Christian ethics expert to address Family Dynamic: Monday, April 20
Dr. Julie Hanlon Rubio, a professor of Christian ethics at St. Louis University, will deliver an address at Niagara University on April 20 as part of the Henry and Grace McNulty Lecture Series on Religion in the Modern World.
The title of Dr. Rubio’s talk, which will take place in the Castellani Art Museum at 12:20 p.m., is “Are Catholics Saying Something New about Families?” It will touch upon some of the discussions pertaining to the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, an October 2014 Vatican City assembly on “the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”
The event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Rubio focuses her research on Catholic theology on marriage and family and Catholic social teaching. She has a strong commitment to bridging the gap between sexual and social ethics, and a strong desire to find common ground between liberals and conservatives.
Dr. Rubio’s first book, A Christian Theology of Marriage and Family, provides an introduction to Catholic theology on the family and emphasizes the family’s social mission. It is often used in undergraduate courses on Christian marriage.
Georgetown University Press published Dr. Rubio’s monograph, Family Ethics: Practices for Christians, in its Moral Traditions series. In Between the Personal and Political: Catholic Hope for Common Ground, set to be released in 2016, Dr. Rubio attempts to move Catholics beyond culture war divisions to dialogue on poverty, marriage, abortion, and end of life care. She argues that in the local sphere, better ethical conversation and action are possible.
Dr. Rubio holds a B.A. in political science from Yale University, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religion and social ethics from the University of Southern California.
The McNulty Lecture Series is devoted to questions of faith in the contemporary world, especially the topics of social justice and interreligious dialogue. The series was established by the late Rev. Thomas P. McGourty, C.M., a professor of religious studies at NU, in memory of his late aunt and uncle.
For more information, please contact Dr. Brian Bennett, chair of Niagara University’s department of religious studies, at 716.286.8454 or bbennett@niagara.edu<mailto:bbennett@niagara.edu.