Holy Cross to Host National Conference on Creation of Religious Traditions

WORCESTER, Mass. – The 15th annual national conference of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts will be held at the College of the Holy Cross on Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Presentations will be organized around the title of the conference, "Keeping the Faith: Four Religious Perspectives on the Creation of Tradition."

The conference will be a comparative dialogue about how different religious confessions approach tradition, and about what the implications of these approaches are for pedagogy and mission. Participants are from the 77 church-related colleges and universities across the country that are members of the Lilly Fellows National Network.

The events are not open to the public.

Plenary addresses will be given by four distinguished scholars and theologians: Alan Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt, professor of Judaic studies and chair, department of religious studies, College of the Holy Cross; John Thiel, professor of religious studies, Fairfield University; Margaret L. Benderoth, executive director, American Congregational Association; and William J. Abraham, Albert Cook Outler professor of Wesley Studies and University distinguished professor, Southern Methodist University.

A highlight of the conference promises to be Saturday evening’s performance of works by world-renowned composer and Holy Cross music professor Osvaldo Golijov, including sections of his St. Mark Passion, commissioned to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death. The magnificent work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists integrates multiple manifestations of Latin American Christianity and Golijov’s own Jewish roots in a musical universe which critics and audiences in Europe and America alike praised for encompassing popular and classical idioms. The CD of the premiere of this work, on the Hanssler Classic label, received a Grammy nomination in 2002. Venezuelan conductor Maria Guinand, who conducted that performance, will conduct the performance at Holy Cross.

The program concludes Saturday with a closing panel of the plenary speakers and a brief Lilly Fellows Program National Network Board report. Sessions will be held in the Hogan Campus Center, Rehm Library, and Brooks Concert Hall, with vespers in Mary Chapel and Saint Joseph Memorial Chapel.

The Lilly Fellows Program "seeks to renew and enhance the connections between Christianity and the academic vocation at church-related colleges and universities." Stephen C. Ainlay, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, and James Kee, professor of English, serve as Lilly Fellow Program representatives at Holy Cross.

Thomas M. Landy, associate director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross is coordinating the conference.