That irrepressible trio is at it again! Rabbi Peter E. Hyman, Scossa owner-chef Giancarlo Tondin, and Bishop Joel Marcus Johnson, are offering another savory seminar in the banquet hall of Ristorante Scossa in downtown Easton. The seminar is entitled “Ancient Voices, Modern Topics.” Scholars will dine on Tondin’s culinary delights, while learning from ancient writers with Bishop and Rabbi.
The seminar will be held on four consecutive Wednesdays, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., October 22 and 29, and November 5 and 7. Scholars also will have first dibs for the best seats on an exclusive November 19 motor coach trip to Washington, DC, for a private tour of the Freer Sackler Smithsonian Museum’s exciting new exhibition, “Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips.”
This will be Rabbi Hyman and Bishop Johnson’s eleventh academic course, most often in college classrooms and museums, and now four times in Ristorante Scossa. They do not teach religion classes as such, but offer courses in history and literature.
“For this course,” Bishop Johnson said, “we have chosen four modern topics, and have searched the literature to see what the ancients had to say about them. For five thousand years, the topics are surprisingly the same, whether in cuneiform from ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia, or in the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Talmud. The seminar will be full of surprises.”
The four topics are immigration, abortion & euthanasia, capital punishment, and sexual & gender identity issues.
“The bishop and I always admonish our students,” Rabbi Hyman said, “that ‘ancient’ doesn’t mean ‘stupid’ – those writers were very sophisticated thinkers. We like to think we bring out the best in them.”
A few good seats are still available for the seminar. The registration fee of $50 covers the four lectures, and scholars have the right of first refusal to register for the November 19 field trip at a separate cost. The cost of luncheon is separate from the tuition, and generally in the $13 range. To register, call Temple B’nai Israel at 410-822-0553, and ask for Nancy.
Certificates of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are provided for clergy and other professionals.
Hyman is Rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel, and Johnson is Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of The Chesapeake. They are both longtime theological educators.
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