Jane writes: the American Academy of Religion is meeting this year in San Diego, California. This means that the weather is beautiful and a welcome contrast to the sub zero temperatures of the east coast and whatever the weather is doing in Cambridge…
The Conference is a chance to meet scholars from all over the world. Cindy is giving a paper on Tuesday morning, but yesterday we both attended the Wesleyan group giving us a chance to meet up with some old friends Wesley House such as – Doug Meeks, Tom Albin, Randy Maddox and Dion Forster.
It was also a chance to begin conversations with new contacts and to let people know about the new Journal, Holiness, and our call for papers for the next three issues: Holiness & Education; Holiness & Mission and Holiness & The Body.
The subject of this meeting was embodiment and included interesting contributions on the role of food in Wesleyan holiness through the eyes of Mary Bosanquet Fletcher; Susannah Wesley as seen through the eyes of Elisabeth Moltmann Wendel and John and Charles’ own sacramental theology. The contributions were evaluated by Sarah Heaner Lancaster who raised questions about ethical consumption today; about what Methodist holiness might contribute to the human understanding of our relationship with the planet; and about the ambivalence towards the body in early Methodism in terms of its role in God’s saving work and how that ambivalence is expressed and experienced in different cultures now.
Issues of ethical consumption and the health of the planet are clearly evidence in San Diego bay which is home to pelicans, cormorrants, egrets and sealions, but also pumps millions of gallons of diesel into the American fleet in this major naval base.
