Religion Beyond the Classroom

Whether studying abroad in the Global Semester, or staying closer to home and attending conferences devoted to religious matters, St. Olaf religion majors take their study of religion far beyond the classroom.

2006-2007

Elsa Marty '07 named Minnesota Campus Compact Student Fellow
By David Gonnerman '90

St. Olaf Elsa Marty has been selected as one of 11 Minnesota Campus Compact Student Fellows for the 2006-07 academic year. In September she will be one of only 11 students who will participate in the Student Civic Leadership Institute (SCLI), an intensive retreat that provides students with the time and tools for critical inner reflection on their ideas of leadership, citizenship and coalition building. Read the entire article here.

Religion major selected to attend Erasmus Institute seminar
By David Gonnerman

St. Olaf student Benjamin Heidgerken '07, a religion and mathematics major, has been selected to participate in the "Catholic Intellectual Traditions" seminar hosted this summer by the Erasmus Institute at the University of Notre Dame. Read the entire article here.

2005-2006

St. Olaf student to represent ELCA at worldwide assembly
By Tom Vogel

St. Olaf student Tyler Hauger '08 is currently attending the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly in Porte Alegre, Brazil. Hauger is serving as a steward with other young adults from around world, helping coordinate various events and participating in a dialogue with the rest of the world about the ecumenical movement. Read more here.

New York City Internship
Emily Moen '06

Emily is a senior from Colfax, Wis. She is a religion and English double-major who is active in the Student Congregation and works in the Office of Church Relations. She will be accompanying Jeffrey and four other students to New York City this interim on a service project sponsored by the Lilly Endowment. Read Emily's Blog

2004-2005

Global Semester
A Guru Disciple
By Thomas Rusert '06

Thomas is a junior Religion and Family Studies major who went on the Global Semester the fall of 2004-05. You can read one of Thomas' essays about the trip here.

2002-2003

Interim Abroad
Lund Invades Italy
By Jake Baller '05 and Kirsten Sauey '04

Jake and Kirsten went on Professor Lund's interim program Religion 262 " Catholic Rome, Lutheran Wittenberg" offered this past January. If interested you can read their summary of the trip here.

Interim Off-Campus
Discovering a New Worldview: a Personal Reaction to Liberation Theologies
By Carolyn Albert '06

Carolyn is a first-year planning on majoring in Religion and English. Over interim Carolyn took Professor Stoltzfus' interim program Religion 219 "Liberation Theologies" in which students spend two weeks on-campus in the classroom and then two weeks off-campus in the Twin Cities. Carolyn's thoughts on the course are located here.

Global Semester
Relfections on Reincarnation
By Andy Willis '03

Andy is a senior Religion and English major who went on the Global Semester in the fall 2002. You can read about one of his experiences while his group spent a week in Thailand here.

Conferences
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Can Christians Do?

How can Christians face the challenge of reconciling conflict in the Middle East? On September 21, three St. Olaf Students (Candace Crockett '03, Abby Lietke '03, and Rachel Lyle '03), and one recent graduate (Rob Grace '02) investigated this concern at a conference titled "A Just Peace in the Holy Land" held at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. The conference was co-hosted by the ELCA Joint Committee for Peace and Justice and Luther's Office of Continuing Education. Minnesota chair for CMEP (Churches for a Middle East Peace), Chuch Lutz, mediated the event which featured three presenters, a panel of perspectives, and small group discussions. You can read a summary of the event from Rachel Lyle here.

2001-2002

Andy Willis traveled to the University of Notre Dame to participate in a major research conference on the environment and the Judeo-Christian tradition. Upon his return, Andy summarized the conference.

Liz Foght, Rachel Lyle, Kiara Eastbrook and Sarah Sumner attended "Peace and Reconciliation in Islam and Christianity," a student conference on Muslim and Christian relations at Valparaiso University. Their participation was supported by the Junia Fund. Sarah's thoughts can be found here.

Two students presented papers at the Upper Midwest Regional American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting in St. Paul. Maren Flynn spoke on "The Body of Christ: The People of God and A First Century Mediterranean Group" and Tracey Goetz spoke on "The Nature of the Soul: Current Debate and the Pauline Letters."


In front of St. Peter's in Rome - 275 Historical Geography and the Bible (abroad)

 


South Africa group at the Cape of Good Hope - 251 Religion & Culture diversity in South Africa (abroad)



262 Catholic Rome, Lutheran Wittenberg (abroad)