FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dann Hayes, Director of Media Relations, 641-269-4834

April 11, 2002

Inaugural Humanities Symposium to be held at Grinnell College April 17-20

GRINNELL, Iowa - The Grinnell College Center for the Humanities will host its inaugural Humanities Symposium April 17-20. Devoted to the timely question of "Modernity and the Problem of Evil," the symposium will bring to Grinnell four international renowned scholars who will speak on the question of evil in the contemporary world.

The symposium is free of charge and open to the general public.

The Center for Humanities, which began operations in Fall 2001, has spent the year focused on religious and secular approaches to thinking about evil in the modern world.

"The Center was created to highlight the significance the humanities plays at Grinnell College," said Alan D. Schrift, professor of philosophy and director of the Center for the Humanities. "This first symposium, which is the culmination of our first year's activities, is a good example of what the Center hopes to achieve, bringing major American and international scholars to the College to engage the campus community and offer their expertise to students, faculty, and members of the broader community."

"When we began a few years ago planning for this year's activities, it was a very different world," Schrift said. "With the events of September 11, the war in Afghanistan, and the current situation in the Middle East, the question of how we should think about and respond to evil has become a much more topical issue than any of us would have wanted."

Scholars in the humanities have been thinking about evil for a long time, Schrift notes. "Evil has long been a central question for philosophers, political theorists, and scholars of religion to think about," he said. "We are used to hearing political and religious leaders talk about evil. We look forward to hearing how these more reflective and scholarly humanists think about this important and pressing topic."

Opening the symposium will be William Connolly, professor and chairman of the political science department at Johns Hopkins University. He will discuss "Faith, Territory, and Evil," on Wednesday, April 17.

Peter Dews, professor of philosophy at the University of Essex, England, will give the opening convocation, titled "Disenchantment and the Question of Evil," at 11 a.m., Herrick Chapel, Grinnell College.

The Humanities Symposium schedule:

Wednesday, April 17
o "Faith, Territory and Evil," by William Connolly, professor and chairman of the political science department, The Johns Hopkins University, 4:15-6 p.m., Forum South Lounge, Grinnell College.

o "Horror Religiosus," by Hent de Vries, professor of philosophy, University of Amsterdam and director, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, 8-9:45 p.m., Forum South Lounge, Grinnell College.

Thursday, April 18
o Convocation: "Disenchantment and the Question of Evil," by Peter Dews, professor of philosophy, University of Essex, United Kingdom, 11 a.m.-noon, Herrick Chappel, Grinnell College.

o "Incursions of Evil: The Double Bind of Alterity," by Edith Wyschogrod, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought, Rice University, 4:15-6 p.m., Forum South Lounge, Grinnell College.

Friday, April 19
o "Modernity and the Problem of Evil," by Humanities Symposium roundtable, 4:15 -6:30 p.m., Forum South Lounge, Grinnell College.