Courses & Seminars

The "Renaming, Cancel Culture, and Race" year-long faculty seminar in 2020/2021 was both inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional: after numerous conversations over the summer between the director of the Boisi Center, Mark Massa, S.J. and Dr. Mark Silk, director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College Hartford, they launched an inter-institutional faculty seminar that met once a month, composed of seven ​participants from Boston College and​ seven participants from Trinity College Hartford. They read widely and engaged each other on texts that discussed the religion-infused writing of Marilyn Robinson, the​ theologically-inflected song lyrics of Leonard Cohen’s famous songs of the sixties and seventies (which turned out to be full of religious symbols and tropes), and the state of church-state​ relations in the Republic of Ireland, articles which compared church/state separation in Ireland and the U.S., belle hooks’ reflections on teaching as a transgressive activity, and two chapters from Timothy Morton’s wonderfully provocative The Ecological Thought. The interchanges were rich and the “sides” that emerged during lively conversations had little or nothing to do with institutional affiliation (a happy realization).

During the fall 2020 semester, the Boisi Center partnered with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning (ably led by Dr. Ruth Langer) in sponsoring a series of online seminars for BC faculty entitled “Religious Resources to Combat Racism.” The seminar itself was envisioned as one component in the campus-wide Forum on Racial Justice in America initiated by BC’s President William P. Leahy, S.J. in August 2020 and directed by Vincent Rougeau. Over the course of three online seminar meetings during the month of October, a succession of very smart speakers led faculty conversations on the ways in which BC, as a Jesuit and Catholic institution, might address the terrible sin and injustice of racism. Speakers included Dean Vincent Rougeau (BC Law School), Drs. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones and Joshua Snyder of BC’s theology department, Rabbi Benjamin Samuels of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah, Dr. Theresa O’Keefe of BC’s School of Theology and Ministry, and Yavilah McCoy, CEO of Dimensions, Inc. The seminar meetings were a great success, and the participants requested that we continue to meet in the coming spring​ semester.

Links to the Zoom Meetings on YouTube are below:

Mining the Christian Tradition for Resources to Combat Racism
Session I in our Faculty Seminar Series on Religious Resources to Combat Racism Co-sponsored with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. Speakers include Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones, theology department, Boston College; Vincent Rougeau Chair, Law School, Boston College; and the Convener: Mark Massa, S.J., Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College.

Toward Understanding Another's Reality: Narrative Empathy, Reconciliation, and Racism
The Second Faculty Seminar Series on Religious Resources to Combat Racism include speakers Theresa O'Keefe, School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College and Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, Congregation Shaarei Tefillah with Ruth Langer as Convener.

Narrative, Restorative Justice and the Need for Truth in Racial Equality
Third Faculty Seminar Series on Religious Resources to Combat Racism with speakers Yavilah McCoy, CEO, Dimensions, Inc.;  Joshua Snyder, theology department, Boston College and Ruth Langer as Convener.

During the spring 2021 semester, the faculty seminar series co-sponsored by the Boisi Center and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, was conceived as part of the broader, university-wide, “Forum on Racial Justice,” Ruth Langer and Mark Massa sponsored three Zoom seminar meetings on discussions about race in the classroom to which all faculty and graduate students in the theology and philosophy departments at Boston College were invited to participate. The first meeting focused on “Cultivating Helpful Dynamics,” on February 10, superbly convened by Marina McCoy of BC’s philosophy department and Meghan Sweeney, director of BC’s PULSE Program for Service Learning. The second meeting focused on “Creating Constructive Conversations,” on March 10, which was wonderfully led by Elizabeth Antus (theology) and Gregory Fried (philosophy). The third meeting focused on “Developing Practical and Integrative Assignments,” on April 7, masterfully led by Matthew Kruger (theology) and Mary Troxell (philosophy). Faculty and graduate students who took part commented that the discussions were rich and helpful. Links to the three videos on YouTube are provided.

During the fall 2021 semester, the Boisi Center collaborated​ again with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning​ (CCJL) in a series of faculty seminars on Zoom. Planned​ with Dr. Ruth Langer, interim director of CCJL, three​ online seminars focused on “Teaching First-Generation​ Boston College Students,” aimed at both faculty and​ graduate students teaching in the Core. Rossanna Contreras-Godfrey, director of BC’s famed Learning to Learn​ program, Yvonne (Ms. Smiley) McBarnett, program​ director of Montserrat, Andy Petigny, associate director of​ the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center, Burt​ Howell, executive director of Intersections, and Dacia Gentilella, assistant director of Outreach and Support Services at​ Learning to Learn, walked seminar participants through the​ spectrum of support services, special programs, and academic counseling available to BC’s “First-Gen” students. The​ program offered information that is crucial for all faculty and​ classroom instructors, as most of the 1500 students who are​ first generation college students at BC remain “invisible” to​ their instructors in the classroom. All three of these seminar​ meetings can be viewed on the Boisi Center's YouTube channel.

"Teaching First Generation College Students"
Rossanna Contreras-Godfrey, Yvonne McBarnett, and Andy Petigny introduce their offices and how they support first generation Boston College students and the services their offices offer. This was held via Zoom on September 23, 2021.

"The Socio-Economic Factors Shaping First-Gen and Montserrat Experience"
Burt Howell is the executive director of Intersections at Boston College. As part of the seminar series, Teaching First-Generation Boston College Students, co-sponsored with the Boisi Center and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Burt discusses the socio-economic factors that shape first-generation students and the Montserrat experience at BC. This was held via Zoom on October 14, 2021.

"How to Support First Generation BC Students"
Part three in a series on Teaching First-Generation Boston College Students - held via Zoom on November 18, 2021. Presenter: Dacia Gentilella, English Department and Learning to Learn

During the academic year 2021/22, the Boisi Center hosted​ a monthly dinner seminar of very talented faculty from​ BC and from further afield on the topic of “Capitalism.”Convened by Frank Garcia from BC’s Law School and Jim​ Henle from Harvard University, the group included Sanjay Reedy from​ the New School in New York, Susan Sibley from MIT, and Alan Shapiro from the Boston​ law firm of Sandulli Grace. The seminar was lucky to have​ such talented BC faculty participants as Kim Garcia (English), Candace Hetzner (political science), Ken Himes​ (theology), Micah Lott (philosophy), Chandini Sankaran​ (economics), Laura Steinberg (incoming director of the new​ Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society), Eve​ Spangler (sociology), Vlad Perju and Katherine Young (both​ of BC’s Law School), and Boisi Center director Mark Massa.​

Readings included a broad spectrum of authors and ideas,​ from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations to the multi-authored​ The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great​ Forces of Nature? (Crutzen, McNeill, and Steffen), and “How​ Capitalism Saves the Environment” from Shi-Ling Hsu’s​ Capitalism and the Environment: A Proposal to Save the Planet, Thomas Piketty’s Time for Socialism, Hamid Yeganeh’s Social Impacts of Large Multinational Corporations in the Age of Globalization, and Sandra Waddock’s Building a New Institutional Infrastructure for Corporate Responsibility. The conversations generated by these texts were dense, focused, and (more often than not) fun.

The Boisi Center collaborated again with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning in a series of seminars created for theology faculty and graduate students: “Theology as Requirement: The Challenges of Teaching Theology in the Modern Academy.” Each session was led by a faculty member and a graduate student and explored three important tasks professors of theology are challenged with undertaking in a modern university classroom. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones and Nathan D. Wood-House began with “Introducing Theology,” addressing how to teach those with a different or no experience of religion. Jeffrey L. Cooley and Domenik Ackermann followed with “Complicating Theology” and focused on students who do have some religious background, but one that might be more catechetical in nature. Meghan Sweeney and Katie Mylroie concluded the seminar with “Practicing Theology,” discussing how to empower students to engage the discipline themselves through their own theological reflection or the use of theological skills in other aspects of their lives. Through these discussions, participants were equipped with helpful insights and new ideas about teaching Core theology courses. All three of these seminar​ meetings can be viewed on the Boisi Center's YouTube channel.

Session I (Wednesday, March 23, 2022): “Introducing Theology” with Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones and Nathan D. Wood-House
This session focuses on models for introducing students from a religious cultures or backgrounds, or who come to the classroom from a different religious tradition, to the world of religion and theology. What practices do we engage to effectively invite students into a conversation they have not had (or have not had use for) to date? What other considerations are important for these foundational encounters with students?

Session II (Wednesday, April 13, 2022): “Complicating Theology” with Dr. Jeffrey L. Cooley and Domenik Ackermann 
This session explores the complicating of theology, focusing on teaching students who have been raised in the tradition being taught, but who have a catechetical understanding of their faith—more black-and-white than nuanced. How do we distinguish catechesis from theology? How do we invite students to ask challenging questions of their tradition without fearing the risk of losing faith? How do we reconcile questioning tradition with commitment to it? What practices do we use to introduce nuance and complexity?

Session III (Wednesday, April 27): “Practicing Theology” with Dr. Meghan Sweeney and Katie Mylroie
This session explores empowering students to take up the practice of theology as their own. How do we teach the skills necessary for theological reflection? What practices can draw out the theologies of our students? How do we invite students to think theologically about their experiences and/or relate them to the traditions from which they come? If they are not of a tradition, what skills can we give them to use in other aspects of their lives or in other disciplines?

Throughout the fall 2022 semester, a lively group of twelve faculty met monthly for dinner and conversation at Boisi in a faculty seminar entitled “Religion and Politics in the U.S. After Dobbs.” Reading widely over common texts as diverse as Mary Ann Glendon’s Abortion and Divorce in Western Law and legal commentaries on the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, colleagues from history, philosophy, sociology, theology, nursing, the School of Theology and Ministry, the Schiller Institute, and BC Law took turns convening the always-interesting conversations. The experience was rich and rewarding.

During the spring 2023 semester, the Boisi Center’s interdisciplinary faculty seminar focused on “Religious Nationalism.” It was a broad-ranging series of monthly discussions that read about Israeli settlement in the occupied territories as well as social scientific studies of Americans who join Christian nationalist groups. The rotating convener model worked superbly in getting members from various departments at BC to consider these issues from their own field of study (sociology, philosophy, history, nursing, theology, etc.). We were a smart but disparate group, but the point on which we all agreed was that the night we argued over ziti with chicken and asparagus was a high point for our dining experience.