Encounter ancient spiritual wisdom…
Explore eternal truth…
Discover a transformative way of life…
Location: All Faiths Chapel | Texas A&M University
Parking at Northside Parking Garage
All lectures are followed by light hors d’oeuvres & drinks.
Admission is free. All are welcome.
LECTURE I:
Thursday, January 22nd, 6pm
Why oppression couldn't (and shouldn't) stop the Church
Despite its humble beginnings and the persecution it faced as it grew, the microscopic early Christian community overcame a world of paganism to become the most prominent religious body in the world.
Centuries later, when the Christian East faced the oppression of the Ottoman Empire and the Communist Soviet Union, its preservation of the early Church’s way of life allowed it to remain a resilient and unbreakable minority.
As he examines the traditional cosmology and paradisiacal subculture that allowed the early Church to overwhelm pagandom and endure across the centuries, Father John will also lay forth a blueprint for how Christians can once again transform what has become a secular & godless world.
Location: All Faiths Chapel | Texas A&M University
Parking at Northside Parking Garage
All lectures are followed by light hors d’oeuvres & drinks.
Admission is free. All are welcome.
Rev. Dr. John Strickland
Father John is the pastor of Saint Elizabeth Orthodox Church in Poulsbo, Washington and the author of the complete four-volume history of Christendom, Paradise & Utopia.
Falling in love with Russian history while an undergraduate, he embarked on a career of historical study that resulted in earning a Ph.D. and teaching at several colleges. While living in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for his dissertation research on church history, he began attending a local Orthodox parish and with time was received into the Orthodox Church there. While in Petersburg he also met his future wife Yelena. Together they now have five children.
LECTURE II:
Thursday, February 5th, 6pm
How faith forms art. How art shapes culture.
21st century life is filled with images, songs, and stories that perpetuate a culture that can intoxicate, distort, and enslave the human soul. For most communities of faith, however, the tradition of Christian art and storytelling has been lost, leaving us thirsty for meaning and beauty while drowning in the commercialization of our age.
Father Anthony’s talk will examine how art and literature have not only had the power to build and break civilizations but also have been received and utilized by the truest of Christians for the glory of God. Through the Scriptures and the life of the Church and its saints, he will explain how part of the Christian calling is to utilize art and storytelling to make the Kingdom of Heaven manifest in the world.
Location: All Faiths Chapel | Texas A&M University
Parking at Northside Parking Garage
All lectures are followed by light hors d’oeuvres & drinks.
Admission is free. All are welcome.
Rev. Dr. Anthony Gilbert
Father Anthony Gilbert is the priest of St George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Grand Rapids, MI. He is an Adjunct Professor of Literature & History at Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, and Visiting Professor of Christian Literature at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY.
Father Anthony is also the co-editor of Into the Light: Classical Education and Orthodox Christianity and the author of various articles as well as a book of poems, entitled One is Found First. He and his wife have organized and led university study abroad programs around Europe, especially France and Greece.
LECTURE III:
Thursday, February 19th, 6pm
The universal & sacred language of suffering
From Islam to Protestant Christianity, many of the religious traditions of the world seek to pierce into the cultures of different people groups with the hope of converting them to a new faith. More often than not, these traditions serve more to dismantle local identities than to form deep and lasting ways of life.
In his talk, Father Turbo will explore a a more meaningful and challenging approach to evangelization found in the Christian East. Rooted in the reality of the Cross, Father Turbo will offer a framework for connecting with “the other” by learning to love what is unlovable and creating a space where diverse identities can be sanctified and transfigured.
Location: All Faiths Chapel | Texas A&M University
Parking at Northside Parking Garage
All lectures are followed by light hors d’oeuvres & drinks.
Admission is free. All are welcome.
Father Turbo Qualls
Father Turbo is the rector at St. Mary of Egypt, Serbian Orthodox Church in Kansas City Missouri, where he lives with his wife Juliana and their 8 children.
He is a retired professional tattoo artist who has since studied iconography in the Prosopone School of Iconography under the contemporary master iconographer, Fr. Stamatis Skliris of Athens. He is the former Dean of Chapters for the national chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black and has lectured in various parts of the United States in regard to the work of evangelization and cultural outreach within the United States.
He is also spiritual director for both the Convent of the Mother of God Seeker of the Lost, which is an urban monastic community, and the Mount Tabor School of Liberal Arts, which provides classical education that is rooted in Orthodox tradition.
Fr Turbo holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in Addiction Studies and Pastoral counseling with an emphasis in crisis response and trauma.
