Adventist Forum: "Death Before the Fall"

Michiana Adventist Forum presents "Death Before the Fall: Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering" presented by Dr. Ronald E. Osborn, Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Wellesley College and 2015 Fulbright Scholar to Burma/Myanmar.

Osborn will be in conversation with Robert Johnston, emeritus professor of New Testament, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, and James Hayward, emeritus research professor of biology at Andrews University.

The program will be held Saturday, November 14, at 3:30 p.m. in Garber Auditorium, Chan Shun Hall on the campus of Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

About the Speaker: Ronald E. Osborn (PhD in Politics and International Relations, University of Southern California) is a Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Peace and Justice Studies Program at Wellesley College and a 2015 Fulbright Scholar to Burma/Myanmar. His articles have appeared in a variety of popular as well as scholarly publications, including The Hedgehog Review, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Commonweal, Modern Age, Modern Theology, Review of International Studies, and First Things.

Osborn's writing has been shaped in important ways by his experiences growing up in Thailand, Taiwan and Zimbabwe with Adventist missionary parents. His first book, Anarchy and Apocalypse (Cascade Books, 2010), explores dilemmas of violence, just war and pacifism. His second book, Death Before the Fall (IVP Academic, 2014), critiques fundamentalist readings of Scripture and wrestles with questions of divine goodness in the light of harrowing realities of animal suffering.

From 2011 to 2015 he served as director of the Adventist Peace Fellowship, focusing on issues including care for creation, economic justice, freedom of conscience, racial and gender equality, and the nexus of health and human rights.

Adventist Forum is open to the public. All are welcome. For information, contact Art Robertson at robertsa2@earthlink.net or call 471-7150.