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TML Speaks: Loving Life on the Margins

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Series

"Loving Life on the Margins: 

40 Years of Nonviolence, Simple Living, and Sustainability"

Presented by Suzanne and Brayton Shanley

Introduced by Thomas Murphy

Moderated by Thomas Groome

Register online here.

 
TML Speaks program: Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 5:30 pm - 7:00 p.m.

Sponsored by the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (STM) and the Boston College Libraries

Program description

Our fragile planet and its inhabitants cry out for a new way of being.  From our unstable, divisive politics to climate change, Christians are called to return to our foundational document, the gospel of nonviolent love, radical simplicity, and sustainable living.

Suzanne Belote Shanley and Brayton Shanley, co-founders in 1982 of The Agape Community, have been experimenting with learning and living nonviolent love on 34 acres of land in Central Massachusetts with other community members, interns and volunteers.

Please join the TML in welcoming Suzanne and Brayton, who will comment on and read from their co-authored book, Loving Life on the Margins: The Story of the Agape Community in a conversation facilitated by Thomas H. Groome, BC School of Theology and Ministry Professor of Theology and Religious Education. The book details how the extended Agape Community members built the community from the ground; built a straw bale house with a compost toilet; power the entire community on solar energy and continue to offer courses and programs on peacemaking for college students.

Thomas Murphy, a PhD candidate in BC’s School of Theology and Ministry will introduce Suzanne and Brayton by suggesting several key ways that the witness of the Agape Community manifests aspects of Catholic social teaching. Relatedly, the community’s linking of simple sustainable living and commitment to the poor will be explored as a practical expression of integral ecology, as found in Laudato Si’ and recently renewed in the 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. The manner in which the Agape Community takes up the long tradition of a prophetic, gospel-based response by the lay faithful to our troubled world will also be highlighted. 

The evening will also feature a chance for questions and answers and some dialogue with the speakers, also facilitated by Professor Groome. Learn about steps your might take to live in closer accord with nonviolent love, radical simplicity, and sustainable living in your own life.

Register online here.

For directions to the TML, please see the Visit page on the Theology and Ministry Library's website. For information about parking, visit the Boston College visitor parking page.