12th Annual

Eighth Day Symposium

Sex & Lies

Delusions of the Self in the 21st Century

January 13-15, Anno Domini 2022 - Wichita, KS

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Symposium Reflections

Live Not By Lies

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn • January 10, 2022
Yes, at first it will not be fair. Someone will have to temporarily lose his job. For the young who seek to live by truth, this will at first severely complicate life, for their tests and quizzes, too, are stuffed with lies, and so choices will have to be made. But there is no loophole left for anyone who seeks to be honest: Not even for a day, not even in the safest technical occupations can he avoid even a single one of the listed choices—to be made in favor of either truth or lies, in favor of spiritual independence or spiritual servility.

What Is Man?

By Eric Gill • January 7, 2022
What then, about man, and what kind of being is he? And in attempting to answer this question we shall not take into account the teachings of men of Science. For though the word Science properly means knowledge, the scientist is not, and generally does not profess to be, a man who knows what is what. Scientific knowledge, at the best, is, and can be, no more than the results, more or less accurately recorded, of more or less inaccurate observation.

New Year's Address

By Václav Havel • January 3, 2022
The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only about ourselves. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, or forgiveness lost their depth and dimensions,
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The Speakers

Rod Dreher

"The Five Worst Lies We Live By"

Jennifer Roback Morse

"Understanding and Combating the Global Sexual Revolution"


Carl Trueman

"Our Era's Most Prominent Fiction: Desire as Identity"

The Seminar

Sex and Lies 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 the Symposium theme from the Bible, the Fathers, the liturgy and literature. 


Seating is limited to first 12 registrants.  Notebooks with the texts will be delivered upon registration.


(As of Dec. 21, the Seminar is full!)

The Festal Banquet

St. John Chrysostom & Cultural Renewal

As any past Symposium attendee will attest, one of the highlights is the annual festal banquet. In addition to the a stringed-quartet and 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, and St. Mary of Egypt) and the Symposium speakers offer reflections on cultural renewal. But the most stunning part of the evening has consistently been the Cathedral Choir's series of ancient hymns. And the desert auction has become quite the adventurous (and competitive) way to cap the evening off.

Symposium Speaker Testimonials

"The splendid Eighth Day community constitutes a vital alternative to the stale denominationalism that characterizes much of contemporary church life, as well as the flaccid secularism of the culture at large."
Ralph Wood
Baylor University
"Your annual symposiums have become the stuff of legend."
James K. A. Smith
Calvin College

What Attendees Are Saying

"What a tremendous conference! It set my life on a new course. I can't say that about any other conference I've ever attended."
Catholic
"I've put together lots of conferences and know what it takes. You get an A+ in my book! Everything about it was superb - the speakers, the topics, the venue, the books, the Feast! - everything exceeded my expectations."
Protestant
"Eighth Day has much wisdom to offer a world drowning in a sea of information. The Symposium and its associated journal Synaxis help stir up a think tank in the empty gutter of modern society."
Orthodox

The Speakers

Carl R. Trueman

Carl R. Trueman teaches at Grove City College in western PA and is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in DC where his work focuses on helping civic leaders and policy makers better understand the deep roots of our current cultural malaise. Carl is the author of the 2020 book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution. His commentaries on contemporary issues appear regularly in First Things and he has also published in Public Discourse, Deseret News, and Catholic World Report.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse

Dr. Morse is the founder of The Ruth Institute, an interfaith international coalition to defend the family and build a Civilization of Love. She was a campaign spokeswoman for California’s winning Proposition 8 campaign, defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. She has authored or co-authored six books and spoken around the globe. Her latest book is The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies are Destroying Lives and Why the Church was Right Along. Dr. Morse was named one of the “Catholic Stars of 2013,” on a list that included Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI.

Rod Dreher

Rod Dreher is a journalist and author of a number of books, including the international bestsellers The Benedict Option (2017) and Live Not By Lies (2020). As a senior editor at The American Conservative, Dreher writes a daily blog about the intersection of religion, politics, and popular culture that draws over one million page views each month. He is an Orthodox Christian who lives in south Louisiana with his wife and three children.

The Schedule

CLICK HERE for a PDF version of the full schedule.

Wednesday 1.12.22

9:00 a.m.      Third Hour Prayer at The Ladder

9:30 a.m.      Pre-Symposium Seminar at The Ladder

Sex & Lies in the Bible: Ezekiel 8-20

12:30 p.m.    Lunch

2:00 p.m.     Seminar continues until 5:00 p.m.

Sex & Lies in the Fathers: Augustine On Lying

6:45 p.m.      Vespers at St George Orthodox Christian Cathedral

Thursday 1.13.22

9:00 a.m.      Third Hour Prayer at The Ladder

9:30 a.m.      Pre-Symposium Seminar at The Ladder

Sex & Lies in the Liturgy: Orthodox Marriage Service

12:30 p.m.    Lunch

2:00 p.m.      Seminar continues until 4:00 p.m.

Sex & Lies in Literature: "Terror" by Anton Chekov

4:00 p.m.       VIP meeting with speakers for Patrons & Pillars

6:45 p.m.       Vespers at St George Orthodox Christian Cathedral

7:00 p.m.       Opening Reception at Eighth Day Books

Friday 1.14.22

9:00 a.m.     Third Hour Prayer at St. George Orthodox Cathedral

9:30 a.m.     Convocation and Contemplation by Director Doom

Live Not by Lies: An Ecumenical Toast

10:00 a.m.     Plenary Lecture I by Rod Dreher

The Five Most Damaging Lies We Live By Today

11:30 a.m.     Breakout Sessions

 Hans Boersma: Sex & the Imagination: Focusing the Mind

 Carl Trueman: The Pathologies of the Therapeutic Culture

12:30 p.m.     Lunch

1:30 p.m.       Plenary Lecture II by Jennifer Roback Morse

Understanding & Resisting the Global Sexual Revolution

6:00 p.m.       Festal Banquet at St George - Dressy Casual Attire

Cash Bar, Dessert Auction, Cathedral Choir, the Life of St John Chrysostom, & Plenary Speakers on Cultural Renewal

Saturday 1.15.22

9:00 a.m.      Third Hour Prayer at St George Cathedral

9:30 a.m.      Convocation & Contemplation by Director Doom

Totus Christus: A Neo-Patristic Theological Anthropology

10:00 a.m.    Plenary Lecture III by Carl Trueman

Today's Most Prominent Fiction: Sexual Desire as Identity

11:00 a.m.    Break

11:30 a.m.    Breakout Sessions

Jennifer Roback Morse: Baked in from the Beginning: Pedophilia & the Sexual Revolution

Fr. Alexis Torrance: Christ as Cornerstone: Theological Anthropology & Human Perfection (Read this text beforehand)

12:30 p.m.    Lunch & Book Signings

2:00 p.m.      Plenary Lecture IV by Rod Dreher

Signs, Wonders, & the Way of the Heart

3:00 p.m.      Break

3:15 p.m.      Panel Dialogue with Q& A

6:00 p.m.      Great Vespers at St George

7:30 p.m.      Open House at Eighth Day Books & Eighth Day Institute

Lodging

Hotel at Old Town
830 E. First St.
Wichita, KS 67202
316.267.4800
Hilton Garden Inn
2041 N. Bradley Fair Pkwy
Wichita, KS 67206
316.219.4444
Wesley Inn
3343 Central Ave.
Wichita, KS 67208
316.858.3343
Spiritual Life Center
7100 E. 45th Street N.
Bel Aire, KS 67226
316.744.0167

Location and Contact

Eighth Day Books: 2838 E Douglas Ave, Wichita, KS 67214

Eighth Day Institute at The Ladder: 2836 E. Douglas 67214

St George Orthodox Christian Cathedral: 7515 E. 13th St. N. 67206

Have a question? We are here to help. Send us a message and we’ll be in touch. 

Contact Us

Past Eighth Day Symposia

2021

Hope in the Age of Anxiety:

A Digital Library of Twelve Presentations by Fr. Calinic Berger, Bradley Birzer, Erin Doom, Shailesh Mark, Louis Markos, Fr. John Strickland, Joshua Sturgill, et al


2020

For I Am Holy: The Command to be like God by Dr. David Fagerberg, Fr. Stephen Freeman, Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, et al


2019


Eros & the Mystery of God: On the Body, Sex & Asceticism by Hans Boersma, Adam Cooper, David Ford, Ephraim Radner, et al

2018


Strangers & Society: Cultivating Friendship in a Fractured Age by Peter Kanelos, Ken Myers, Joseph Pearce, et al



2017


Where Are the Watchmen: Theology in the Public Square by Martin Cothran, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian Zahnd, et al



2016


Soil & Sacrament: The World as Gift by Mike Aquilina, Hans Boersma, Rod Dreher, Vigen Guroian, et al



2015


Whatever Happened to Wonder: The Recovery of Mystery in a Secular Age by Bishop James Conley, Rod Dreher, James Kushiner, James K. A. Smith, et al


2014


Constantine, Christendom & Cultural Renewal by Vigen Guorian, Alan Kreider, Peter Leithart, Benjamin Wiker, et al


2013


Dostoevsky: The Divine & the Demonic by Scott Cairns, Martin Cothran, John Hodges, Ralph Wood, et al


2012


What's Wrong with the World: An Inkling of a Response by Warren Farha, Ralph Wood et al


2011

Imagination & Soul: Harry Potter, Twilight & Spiritual Formation by John Granger, Fr. Josiah Trenham, et al