BC alumnus Tim Muldoon, a visiting associate professor in the Honors Program, has been named recipient of the 2017 Writer’s Award in Spirituality, presented by the Board of Directors of the Loyola Institute for Spirituality to honor someone who has demonstrated excellence in furthering the spiritual teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola through writing. He will receive the award at a ceremony in May. Among Muldoon’s publications are The Ignatian Workout, Longing to Love, and Six Sacred Rules for Families: A Spirituality for the Home (with wife and BC alumna Sue Muldoon). | He also has two new publications: The Discerning Parent: An Ignatian Guide to Raising Your Teen (with Sue Muldoon) (Ave Maria Press) and Living Against the Grain: How to Make Decisions That Lead to an Authentic Life (Loyola Press). The Discerning Parent offers practical advice—based on the professional and personal experiences of the Muldoons—on how the Ignatian practice of discernment can be an excellent tool for the healthy parenting of teens and tweens. In Living Against the Grain, Muldoon offers a field-tested strategy for those facing a time of transition to help them discern their deepest desires and discover their true purpose in and for the world. Living Against the Grain is based on a Capstone course Muldoon has taught for a number of years. The Capstone Program hosted a book release reception for Muldoon’s book on April 18.
Award, new publications for Muldoon
Posted in Alumni Authors, Awards/Honors, Boston College Authors
Tagged Catholic, discernment, Ignatian spirituality, parenting
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Dorothy Day’s granddaughter
Writer Kate Hennessy, the youngest grandchild of Catholic social activist Dorothy Day, will speak on April 19 at 5:30 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Hennessy is the author of Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty (Scribner, 2017), a reflective, heartfelt, and humorous biography of Day. Sponsors: Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, School of Theology and Ministry’s Continuing Education, the Theology Department, the Volunteer and Service Learning Center, PULSE, the Catholic Studies Program, and the Church in the 21st Century Center. | NPR interview with Hennessy.
The Well‑Tempered City
Jonathan F.P. Rose, one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the integration of environmental, social, and economic solutions for today’s urban issues, will give a talk on Apr. 20 at 5 p.m. in Fulton Hall, Honors Library. A real estate developer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Rose is the author of The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations and Human Behavior Teach us About the Future of Urban Life. In his book, Rose champions the role of cities in addressing the environmental, economic, and social challenges of the 21st century. Sponsors: Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action and the Institute for the Liberal Arts.
Adoption, secrecy, and love
The 2017 Irish Writers Series at Boston College presents journalist Caitríona Palmer, who will read from her memoir, An Affair with My Mother: A Story of Adoption, Secrecy and Love, on April 19 at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin Hall, Room 101. Born in Dublin, Palmer was adopted as an infant. She set about searching for her birth mother once she was an adult. What she found, and the secret relationship she formed with her birth mother, reveal the dark place that adoption holds in Ireland’s history. Palmer is a Boston College alumna and has written for the Irish Independent, the Irish Times, the Irish Echo, the Glasgow Sunday Herald, RTE Radio, BBC, and the Global Radio Network. She is currently a writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. Co-sponsors: Irish Studies and the Institute for the Liberal Arts. Register for the event. || Watch an interview with Palmer.
Posted in Alumni Authors
Tagged adoption, Institute for the Liberal Arts, Ireland, Irish Studies, memoir
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Protagoras’ Challenge to Socrates
One of the central challenges to contemporary political philosophy is the apparent impossibility of arriving at any commonly agreed upon “truths.” To understand the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary radical relativism, scholars turn to the sophists of antiquity—the most famous and challenging of whom is Protagoras. In Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras’ Challenge to Socrates (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Behrakis Professor of Hellenic Political Studies Robert C. Bartlett provides the first close reading of Plato’s two-part presentation of Protagoras. Bartlett’s critical interpretation offers a significant tool for understanding the history of philosophy, and, in tracing Socrates’s response to Protagoras’ teachings, he also builds toward a richer understanding of both ancient sophistry and what Socrates meant by “political philosophy.” He discusses his book with Nina Bogdanovsky of BC Libraries.
Best Book Award
Associate Professor of History Ling Zhang‘s book The River, the Plain, and the State: An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 1048-1128 (Cambridge University Press, 2016) has received the 2017 George Perkins Marsh Prize as the best book on environmental history from the American Society for Environmental History, the premier organization in this emerging, interdisciplinary field. The book centers on an event in northeast China in 1048, when the Yellow River breached its banks. The river drastically changed its course and turned the Hebei Plain into a delta, altering – and in many cases destroying – the lives of millions in Hebei. Zhang drew on elements of geography, hydraulic engineering and political science, as well as scientific data, to write the book. Read more from BC News.
Burns Visiting Scholar Kevin Barry
Award-winning writer Kevin Barry will present “A Writer’s Apprenticeship” on April 12 at 4:30 p.m. at Burns Library. Barry, who is the Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies, will outline the forces, influences, and circumstances that have shaped him as a writer and will offer short readings from his works. He is the author of the story collections Dark Lies The Island and There Are Little Kingdoms (Rooney Prize for Irish Literature) and the novels Beatlebone (Goldsmiths Prize) and City Of Bohane (International Dublin Literary Award). Co-sponsors: Boston College Libraries and Center for Irish Programs. Read a Q&A with Barry conducted by BC Chronicle Editor Sean Smith.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged BC Libraries, Center for Irish Programs, Ireland, Irish, novelist
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Does Terrorism Work?
Historian Richard English will present “Does Terrorism Work?” on April 10 at 4:00 p.m. in Devlin Hall, Room 101. English is the author of several books, including Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland, and Does Terrorism Work? A History (Oxford University Press, 2016). He is professor of politics at Queen’s University Belfast, where he is also Distinguished Professorial Fellow in the George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Internationalization and Engagement. English is a Fellow of the British Academy, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Sponsor: Irish Studies Program. Register here.
A conversation about religion, identity, and exclusion in a new political era
The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy will present a symposium organized around Libby Professor of Law and Theology Cathleen Kaveny’s book, Prophecy without Contempt: Religious Discourse in the Public Square. The conversation will take April 7 from 1:30–5:00 p.m. at 2101 commonwealth avenue on Brighton Campus and will feature Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and master at Magdelene College, University of Cambridge; McGill University Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Charles Taylor, and University of Chicago John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor Jonathan Lear. Using Kaveny’s book as a starting point, the scholars will offer their insights on the challenges of facilitating fruitful dialogue across religious and political divides of contemporary society. Kaveny will then offer a response, followed by discussion.
Poetry reading: Kim Garica
Award-winning poet Kim Garcia, a faculty member in the English Department, will read from her new poetry collection, Drone, on April 6 at 5 p.m. in Stokes Hall S461. Drone is winner of the 2015 Backwaters Prize. Garcia is also author of The Brighter House, winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize, and Tales of the Sisters, winner of the Sow’s Ear Chapbook Contest, among other titles. Garcia teaches creative writing at BC. Sponsors: English Department and Poetry Days.
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