MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will host New Testament scholar Victor Furnish on Thursday, Oct. 17, when he will lecture on “The Women in Paul’s Life: Female Leaders in 1st-Century Christianity” and lead a workshop on the contemporary role of scripture.
Furnish is a world authority on the Apostle Paul, his writings and theology.
The lecture is at 4 p.m. in Allee Chapel, followed by a panel of women speaking on their advantages and challenges in the ministry. The workshop, “If the Bible Still Speaks, How Shall We Listen?” is from 9 to 11 a.m. in The Rathskeller in The Commons. Furnish will examine how to read scripture when considering ethics in the 21st century, followed by open discussion. While geared toward United Methodist clergy and lay leaders, this workshop is open to the public. Admission is free to the lecture and the workshop.
Furnish is a 1952 graduate of Cornell, ordained United Methodist minister and University Distinguished Professor of New Testament emeritus at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. His first book, “Theology and Ethics in Paul,” published in 1968, helped spark interest in Pauline ethics and has served as a touchstone for further studies. Furnish also has written numerous articles and reviews and contributed to many Bible dictionaries and theological volumes. He was honored by the Biblical Archaeology Society for “the best commentary on a book of the New Testament” for a volume in the 1984 Anchor Bible series, “II Corinthians.” Cornell awarded him an honorary degree in 1995.
Furnish’s visit is sponsored by Cornell’s Chaplain’s Office and the Lecture, Artists, Cultural Events Consortium, along with the Cedar Rapids District of the United Methodist Church. Cornell has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since the college’s founding in 1853.