Scholars Forum

Doug Kaufman will lead a forum on his current research titled, "Saving the Statement of the Other: Ignatian and Anabaptist practices in discernment in the midst of disagreement."

Abstract: The Presupposition St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, resonates with the Rule of Paul and Binding and Loosing, two practices so critical to early Anabaptists. I will compare these two 16th century concepts of discernment for Christians in the midst of disagreement and consider how understanding both might be mutually beneficial to each tradition. At the same time, in the light of John Howard Yoder's critical role in interpreting these Anabaptist practices and Rachel Waltner Goossens' work on the church's "failure to bind and loose" in the case of Yoder's ongoing sexual abuse, I will reflect on what we might learn about when to withhold and when to make judgments.