Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host “Technology and the Practices of Ministry” Mon., Oct. 12, 19, and 26. This three-part series runs from 10:00 a.m.- 12:15 p.m. and will be led by the Rev. Dr. Deirdre King Hainsworth, assistant professor of Christian ethics and director of the Seminary’s Center for Business, Religion and Public Life.
In the past two decades, information technologies including the Internet and social networking have transformed the way many people communicate, learn, and work. Most mainline denominations and many churches have been active online in an effort to use these technologies to be visible and relevant. Yet, within the church there has been less reflection on the ways that these rapidly spreading technologies are actually affecting the context of ministry: the ways that people maintain relationships, recognize authority, interact with social institutions, and define the boundaries between public and private, and work and home. This series will address these issues.
Course schedule includes “New Technologies and the Changing Context of Ministry”, Oct. 12; “Proclamation, Teaching and Formation in a Wikipedia World”, Oct.19; and “Community On and Offline: Technology and Pastoral Presence with Youth and Adults”, Oct. 26.
For more information or to register contact the Office of Continuing Education at 412-924-1345, , or online. Registration is $60.
Hainsworth joined the Seminary faculty in 2005 and previously served as an ethics instructor and administrator on the faculty of Friends University in Wichita, Kan. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, with experience as a church educator and pastor in Philadelphia as well as in urban ministry and civil rights advocacy for persons with disabilities. She received her bachelor’s from Harvard and her master of divinity and doctorate in social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary. Hainsworth’s research focuses on issues of vocation and professional ethics, religion and human rights, and the ethical implications of information technologies. She is currently working on a book entitled Digital Personas, Human Lives: Christian Ethics and the Uses of New Technologies.
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is a graduate professional institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Founded in 1794, the Seminary is located in Pittsburgh, Pa. and approximately 320 students are enrolled yearly in the degree programs. The Seminary prepares leaders who proclaim with great joy God’s message of good news in both word and deed. PTS is rooted in the Reformed history of faithfulness to Scripture and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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