 – 12:00 PM in Collins Alumni Auditorium, John Dean’s “The Ethical Legacy of Watergate.” 6 from 10:45 – 12:00 PM in Collins Alumni Auditorium, Charles Mathewes’ “The Future of Political Theology.” June 7 from 4:15 – 5:15 PM in Acuff Theatre, David Miller’s “God at Work.” Another ticketed event, Blackbird Theater’s production of David Mamet’s Oleanna is open to the public as well. For more information on how to attend these and other panels, please visit the event’s main page. A full schedule is posted as well as registration prices. There is a pre-conference event, free to the public. On Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30...
by Jael Teme | Mar 17, 2013 | News Slider
HumanDocs is an opportunity for Lipscomb students and the community to become aware of true stories going on in the world. The series surfaced thanks to the efforts of the university’s College of Art and Sciences to inspire students to make the world a better place. Dr. Ted Parks is a Spanish professor at Lipscomb University and is responsible for HumanDocs. He explains how these documentaries often show how issues such as domestic violence or sex trafficking begin. The documentaries feature individual stories revealing the wicked aspects of society. “Good documentary film tells a story,” Parks says, “It tells a compelling human story that makes you care about the people involved.” Lipscomb’s purpose with HumanDocs is to awaken students to the many concerns present in today’s society that are usually invisible to many people. The movie shown in January was titled “Sun Kissed” and Parks says it’s a good example of a compelling story. The film is about Dorey and Yolanda Nez. They are a Navajo family in New Mexico whose children have developed a rare genetic disease that makes their skin hypersensitive to sunlight. This disease only shows up at a rate of one in a million in a general population, but in the Navajo reservation, it was one in 300,00. After tracing the Navajo history, the Nez family discovered this was the result of what it is called the “Long Walk,” a cruel campaign from 1864. “Sun Kissed” brought to light a veiled matter for the Navajo reservation and the rest of the world. This documentary is one of many that HumanDocs presents in order to bring...
by Emily Snell | Oct 26, 2012 | News Slider
In this week’s installment of Lumination News, Madeline Smith and Nick Glende are behind the news desk to update you about what’s happening on campus. Brynn Watkins brings you the latest information in political news, Nicolette Carney delivers your weather forecast, Crystal Davis gives you the scoop on all things entertainment, and Ariel Jones offers a look at sports. Videos feature the Nursing and Health Sciences Center dedication, Pizza and Politics, Food Day, HumanDocs, the documentary “Fresh,” Paint the Herd, fall break, dodgeball and Nashville Spotlight on Performance Studios located on Thompson Lane....
by Crystal Davis | Jan 30, 2012 | News Slider
A case about arson murder was the subject of the first of the HumanDocs film series for this semester, and students were piling in to Ward Hall Wednesday night for the showing of “Incendiary: The Willingham Case.” The case circles around Cameron Todd Willingham who got the raw end of the deal for years, even after death. He was caught in his house one day sleeping as a fire raged through his home. His young daughter and twin babies were also in the house. He woke to the heat of the flames and immediately started searching for his daughter. Willingham said he thought he saw his daughter run outside to her mother, but once Willingham reached his front yard he realized his wife was still running errands and his three children were still inside the house that was now blazing with flames. Neighbors and police officers had to restrain Willingham from running inside the house to save his girls. He was so distraught and desperate to get to his daughters by any means that police officers had to handcuff him, put him on a stretcher and transport him to the local hospital. Willingham suffered minimal burns to his arms, but he never saw his daughters again. They died in the house that day, barricaded by flames. Inexperienced fire investigators said they found evidence of accelerators throughout his home in various areas that led them to believe the fire could have only been caused by arson. Willingham was the lead suspect. Officers and investigators said they made him the prime suspect because people said that Willingham was acting irrational outside the house...
by Whitney Jarreld | Dec 6, 2011 | News Slider
This semester, the HumanDocs series has shed new light on the human struggle. The fight for peace in Liberia. The fight against negative portrayals of women in the media. And now the fight over a steaming cup of coffee? On Nov. 30, students gathered to watch “Hot Coffee,” a documentary about seemingly frivolous lawsuits. The film takes its title from the case of Stella Liebeck v. McDonald’s, where an elderly woman sued the fast food giant for giving her a cup of coffee that was so hot it burned her. The case was widely dismissed by the media as ridiculous, even being mocked by David Letterman and on the popular show “Seinfeld.” But this documentary explored Liebeck’s side of the story – the effect the lawsuit had on her family, the harsh treatment from the media and what really happened when she spilled that cup of coffee. As soon as Lieback’s injuries from the spill were shown, the audience began to question just how frivolous her lawsuit was. And the documentary didn’t stop there. Using the McDonald’s case as a springboard, the filmmakers told two other stories highlighting the issues with tort reform. The case of Colin Gourley focused on medical malpractice. As a result of a doctor’s negligence, Colin Gourley was born with cerebral palsy; his twin brother Connor was not. Though a Nebraska jury awarded the family more than $5 million to cover the cost of expenses, a state-mandated cap limited the funds to $1.2 million. Former Mississippi judge Oliver Diaz told the filmmakers how inside deals within the court system had failed the Gourley family. The system...
