SIOUX FALLS—The fourth installment of the Augustana Thought Leader Forum will focus on "Violence in the Name of Religion." 

The series begins Wednesday, September 23 with Dr. Murray Haar, Professor of Religion at Augustana, addressing "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

Continuing on Friday, October 16, Kristin Zinger, 2007 Augustana graduate and recent graduate of Harvard Divinity School, presents "Martyrdom in Al-Qa'ida's Jihad." Zingler received her Master of Theological Studies during her time at Harvard, and she studied terrorism and the intersection between politics and religion.

The series concludes on Thursday, November 12, with Dr. Patrick Hicks, Associate Professor of English at Augustana, and Dr. Margaret Preston, Associate Professor of History at Augustana. Their forum will focus on "The Troubles in Northern Ireland."

All sessions will be held at the Holiday Inn City Centre beginning at 11:30 a.m. Reserved tickets are *$20 and include lunch.  Reserve tickets at www.augietickets.com or call 274-4404 for more information. Tickets at the door are $25.  The Augustana Thought Leader Forum is co-sponsored by KELOLAND Television.  (*A $3.50 fee for US Mailed orders only.) 

Fall Series: Violence in the Name of Religion
 

Dr. Murray Haar is the Chair of the Department of Religion, Philosophy and Classics and teaches courses dealing with Judaism and Islam, the Holocaust and Religion, Politics and Violence. He has published a number of articles dealing with the implications for religious faith/theology after the Holocaust, the relationship between the Holocaust and the State of Israel, and the effect of the Holocaust on Biblical interpretation and exegesis from both Jewish and Christian perspectives. He is presently working on a book dealing with inter-religious political dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims, as well as between Israelis and Palestinians. In particular Dr. Haar is investigating the question of how believers from varying traditions can respectfully disagree without eventually trying to kill each other.

For some years Dr. Haar, along with Drs. Sandra Looney and Peter Schotten taught a Capstone course entitled: Light in the Darkness: Courage and Evil in the 20th Century. These three professors were invited to address a conference at Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial to the Holocaust, based on the work they had done in this course. Dr. Haar has frequently traveled to Israel and was most recently there in March of this year following the recent Israeli-Hamas conflict. He has also taken students to Israel to help them understand the political and religious situation in the region.

Recognized as one of the College's most interesting, challenging and dynamic professors, he has received numerous teaching awards, among them: the Burlington Northern Award for Outstanding Teaching, (1988); the Thomas H. Brown Distinguished Service Award (1994); the John P. Kohlmeier Distinguished Teaching award, (2002); and the Richard Niebuhr Award for Outstanding Teaching, (2005). During 1990-1993, Dr. Haar served as the Stanley L. Olson Chair of Moral Values.

Dr. Haar holds a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

Kristin Zingler '07 graduated from Augustana in 2007, where she majored in religion. Her advisor was Dr. Richard Swanson, Professor of Religion. During her time at Augustana, she had the opportunity to study cultures and religions in Europe and India.

Kristin is a 2009 graduate of Harvard Divinity School, where she received a Master of Theological Studies. At Harvard, she studied terrorism and the intersection between politics and religion. Her particular area of focus has been on the political and theological aspects of religious martyrdom. She is currently researching the impact martyrdom has had on al-Qa’ida.

Ms. Zingler is working as a lead researcher for Next Chapters in Cambridge, MA. There, she is assisting in the establishnebt of a new university in the Boston area, which will focus on current issues, globalization, and interdisciplinary studies. A Worthing, South Dakota native, Kristin now lives in Boston, MA.

Dr. Patrick Hicks is Writer-in-Residence at Augustana College where he teaches courses on creative writing and Irish literature. He is the author of Traveling Through History (2005), Draglines (2006), The Kiss that Saved My Life (2007) and Finding the Gossamer (2008). His next collection of poetry, This London, is forthcoming with Salmon Publishing in 2011.

Dr. Hicks is one of an impressive cadre of young scholars at Augustana and one of the most popular on campus.  Aside from being a dual citizen of Ireland and the United States, he is an advisory editor for New Hibernia Review and he is a frequent commentator on terrorism in Northern Ireland. His recent book, Brian Moore and the Meaning of the Past (2007), discusses the intersections between Irish history and literature. His creative and academic work has appeared in scores of international journals including, Ploughshares, The Utne Reader, Tar River Poetry, Glimmer Train, The National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, Natural Bridge, The Christian Science Monitor, Irish Studies Review and many others. Dr Hicks has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford, he has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize, and he recently won the Glimmer Train “Fiction Award for New Writers.” His poems have been anthologized in various publications and he has won a number of grants to support his work.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint John’s University (MN) with distinction, Dr. Hicks earned a Master’s Degree at DePaul University, another Master’s Degree at Queen’s University of Belfast (Northern Ireland), and he received his doctorate from the University of Sussex in England. He was appointed Writer-in-Residence at Augustana College in 2007.

Dr. Margaret Preston is currently an Associate Professor at Augustana College where she has taught since 2001. She teaches courses on Western Civilization, Modern Europe, World War I and Modern Irish History. In recent years she has frequently taken students to Northern Ireland for a course that looks at the "Troubles."View Past Forum Sessions and Speakers

Recognized as an outstanding teacher and scholar by students and colleagues alike, Dr. Preston is the recipient of a number of academic grants including those from Oxford University, the University of Notre Dame, Augustana College, Boston College and the Bush Foundation.  She is also the author of Charitable Words: Gentlewomen, Social Control and the Language of Charity in Nineteenth-Century Dublin (Greenwood Press, 2004) and in 2009 she will have a chapter included in Ireland’s Great Hunger published by University Press of America. She is co-editor with Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh of the forthcoming Gender and Medicine in Ireland 1750-1950, Syracuse University Press. Dr. Preston has published articles in such academic journals as New Hibernian Review, The Historian and Eire-Ireland. In addition to a recent lecture at LaMoyne College in Syracuse, NY, sponsored by the Sanzone Center for Catholic Studies & Theological Reflection, Dr. Preston has presented her work at some two dozen national and international conferences. Currently, she is working on the work of South Dakota’s Presentation Nuns and the Avera McKennan Hospital Centennial history.

Dr. Preston received her bachelor’s degree from Loyola University, New Orleans; a Masters degree from University College Dublin and her Ph.D. from Boston College. Prior to coming to Augustana, Preston was an Assistant Dean at Boston College.

View Past Forum Sessions and Speakers
 

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