Re-Discovering St. Francis of Assisi
Through The Eyes of G.K. Chesterton
SOUTH ORANGE, March 12, 2015 —The G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture at Seton Hall University and Crossroads Cultural center announce upcoming programme on the theme of “The Lord’s Jester: Re-discovering St. Francis of Assisi through the eyes of G. K. Chesterton.” The conference on March 25, 2015 at 7:00 pm will be held at the Crossroads Auditorium in NY (125 Maiden Lane, Suite 15E), New York, NY 10038).
Now for St. Francis nothing was ever in the background. We might say that his mind had no background, except perhaps that divine darkness out of which the divine love had called up every colored creature one by one. He saw everything as dramatic, distinct from its setting, not all of a piece like a picture but in action like a play. A bird went by him like an arrow; something with a story and a purpose, though it was a purpose of life and not a purpose of death. A bush could stop him like a brigand; and indeed he was as ready to welcome the brigand as the bush.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Saint Francis of Assisi
Speakers:
Father Ian Boyd, C. S. B. is a Canadian priest and an internationally recognized Chesterton scholar, he is the author of The Novels of G.K. Chesterton (London 1975). For many years he was Professor of English at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. Currently he is a member of the Department of English at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. Father Boyd also lectures on the subject of “Sacramental Themes in Modern Literature.” Among the Christian authors whose work he discusses are T.S. Eliot, Graham Greene, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, Piers Paul Read, Muriel Spark and Evelyn Waugh. In nineteenth-century literature, he is interested in the work of such authors as Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Father Boyd is the Founder and Editor of The Chesterton Review and the President of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture based at Seton Hall University.
Dermot Quinn, Ph.D, Professor of History at Seton Hall University, a member of the Board of Advisors of the G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture and a member of the Editorial Board of The Chesterton Review. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and New College, Oxford, where he was awarded a doctorate in 1986. He has written extensively on Chestertonian themes, has authored three books The Irish in New Jersey: Four Centuries of American Life (Rutgers University Press, 2004)(winner, New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, Non-fiction Book of the Year, 2005); Patronage and Piety: The Politics of English Roman Catholicism, 1850-1900 (Stanford University Press/Macmillan, 1993) and Understanding Northern Ireland (Baseline Books, Manchester, UK, 1993 and many articles and reviews in the field of British and Irish history .
About the G. K. CHESTERTON INSTITUTE FOR FAITH & CULTURE and THE CHESTERTON REVIEW
The G. K. Chesterton Institute, a not-for profit educational organization incorporated in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, is located at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. Its purpose is to promote the thought of G. K. Chesterton and his circle and more broadly, to explore the application of Chestertonian ideas in the contemporary world. The Institute’s work consists of conferences, lecture series, research and writing. The Chesterton Review, founded in 1974, has been widely praised both for its scholarship and for the quality of its writing. Edited by Father Ian Boyd, C. S. B., it includes a wide range of articles not only on Chesterton himself, but on the issues close to his heart in the work of other writers and in the modern world. It has devoted special issues to C. S. Lewis, George Bernanos, Hilaire Belloc, Maurice Baring, Christopher Dawson, Cardinal Manning, the Modernist Crisis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Fantasy Literature, and a Special Polish Issue. The Chesterton Review also publishes one annual issue in Spanish and an annual supplement in Portuguese and French. For information about the Institute or The Chesterton Review please contact chestertoninstitute@shu.edu – website: www.shu.edu/go/chesterton
About CROSSROADS CULTURAL CENTER
Crossroads Cultural Center is a project of the Human Adventure Corporation, a New York (501)(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. It was established in New York in 2004 by a few members of Communion and Liberation, the international movement in the Roman Catholic Church that was founded in Italy in 1954 by Msgr. Luigi Giussani. These friends shared an interest in the relationship between religion and culture, more specifically on the ways in which Christianity, by revealing the ultimate meaning of reality, gives new impulse to the human desire for knowledge. Crossroads currently operates through local branches in New York, Washington (DC), and New Bedford (MA). For more information, please visit: www.crossroadsculturalcenter.org
About SETON HALL UNIVERSITY and the CENTER FOR CATHOLIC STUDIES
For over 150 years, Seton Hall University has been a catalyst for leadership, developing the whole student, mind, heart and spirit. Seton Hall combines the resources of a large university with the personal attention of a small liberal arts college. Its attractive suburban campus is only 14 miles by train, bus or car to New York City, with the wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities the city offers. Seton Hall is a Catholic university that embraces students of all races and religions, challenging each to better the world through integrity, compassion and a commitment to serving others. For more information, see www.shu.edu Founded at Seton Hall University in 1997, the Center for Catholic Studies is rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition and is dedicated to fostering a dialogue between religion and all areas of contemporary culture, including science, humanities, and professional life. Its work contributes to fostering the wholeness or “catholicity” that Seton Hall University seeks to bring into the world. To that end, the Center sponsors an undergraduate degree program in Catholic Studies, offering a major, minor and certificate program, co-curricular activities, scholarship and foreign study opportunities, and publishes Arcadia, a student journal. It also offers an ongoing program on faith and culture topics for faculty, students and the general public. The Center includes the Bernard J. Lonergan Institute and its journal, the Lonergan Review, and the Micah Institute for Business and Economics. It is also the home of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture and its prestigious journal, The Chesterton Review. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.shu.edu/academics/artsci/catholic-studies/
