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progress.” Now that his sabbatical is over, Dr. Torvend is balancing his roles as a researcher and an educator. “Many times, “he said, “it’s been student questions or a students’ insights that have actually prompted me to move in a new direction in my research.” Dr. Torvend’s teaching has long touched on these topics, with courses in theology of nature and Jewish and Christian views on the environment. He has also sponsored a variety of conferences at PLU that focused on environmental ethics.   In many

in Rome,” he said. “But I’ve made good progress.” Now that his sabbatical is over, Dr. Torvend is balancing his roles as a researcher and an educator. “Many times,” he said, “it’s been student questions or a students’ insights that have actually prompted me to move in a new direction in my research.” Dr. Torvend’s teaching has long touched on these topics, with courses in theology of nature and Jewish and Christian views on the environment. He has also sponsored a variety of conferences at PLU

PLU’s office of Campus Ministry. After a bunch of discussions, Alazadi and others around campus of various faiths created the Reflection Room, a place for students of all faiths – or those with no professed faith – to reflect and think.   Brenda Ihssen, visiting assistant professor of religious history and historical theology, added that these clubs are evidence “that there is an open dialogue between the academic study of religion and the interest–and investment–that individuals have in their faith

. “Mom was a Republican and dad was a Democrat, and I chose right,” Parnell said with a smile. “It made for some interesting discussions around the dinner table. “Growing up, around the family dinner table we basically talked about public service and theology,” Parnell recalled. The elder Parnell instilled in his son that being a public servant was a noble goal. “I think even at PLU, he always felt the call to public service,” said Sandy (Scebold ’84) Parnell, who met her future husband her freshman

explore how deep currents of religious themes shape great literature, she returned to college to earn a Ph.D. in history and historical theology.  Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Llewellyn Ihssen began teaching at PLU in 2005 as an adjunct professor. Many of her courses focus on the intersection of medicine, economics, social ethics, and religion — a favorite course was “Health and Healing in Christian History.”  Religious philosophies and theologies “shape people’s ideas of the body, and care

distinct historical and cultural norms. Similarly, the professors who teach the IHON classes also bring diversity in their disciplines – Randhawa’s two first-year IHON classes, for instance, were taught by experts in historical theology and French Literature. Randhawa loved them both. Others see it that way, too. And the benefit isn’t just in the classroom. “I like having friends who have completely different views and completely different visions of where their life is going to go,” said Nellie Moran

understanding the contentious dynamics around updating Austen and Austen as always already up to date. The animating question he asks as he delves into Jane Austen: Secret Radical (2016), The Making of Jane Austen (2017), and Teenage Writings (2017) is: “Do we read Austen to flee modernity, or to see it clearly?” Two distinct answers present themselves in his telling. The first is to “read her as her contemporaries might have—to deprettify the novels and show her immersion in the world, with all its

wrote on topics ranging from theology to natural history…[The author,] Honey Meconi, draws on her own experience as a scholar and performer of Hildegard’s music to explore the life and work of this foundational figure.”–back cover Prairie fires : the American dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (PS3545.I342Z6455 2017) Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls–the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote

.” Hofrenning was born in Colombia and adopted by parents in Northfield, Minnesota. He said he gravitated toward Hispanic studies as a way to study his native culture. His religion minor is a nod to his mother’s career as a Lutheran pastor. The latter, he believes, can act as a force for progressive action. “I just think religion is a really important part of my theory of social change,” he said. “I had to understand the theology of different religions and how they play out in terms of liberating people

reasons. She had a healthy skepticism of theology, and responded to people as concrete bodies in need of care. The people who came to her door needed food, shelter, and care, and Magda provided it or saw that it was provided by others.4 Like Magda, the pastor’s cousin, Daniel, who came to run one of the many schools in Le Chambon, had a strong aversion to religious dogma and was deeply suspicious of all narrow religious belief. However, he saw in the work at Le Chambon a chance to contribute to the