The Canterbury Forum’s name recognizes the fact that St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls provided space free of charge for the Forum’s programs from the Forum’s founding until our programs transitioned to Zoom during COVID. In the wake of COVID we made the decision to use Zoom exclusively because it insulates our programs from winter weather and because it makes it possible both to reach audiences and to utilize presenters far distant from northern Iowa. Aside from our past relationship, the Forum is not otherwise affiliated in any way with St. Luke’s, the Episcopal Church, or with any religious body. The fact that the majority of its programs have addressed Christian themes and issues reflects the fact that Christians constitute the great majority of the residents of the Cedar Valley. Forum programs typically examine issues from a moderate to liberal perspective both because that perspective reflects the point of view of the mainline faith communities that the Forum was created to serve and because conservative religious communities have a multitude of outlets through which they regularly present their own point of view.
The Canterbury Forum is committed to the mission of informing and educating the Cedar Valley's mainstream faith communities about religious issues and the complex interactions between religion, society, and culture. Typically, the Forum presents six programs a year, divided between a Fall (August-September-October) and a Winter/Spring (February-March-April) series. By the spring of 2022, the Forum had presented one hundred-seventeen programs. Forum programs last about an hour and a half (including time for questions), and typical attendance is between sixty and eighty people.
You can explore what the Forum has coming up by going to the Upcoming Forum Programs page on this website, and you can see what we've done since 2005 by checking out the topical listings under Past Programs. You can also email us. The Forum's general e-mail address is canterburyforum@gmail.com; you can also email individual coordinators, whose e-mail addresses are listed on the Contact Us page. The Forum Coordinators send out email reminders about its programs and those activities to faith communities and individuals who so desire. The Forum never shares anyone’s email address with any other persons, groups, or organizations, under any circumstances.
In normal times Canterbury Forum programs are presented in Will Hall at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 2410 Melrose Drive in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Programs begin at 7:00 PM Central Time, and are free and open to the public.
In response to COVID-19, beginning in August 2020 Forum programs began to be presented via Zoom. In September 2021 the Coordinating Committee decided to continue presenting programs via Zoom even after the cessation of the pandemic, because of its freeing of our programming from concerns about weather conditions and the availability of program presentation facilities. Login information for the Forum's Zoom programs will be sent out via email during the week immediately preceding each program. If you're not already on the Forum email list, email us at canterburyforum@gmail.com to make sure that you get up to date program and login information.
Science, the Rise of Fundamentalism, and the Scopes Trial
Sunday, February 26th, 2023
Dr. Bob Dise
Associate Professor of History, University of Northern Iowa
The rise of empirical science and of historical analysis of the texts of the Bible challenged the millennias-long monopoly that religion had on the West's understanding of human origins and the origins and workings of our universe. The aggressive defense that religion mounted in the face of this challenge is Fundamentalism. Born in America in the late 19th century, by the early 20th century it was powerful enough to pass laws banning the teaching of evolution. Bob Dise tracks the rise of Fundamentalism within American Protestantism in the wake of the Civil War, and its rise to political power throughout the rural South and Midwest, during which the notorious trial of Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes for having taught evolution took place. But was the trial the epic confrontation between science and fundamentalism that it now is perceived as being? Prof. Dise explores that, too.
Topics
Apocalypticism
Church and State
Environmental Stewardship
Exploring Sacred Literature
Fundamentalism and Atheism
Interfaith Perspectives
Jesus in History, the Bible, and Culture
Peace, Social Justice, and Ethics
Perspectives within Christianity
Religion and Culture
Religion and Science
Religion, Gender, and Sexuality
Religious History
Apocalypticism
The Book of Daniel
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Rev. Dr. Judith Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Narrating the End of the World:
The Social and Psychological Function of Apocalyptic Literature
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
The End-Times Encoded:
Dispensationalism, the Bible, and History
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Church and State
Evangelicals and the 2016 Election
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Doug Smith
Christian radio station manager
The Hobby Lobby Decision:
Corporations and Religious Freedom
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Dr. John Johnson
Department of History, UNI
Faith and the Founders:
Religion and the Creation of America
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Dr. Hal Wohl
Emeritus Professor of History, UNI
Church and State in America:
A panel discussion featuring faculty from the University of Northern Iowa
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Dr. Scott Peters, Department of Political Science
Dr. Charlotte Wells, Department of History
Dr. John Johnson, Department of History
Environmental Stewardship
Caring for the Air:
Lutheran Perspectives on Stewardship of Our Atmospheric Environment
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Dr. Alan Czarnetzki
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNI
Food or Fuel? The Ethanol Dilemma
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Dr. Fred Kirschenmann
Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University
Creating a Regenerative Society:
The Role of World Religions in the Survival of Creation
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Rev. Ben Webb
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cedar Falls
Exploring Sacred Literature
"The Travails of Translation"
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Professor of History, University of Northern Iowa
The Book of Job as Subversive Literature
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Dr. John Burnight
Department of Philosophy & World Religion, UNI
The St. John’s Bible:
A 21st-Century Hand-Copied Bible
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Translating the Bible
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of History, UNI
YHWH:
The Warrior God
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Naming Evil:
The Devil in Scripture and Faith
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Kevin Sanders
Mentor, Education for Ministry, University of the South
Creating the Bible:
Revisiting the Word of God and the Work of Man
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Dr. Robert Dise
Department of History, UNI
First Christmas/Last Week:
The Gospels as Biography
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Rev. Dick Clark,
St. Timothy’s UMC, Cedar Falls
The Gospel of Judas and Gnostic Christianity
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of Philosophy and Religion, UNI
Creating the Bible:
The Word of God and The Work of Man
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Dr. Robert Dise
Department of History, UNI
Fundamentalism and Atheism
Fascism and Fundamentalism:
Extreme Reactions to a Changing World
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Dr. Robert Dise
Department of History, UNI
Science, Faith, and the New Atheism
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Dr. John Haught
Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University
The New Atheism’s Yang to Religious Fundamentalism’s Yin
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Dr. Dave McCalley
Emeritus Prof. of Biology, UNI
The Christian Right:
Fundamentalism and Politics Since the 1960s
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Dr. Robert Dise
Department of History, UNI
The Origins of Christian Fundamentalism
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Dr. Robert Dise
Department of History, UNI
Interfaith Perspectives
Spirituality and the Sublime
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Dr. Francis Degnin
Department of Philosophy and World Religions, UNI
Hindu and Muslim Violence in India
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Dr. Louis E. Fenech
Department of History, UNI
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in the Qur'an:
The Biblical Heritage in Muslim Scripture
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Dr. John Burnight
Department of Philosophy & World Religions, UNI
The Mormons
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Dr. Betty DeBerg
Head (ret.), Department of Philosophy & World Religion, UNI
The Messiah Myth:
The Jewish Perspective
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Dr. Hal Wohl
Emeritus Professor of History, UNI
Muslim Women and the hijab:
Minority Religious Freedom in France
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dr. Emily Machen
Department of History, UNI
Jewish Law:
A Rabbi’s Perspective
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum
Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Waterloo
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity:
An Imam’s Perspective
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Dr. Mohammed Fahmy
Imam of Masjid Al-Noor, Waterloo
A Rumor About the Jews:
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Dr. Hal Wohl
Emeritus Professor of History, UNI
Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Dr. James Robinson
Department of Religion, UNI
The Sikhs and Sacred Martyrdom
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Dr. Lou Fenech,
Department of History, UNI
Sunni, Shi’a and More:
Diversity Within Islam
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of Philosophy and World Religions, UNI
Judaisms in America
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Dr. Hal Wohl,
Emeritus Professor of History, UNI
President, Sons of Jacob Synagogue,
Enhancing Interfaith Effectiveness
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Rabbi Stanley M. Rosenbaum
Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Waterloo
Living among Christians:
The Muslim and Jewish Perspective
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Dr. Mohammed Fahmy, Imam of the Cedar Valley Muslim Community
Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum, Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Waterloo
Do We Really Understand Muslims and Islam?
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Prof. Mohammed Fahmy
Department of Industrial Technology, UNI
Imam of the Cedar Valley Muslim community
Jesus in History, the Bible, and Culture
Does the Bible Present
a Historically Accurate View of Jesus?
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Dr. Bart D. Ehrman
Department of Religion, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Understanding Jesus Today
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Rev. Dick Clark
St. Timothy’s United Methodist Church
The Jesus of History and the Jesus of Popular Culture
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of Religion, UNI
Peace, Social Justice, and Ethics
The God Within:
Black Liberation Theology and My Journey
Sunday, September 26th
Dr. Rev. Belinda Creighton-Smith
Pastor, Faith Temple Baptist Church, Waterloo
How To Be An Anti-Racist:
Reflections from a Community Book Read
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Rev. Abraham Funchess
Pastor, Jubilee United Methodist Church, Waterloo
Our Epidemic of Gun Violence
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Rev. Abraham Funchess
Pastor, Jubilee United Methodist Church, Waterloo
Human Rights Director, City of Waterloo
The Poverty on Our Doorstep
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Tom Marrah
Operation Threshold
Liberation Theology:
The Fight for Social Justice in Central America
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Dr. Fernando Calderon
Department of History, UNI
Exploring "Personhood"
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Dr. Francis Degnin
Department of Philosophy and World Religions, UNI
Anti-Catholic Violence in 19th-Century America
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Dr. Biff Rocha
Director of Campus Ministry
St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center
Sexual Trafficking in Iowa
Sunday, August 28, 2016
The Coalition against Human Trafficking Tri-State Area (Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin):
Sr. Irene Lukefahr, BVM
Sr. Diane Rapozo, BVM
Dr. Kim Hilby, Department of Socioology, University of Dubuque
The Church and the Rwanda Genocide:
Collusion, Cooperation, and Power
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Dr. Donna J. Maier
Department of History, UNI
Decolonizing Christianity:
Native Americans and Western Religion
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Dr. Leisl Carr-Childers
Department of History, UNI
Same-Sex Marriage:
The Landmark SCOTUS Decision Obergefell vs. Hodges
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Dr. John Johnson
Department of History, UNI
Death Panels and the Nanny State:
Truth and Fiction in Health Care Reform
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Dr. Francis Degnin
Department of Philosophy & World Religions, UNI
Reducing Distance:
Building Solidarity and Relationship with Persons in Prison
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Dr. Jenny McBride
Department of Religion and Regents Chair in Ethics, Wartburg College
Workplace Spirituality and Social Entrepreneurship
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Dr. Tim Ewest
Department of Business Administration, Wartburg College
Iowa’s Diversifying Peoples and Religions
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Dr. Mark Grey
Department of Sociology, UNI
Director of Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration
Torture: Ethics and Pragmatism
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Dr. Francis Degnin
Department of Philosophy & World Religions, UNI
Discipleship and Community:
Breaking Down the Walls That Divide Us
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Rev. Maureen Doherty
Director, New City Ministries
Alzheimer’s, Ethics, and Faith
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Dr. Francis Degnin
Department of Philosophy & World Religions, UNI
Theodicy: Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Love Thy Neighbor:
A Parkersburg Tornado Documentary
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dr. Jay Lees
Department of History, UNI
When Peace and Justice Appear in Conflict:
Hard Choices in the Prosecution of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Stephen J. Rapp
Prosecutor, United Nations Tribunal for Sierra Leone
Immigration and Faith: Lessons from Postville
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Dr. Mark Grey
Department of Sociology, UNI
Director of Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration
Torture and America:
Moral, Legal, and International Implications
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Building Bridges between Iran and the United States
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Dr. Patricia Shelly
Professor of Bible and Religion, Bethel College (Kansas)
Past Director, Mennonite Central Committee Palestine Program
Just War: Moral Guide or Oxymoron?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thomas Kessler
Peace & Justice Center of the Cedar Valley
The Idolatry of the Marketplace
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Rev. Dr. Dave Wood
First Presbyterian Church, Waterloo
A Prophetic Voice for Peace: Rabbi Abraham Heschel
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Prof. Harold Kasimow
Grinnell College
The Soul of Society: Teaching Social Justice
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Fr. George Karnik
Perspectives within Christianity
"The Synod at the Halfway Point:
What has the Listening Church Heard?"
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Dr. Kristin Colberg
Associate Professor of Theology
St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary
St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota
Who are these crazy Episcopalians?
Where did they come from? What are they doing now?
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Rev. Elizabeth Duff Popplewell
Rector, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cedar Falls, IA
Orthodox Christianity
Sunday, March 25, 2021
Dr. Alicja Boruta-Sadkowski
Department of History, UNI
The Baptists: A Study in Diversity
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Rev. Joe Greemore
Waterloo First American Baptist Church
The Few, the Proud, the Saved:
Limited Atonement in the Reformation--and Today!
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Department of History, UNI
The Jesuits and the First Jesuit Pope
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Department of History, UNI
Religion and Culture
Orthodoxy, Nation, and State in Putin’s Russia
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Dr. Konrad Sadkowski
Department of History, UNI
Religion and Popular Culture
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Rev. Nate Nims
Waterloo First United Methodist Church
Celtic Sacred Space and Irish Christian Pilgrims
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Dr. Tom Connors Department of History, UNI
Sharing the Gospel in a
“Spiritual but not Religious Age”
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Rev. Brian Beckstrom
Campus Chaplain, Wartburg College
Christian Broadcasting: An Insider’s Perspective
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Doug Smith
Station Manager, KNWS Radio
Contemplative Christianity: The Proof Is in the Practice
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Bill Witt
Cistercian Lay Associate
The Amanas: From Religious Commune to Tourist Attraction
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Dr. Brian Roberts
Department of History, UNI
The Blood of Jesus: Cinema Looks At the Black Religious Experience
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Dr. Gloria Gibson
Executive Vice President, Provost, and Professor, UNI
Diversity Within the Black Church
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Rev. Dr. Michael Blackwell
Director, Center for Multicultural Education, UNI
Religion and Science
"The Limits of Literalism:
Faith, Science and Ambiguity in the Trial of Galileo"
Sunday, August 28th
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Professor Emerita, Department of History
University of Northern Iowa
Kepler, Galileo and Newton: Faith and Magic in the Beginnings of the Scientific Revolution
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Professor Emerita, Department of History
University of Northern Iowa
Pandemic Lessons from the Past
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Profs. Bob Dise, Charlotte Wells, and Emily Machen
UNI Department of History
The Religious Significance of Geology
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Dr. Lynn Brant
Emeritus Professor of Geology, UNI
Cosmology: The Universe through Biblical Eyes
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Evolution: Teaching the Controversy
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Dr. Bob Dise
Department of History, UNI
Personal Piety and Scientific Inspiration
Sunday, September 28th, 2014
Dr. Daniel Black
Chair, Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Engineering,
Wartburg College
God and Evolution
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Dr. John Haught
Senior Fellow in Science and Religion, Georgetown University
Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Dr. Dave McCalley
UNI Emeritus Prof. of Biology, UNI
Religion, Gender, and Sexuality
Feminine Images of God
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Rev. Dr. Judith Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
Somaphobia: Gays and Lesbians in the Black Church
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Rev. Dr. Michael Blackwell
Director, Center for Multicultural Education, UNI
The Bible, Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the Mother of Jesus
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Prof. Susan Hill
Department of Philosophy and Religion, UNI
Women in the Church: A clergy panel
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Rev. Pam Ulffers, United Methodist Church
Rev. Linda Pflugfelder, Presbyterian Church, USA
Rev. Maureen Doherty, Episcopal Church, USA
Gays, Lesbians, and the Church:
A clergy panel discussion
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Rev. Anne Lippincott, United Methodist Church
Rev. Diane Dardon, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Rev. Brad Braley, Presbyterian Church, USA
Rev. Ben Webb, Episcopal Church, USA
Homosexuality and the Bible
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Rev. Dick Clark
St. Timothy’s United Methodist Church
Religious History
Faith and People: Experiencing the English Reformation
Sunday, April 24, 2022 (Zoom)
Dr. Jennifer McNabb
Professor and Head Department of History
University of Northern Iowa
“Searching for Sodom and Gomorrah and Its Sin”
Sunday, October 24th, 7:00 PM (Zoom)
Dr. Brian C. Jones
Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Wartburg College
Holy Warriors:
Four Fighters for Emancipation before the Civil War
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Dr. Wally Hettle
Department of History, UNI
The Wars of the Reformation:
Why They Still Matter
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Department of History, UNI
Luther, the Catholic!
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Department of History, UNI
Heresy and the Church in the Middle Ages:
The Spiritual and Conventual Franciscans
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Dr. Jay Lees
Department of History, UNI
Religious Conflict in Early Christianity
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Dr. Bob Dise
Department of History, UNI
Religious Dissent in Ancient Judaism
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of History, UNI
The Origins of Heaven and Hell
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of History, UNI
The Temple in Jerusalem:
From Solomon to the Arab Conquest
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of History, UNI
Calling All Crusaders!
Understanding the Calls for the First Two Crusades
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Dr. Jay Lees
Department of History, UNI
Sodom and Gomorrah:
Myth, Legend, and History
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Dr. Brian Jones
Department of Religion & Philosophy, Wartburg College
Where Did Jesus Sit At the Last Supper?
The Sites, Smells, and Sounds of Early Christian Worship
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of History, UNI
Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection in Jesus’ Time
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Dr. Ken Atkinson
Department of Philosophy & World Religions, UNI
Why Them? Why Then? The Great Witch Craze
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Dr. Charlotte Wells
Department of History, UNI
From Tents to TV:
Religion, Gender, and Sexuality
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Dr. Robert Martin
Chair, Department of History, UNI
When Christianity Was Jewish
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Rev. Dr. Judith Jones
Department of Religion, Wartburg College
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