The Mystery of the Child: A Celebration of Wonder with Martin Marty

Monday, March 12, 2012, 7:00-9:00 pm
Church of the Holy Comforter, 222 Kenilworth Ave., Kenilworth, IL

Martin E. Marty, Ph.D. is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught in the Divinity School for 35 years, and where the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion is located. A renowned historian, theologian and interpreter of religion and culture, with over 60 books, 5,000 scholarly articles, and 75 honorary Ph.D.s to his name, Dr. Marty was in residence at Emory University for the 2003-2004 academic year to co-direct the “Child in Law, Religion, and Society” interdisciplinary project, which brought together two dozen senior faculty to focus on children. Out of that work came his elegiac, erudite book, The Mystery of the Child, a work that Dr. Marty refers to as a “dawn” book, one that reflects on future promise.

In Dr. Marty’s view, much of today's literature on children treats the child of any age as a problem or a set of problems to be solved, effectively reducing the child to a complex of biological and chemical factors, explainable in scientific terms, or to someone who is the object of control (whether benignly or tyrannically) by adults. In contrast, Dr. Marty here presents the child as a mystery that invokes wonder and elicits creative responses that affect the care provided him or her.

The Mystery of the Child encourages the thoughtful enjoyment of children instead of the imposition of adult will and control. Indeed, Dr. Marty treats the impulse to control as a problem and highlights qualities associated with children -- responsiveness, receptivity, openness to wonder -- that can become sources of renewal for adults. Indeed, Dr. Marty wishes for all adults to realize and embrace their own “childness,” to become like children – imaginative, open to ideas and experiences and to other people, always seeking how to live.

Dr. Marty's honors include the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Award, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools, and the Order of Lincoln Medallion (Illinois' top honor).

Registrations have reached seating capacity for this event. If you have pre-registered for the event, we look forward to seeing you on Monday, March 12.  Because some attendees will have to be seated in the video overflow room, please help us have a great event:  We will not allow seats to be saved in the sanctuary for late-comers (have your entire party arrive together) and we will ask you to sit in pews to their capacity.  There will not be tickets or a check-in process.  Note that parking in on-street only, please be kind to near by residents and obey directions.

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Video of Martin Marty's presentation

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