Academy for Professional Church Workers
The Academy for Church Workers provides continuing education programs designed especially for church workers, featuring the series of workshops described below. It is jointly sponsored by Concordia University and the Northern Illinois District (Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod). Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are awarded to participants through the College of Graduate and Innovative Programs.
Events
“Autism Revisited” Workshop Concordia University Chicago
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“The Politics of the Other” David C. Leege Concordia University Chicago
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Dr. Leege writes, “ The 2008 American presidential election has offered an unusual opportunity to study the kinds of cultural campaigning prevalent throughout the post-New Deal. For the first time a white woman and an African-American man were serious contenders. The latter now faces an aging former POW who in his persona captures service to the country. Thus, all of the cultural dimensions of past campaigns are vividly present: race, religion, gender, and patriotism. In what ways are cultural differences being manipulated in the 2008 campaign? How do campaigns play on the psychology of "the Other?" What is the relative significance of pocketbook voting, wars and worldviews constructed around "the Enemy," and the usual cultural differences? How did the nation move from a 1988 campaign symbolized by Willie Horton and the flag to a 2008 campaign defined largely by an African-American candidate?”
Dr. Leege is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Notre Dame.. While at Notre Dame, he was director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary Society, founding director of the Program for Research on Religion, Church and Society, and founding director of the Hesburgh Program in Public Service. He writes in the fields of American voting behavior, religion and politics, the politics of cultural differences, and the sociology of religion. His most recent book, written collaboratively with Kenneth Wald, Brian Krueger, and Paul Mueller, is entitled The Politics of Cultural Differences: Social Change and Voter Mobilization Strategies in the Post-New Deal Period (Princeton University Press, 2002); in 2005 it received the inaugural award from the American Political Science Association for the best book published in religion and politics in the last half-dozen years. Currently, he and Wald are coeditors of a ten-book series, Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion, and Politics. Leege received a lifetime achievement award from the American Political Science Association for contributions to the field of religion and politics. He directed the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life, edited its 15-part Report Series, and remains a frequent lecturer and consultant on social research in the Catholic Church. Leege chaired the Board of Overseers of the American National Election Studies, and helped develop both the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. He continues to lecture around the U.S. and Europe, and is frequently interviewed by political and religion writers.
His first teaching job was on this campus – 1962 to 1964, where he met Patricia Schad from the music faculty and they married in 1963 at Grace, River Forest. He has served on many church commissions, including the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, LC-MS, and the LCUSA continuing Forum on Church and Society. He currently is president of the board, Lutheran Music Program, Inc. The Academy for Church Workers is sponsoring this special lecture by a former Concordia professor on a lively and timely topic. If you have any questions please contact the academy director, Dr. Richard Gotsch If you plan to attend, please register with Carol Smid (708-209-3024; email: carol.smid@cuchicago.edu). |
