11th Annual
Eighth Day Symposium & Seminar
Hope in the Age of Anxiety
A Digital Library of Twelve Presentations
ANNOUNCEMENT: We’ve done EVERYTHING we could to try to make sure the Symposium happened in person. But it’s been one setback after another. Unfortunately, there has been a significant outbreak of Covid in the City of Wichita, and over the last several days it has impacted many of the supporters and members of the Eighth Day Institute community (thank God no Nativity Feast attendee has been impacted!!!). The EDI board has thus unanimously agreed to transform the Symposium into a digital library.
We're working with all the speakers, plus other past Symposium presenters, to put together a library of twelve video presentations on "Hope in the Age of Anxiety." We will distribute them on January 29 to anybody who donates $50 or more.
Or become an Eighth Day Member at any level and you'll also receive the digital library. We're still aiming for 100 new members so consider standing with the 75 others who have recently joined the community!
PRESENTERS INCLUDE: Fr. Calinic Berger, Bradley Birzer, Erin Doom, Shailesh Mark, Louis Markos, Fr. John Strickland, Joshua Sturgill, and more to come
The Symposium
Hope in the Age of Anxiety
Are you ready for the 11th Eighth Day Symposium? Once again, we'll have a great dialogue of love and truth where prayer, learning, friendship, and feasting take a front seat over the course of the event.
St Augustine of Hippo lived in an age not all that different from our own. With barbarian invasions and a collapsing Roman empire, it was an age of anxiety. But was there hope? Is there hope? St Augustine answers adamantly in the affirmative. And as EDI president Fr. Geoff Boyle recently put it, "For him, the answer was found in the City of God. There we find peace and security, an end to our strife and joy beyond comprehension. Both the path and the goal are found in Christ. 'As God, He is the goal,' St. Augustine says; 'as man, He is the way' (Bk XI.2)."
There couldn't be a better time to meditate on this great virtue of hope. As a way to think about renewing our souls and cities, we invite you to join us as we reflect on "Hope in the Age of Anxiety."
Seating is limited to 60.
The Pre-Symposium Seminar
Hope in the Bible, the Fathers, the Liturgy & Literature
If you really want to dig into the Symposium theme, come early and join us for the seminar. In addition to prayer and teaching, we'll be reading and discussing texts related to anxiety and hope in the Bible, the Fathers, the liturgy, and literature.
Seating is limited to first 10 registrants. A full schedule with a list of texts will be published soon.
The Festal Banquet
St. Augustine, Hope & Cultural Renewal
As any past Symposium attendee will attest, one of the highlights is the annual festal banquet. In addition to delicious food, each year we celebrate a hero of our faith (past years include St Gregory the Theologian, St Anthony the Great, St. Athanasius, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Basil the Great, St. Mary of Egypt, and St Maximus the Confessor) and the Symposium speakers offer reflections on cultural renewal. And the dessert auction has become quite the adventurous (and competitive) way to cap the evening off.
Symposium Reflections on Hope
Symposium Speaker Testimonials
Ralph WoodBaylor University
James K. A. SmithCalvin College
What Attendees Are Saying
The Speakers
Dr. Louis Markos
Louis Markos, Professor in English & Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University, holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities; his 20 books include From Achilles to Christ, On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, and From A to Z to Narnia with C. S. Lewis. His newest book is The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology from Christian Eyes. His books are available at Eighth Day Books.
Dr. Bradley Birzer
Dr. Bradley Birzer holds the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and is Professor of History at Hillsdale College. He serves on the boards of the Free Enterprise Institute and The Center for Cultural Renewal. He is also a Fellow and/or Scholar with the Foundation for Economic Education, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, The McConnell Center, and the Center for Economic Personalism. In 2010, he co-founded The Imaginative Conservative website, and, in 2012, he co-founded Progarchy.com, a site dedicated to the exploration of music in all of its various forms. He is the author of several books, including Beyond Tenebrae: Christian Humanism in the Twilight of the West (2019), Russell Kirk: American Conservative (2015), J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth (2003), and Sanctifying the World: The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson (2007).
Fr. Dr. Calinic Berger
Father Calinic (pronounced Cal-in-eek) graduated from Santa Clara University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and later enrolled in the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, graduating in 1994. Following seminary, he enrolled in the doctoral program in Patristics and historical theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, completing his PhD in 2003. In between and during his theological studies, he worked as an electrical engineer in the semiconductor industry. Feeling called to serve the Church, he decided to leave his job and was ordained to the holy diaconate in 2005 and to the holy priesthood in 2006. Father Calinic is a hieromonk, that is, priest-monk, and therefore is not married. He has served as Visiting Professor of Dogmatic Theology at St. Vladimir’s Seminary has taught and published on Orthodox theology and spiritual life in a variety of venues. Fr. Calinic served as the pastor of Holy Cross Romanian Orthodox Church in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, from 2006 to 2015. Desiring to return to the Antiochian Archdiocese of his youth, Fr. Calinic was received by Metropolitan Joseph and appointed assistant pastor at St Nicholas Cathedral, Los Angeles on December 6, 2015. He served the St. Nicholas Cathedral community faithfully for nearly five years, until being transferred to St. George Cathedral in Wichita, KS in August of this year. He is the author of
Challenges of Orthodox Thought and Life: Reflections on Christian Foundations and Living Traditions (2011).
The Schedule
Wednesday 1.13.21
9:00 a.m. Third Hour Prayer at The Ladder
9:30 a.m. Pre-Symposium Seminar at The Ladder
Hope in the Bible: Jeremiah
12:30 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. Seminar continues until 5:00 p.m.
Hope in the Fathers: St. Cyprian
Thursday 1.14.21
9:00 a.m. Third Hour Prayer at The Ladder
9:30 a.m. Pre-Symposium Seminar at The Ladder
Hope in the Liturgy: Holy Saturday Lamentations
12:30 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. Seminar continues until 4:00 p.m.
Hope in Literature: Josef Pieper on Hope, Despair, & Acedia
7:00 p.m. Opening Reception at Eighth Day Books
Friday 1.15.21 - Trinity Lutheran Church
10:00 a.m. Matins
10:30 a.m. Convocation and Patristic Contemplation by Shailesh Mark: The Double Man: Auden & Us
11:00 a.m. Plenary Lecture I by Louis Markos: Temptation in a Time of Quarantine: How Screwtape Is Using the Pandemic
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Plenary Lecture II by Joshua Sturgill: Water from a Barren Stone: St. Sophrony of Essex & the Art of Transforming Emotion into Prayer
6:00 p.m. Festal Banquet at Trinity Lutheran Church: Life of St Augustine & Plenary Speakers on Cultural Renewal
Saturday 1.16.21 - at Trinity Lutheran Church
9:00 a.m. Matins
9:30 a.m. Convocation & Patristic Contemplation by Director Doom: Hope in the Desert Fathers
10:00 a.m. Plenary Lecture III by Bradley Birzer: Augustinian Reflections on Time & Eternity: Why Augustine Matters
11:00 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Plenary Lecture IV by Fr. Calinic Berger - TBA
12:30 p.m. Lunch & Book Signings
2:00 p.m. Plenary Lecture V by Louis Markos: The Psychology of Sin: C. S. Lewis Wrestles with Hell
3:00 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. Panel Dialogue with Q& A
8:00 p.m. Open House at Eighth Day Books
Presentation Titles with Abstracts
Lodging
Location and Contact
Welcome reception at Eighth Day Books: 2838 E Douglas Ave, Wichita, KS 67214
Seminar at Eighth Day Institute at The Ladder: 2836 E. Douglas 67214
Symposium at Trinity Lutheran Church: 611 S. Erie 67211
Have a question? We are here to help. Send us a message and we’ll be in touch.