UPCOMING EVENTS
Fall, 2009
Charis - neighbors, strangers, family, friends - boundary crossings
Charis (from the Greek for gift or grace) is an international traveling exhibit of work by seven Asian and seven North American artists that explores the implications of Christian faith and effective artistic practice in an increasingly visually-oriented world where the convergence of cultures is the norm rather than the exception. This exhibit will premire at Calvin College this fall.
Memorial Fund
The late Kwame Bediako was a brilliant and visionary theologian and the 
founder of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute, a postgraduate study center in African Christian thought based in Ghana. Kwame was a great friend of the Nagel Institute, and a founding member of its governing board. He loved Calvin College, and was very proud of the fact that his two sons, Yaw and Kwabena, are both Calvin honors graduates. We can think of no better way to honor his memory and sustain his legacy than to invest in the rising generation of African Christian scholars who study at the Akrofi Christaller Institute. Here is a bit of information about the new Kwame Bediako Endowment Fund, and how you can help this great cause. Janis and I are supporting this effort. Join us, won't you?
Joel Carpenter
director
P.S. If you make out a check to the "Outreach Foundation" and send it to us, we will make sure that your entire gift makes its way safely to Ghana and that you receive U.S. tax deduction information for it.
RECENT EVENTS
May 12, 2009
Persistent Old Gods: Protestant Missions and Filipino Religious Consciousness
Meeter Center Lecture Hall,
Calvin College
3:30 PM
Refreshments following
Dr. Melba Padilla Maggay, founder and longtime director of Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture (ISACC), is currently at Calvin as a guest of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity until the latter part of July 2009. A frequent speaker and participant-expert in international conferences, Dr. Maggay travels widely and has had cross-cultural experience in over 35 countries in Asia and Australia, North and Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
During her stay at Calvin, Dr. Maggay presented a lecture entitled, "Persistent Old Gods: Protestant Missions and Filipino Religious Consciousness." Join us for this unique opportunity and some light refreshments.
March 31, 2009
Nagel Fellowship Presentations
Meeter Center Lecture Hall,
Calvin College
3:30 PM
Dianne Slager, a professor of nursing at Calvin College spoke about her work and research in East Africa. The title of her talk was "African Independent Church Leaders' Knowledge and Attitudes about HIV"
Mariano Avila, professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary, presented his research on Latin American worship practices in a short talk entitled "Preliminary Approaches to Spiritual Warfare in Worship Practices in Latin America."
For a copy of of Dr. Mariano Avila's talk as a PDF, please click here.
Diane Slager's talk is also available as a PDF here.
To listen to the talks, click here (in MP3 format).
Linking Scholars Worldwide
The Nagel Institute was founded in 2006 as a service of Calvin College to those who study the rise of Christianity in the global south and east, and to others who are eager to see Christian thought and cultural engagement flourish in those regions. - Read more »