Featured Speakers, Christian Education

William E. Mann

William E. Mann has been a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vermont since 1974. Mann's areas of specialization include the philosophy of religion, ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, and metaphysics. He also has interests in logic, the philosophy of logic, and ethics.

Mann’s most recent published work includes essays on the interpretation of various medieval philosophers along with a series of papers in philosophical theology that investigate various connections between religion and ethics. The latter papers deal with aspects of the general question, “What difference, if any, would the existence of God make to questions about good and bad, right and wrong?”.

Mann regularly teaches introductory-level courses (Introduction to Philosophy: Selected Problems, Introduction to Logic) along with an intermediate-level course in the History of Ancient Philosophy and an advanced undergraduate seminar dealing with the philosophical interrelations between religion and ethics.

Some of Mann's representative publications are:

• The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of  Religion (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), xvi + 335 pp.  
• “Inner-Life Ethics,” in Gareth B. Matthews (ed.), The Augustinian Tradition (Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1999), pp. 140-165.
• “Augustine on Evil and Original Sin,” in Eleonore Stump and Norman  Kretzmann (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to  Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 40-48.  
• “Duns Scotus on Natural and Supernatural Knowledge of God,” in Thomas  Williams (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to  Duns Scotus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 238-262.  
• “To Catch a Heretic: Augustine on Lying,” Faith and Philosophy, 20 (2003), Special  Issue on “Augustine,” pp. 479-495.
• “Ethics,” in Jeffrey Brower and Kevin Guilfoy (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Abelard  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 279-304.
• “Theism and the Foundations of Ethics,” in William E. Mann (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of  Religion (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2004), pp. 283-304.
• “Divine Sovereignty and Aseity,” in William J. Wainwright (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of  Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
• “Anselm on the Trinity,” in Brian Davies and Brian Leftow (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Anselm  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

Don Loeb, Department of Philosophy, University of Vermont  

My research focuses on metaethical issues such as the debate over moral realism, the methodology of moral reasoning, the function of moral language, and the nature of the good. I regularly teach a seminar on contemporary approaches to these issues, as well as courses in jurisprudence and political philosophy, and a problems-oriented introductory class (with an emphasis on ethics, philosophy of religion and epistemology).

Since 2003, I have been director of the John Dewey Honors Program in UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences.  For several years I have taught introductory classes in the program, including “Skepticism: Moral, Theological, and Global” and “Contemporary Moral Problems”.

With Alan Wertheimer of Political Science, I am the  author of a new, two semester course, “Making  Ethical Choices: Personal, Public, and Professional,” which will be  taken by all first year students in UVM’s  Honors  College, beginning in the fall of  2004.  In conjunction with this course, Professor  Wertheimer and I will also lead a faculty summer seminar on some of the same  material in August of 2004
 
Recent publications:

• "Reply to Gill and Sayre-McCord", Forthcoming in W. Sinnott Armstrong,  ed., Ethics and Cognitive  Science

• "The Argument from Moral Experience",  Forthcoming in Ethical Theory and Moral  Practice

• "Reply to Gerd Gigarenzer",  (with Julia Driver), Forthcoming in  W. Sinnot Armstrong, ed., Ethics and  Cognitive Science

• “Moral Incoherentism: How to  Pull a Metaphysical Rabbit Out of a Semantic Hat” (Forthcoming in The  Psychology and Biology of Morality, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong,  ed.)

• "Moral Explanations of Moral Beliefs," Forthcoming in  Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

• "Gastronomic Realism--A Cautionary Tale" [PDF] <http://www.uvm.edu/~dloeb/GR.pdf> 2 The Journal Of Theoretical and Philosophical  Psychology, 2003

• "Moral Realism and the Argument from Disagreement,"  Philosophical  Studies, Vol. 90, No 3, June 1998  

• "Must a Moral Irrealist be a Pragmatist?,"  American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 2, April, 1996  

• "Generality and Moral Justification," Philosophy  and Phenomenological Research, Vol. LVI, No. I, March,  1996

• "Full-Information Accounts of Individual Good,"  Social Theory and Practice Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring, 1995;  reprinted in George Sher, ed., Moral Philosophy: Selected  Readings, 2nd ed.

 
Book  Reviews:
 

•            Ethical Norms, Particular Cases, by James Wallace, The  Philosophical Review, Vol.111, No. 1 (January, 2002)

•            The Tanner Lectures in Human Values 17, Grethe Peterson,  ed., Ethics, Vol. 112, No. 1   (October,  2001)

•            Common Values, by Sisella Bok, Ethics, Vol. 107, No. 4,  July, 1997

Appellate  Brief:                   

•  Vacco v. Quill (Assisted  Suicide)      U.S.  Supreme Court,    November,  1996  

• What Possible use could a Moral Irrealist  Have for Moral Reasoning?"
• "Why Should I Care What I Value?" (Delivered as  lectures; in prep. for Oxford Studies in  Metaethics)
• Moral Irrealism  (Book  Manuscript)

Robert J. Nash
Professor

Robert J. Nash has been a professor in the College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont, Burlington, for 38 years. He specializes in philosophy of education, ethics, higher education, and religion, spirituality, and education. He holds graduate degrees in English, Theology/Religious Studies, Applied Ethics and Liberal Studies, and Philosophy/Educational Philosophy. He holds faculty appointments in teacher education, higher education administration, and interdisciplinary studies in education. He administers the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program, and he teaches ethics, religion, higher education, and philosophy of education courses, and scholarly personal narrative writing seminars across four programs in the college including the doctoral program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He has supervised over 100 theses and dissertations. 

He has published more than 100 articles, book chapters, monographs, and essay book reviews in many of the leading journals in education at all levels. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Religion & Education, and one of its frequent contributors. Since 1996, he has published seven books, several of them national award winners: “Real World” Ethics: Frameworks for Educators and Human Service Professionals (1st and 2nd editions);  Answering the “Virtuecrats”: A Moral Conversation on Character Education; Faith, Hype, and Clarity: Teaching About Religion in American Schools and Colleges; Religious Pluralism in the Academy: Opening the Dialogue; Spirituality, Ethics, Religion, and Teaching: A Professor’s Journey; and Liberating Scholarly Writing: The Power of Personal Narrative. Another book, Facing the Demons: Survival Narratives for Educators, Students, and Human Service Professionals is out for review. He recently completed a book with Professor Penny Bishop, Middle-Level educator, whose working title is Teaching Adolescents Religious Literacy in a Post-9/11 World: Extending the Reach of Multiculturalism. The manuscript is currently out for review at a major academic press. Another book co-authored with DeMethra Bradley and Arthur Chickering whose working title is Rekindling the Fire of Conversation: How To Talk about “Hot” Topics Across Campus Without Getting Burned will be published by Wiley/Jossey-Bass in late 2007 or early 2008.

Dr. Nash has done a variety of consultancies throughout the country for a number of human service organizations and colleges and universities. He has also made a series of major presentations at national conferences and at universities on the topics of ethics, character education, religious pluralism, scholarly personal narrative scholarship, and moral conversation. He is a frequent, featured speaker at the national level. In 2003, he was named the Official University Scholar in the Social Sciences and the Humanities at The University of Vermont, only the second faculty member in the history of the College of Education and Social Services to be so honored

Rev. Wesley Pastor

Wes Pastor is founder and president of NETS as well as a successful church planter. After graduating from Westminster Theological Seminary, he moved to Vermont and launched Christ Memorial Church <http://www.cmcvermont.org/> , now the largest Baptist church in the state. While continuing as senior minister at Christ Memorial, Wes is pursuing his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at Wales Evangelical School of Theology. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Sue, and their five children.

Education & Background:

• M.A.R. from Westminster Theological Seminary (1990) (includes four years  at Dallas  Theological Seminary)  
• M.B.A. from Miami University (1982)  
• B.A. from The Ohio State University (1978)  
• Pursuing a Ph.D. with the Wales  Evangelical School of Theology  
• Has worked in business as an accountant and taught business at the  university level

Church Planting experience:

• Founding Pastor - Christ Memorial Church, Williston, VT (1992)  
• Senior Minister - Christ Memorial Church (1992 - present).  
• Current attendance: 500
• Founder and President - The NETS Institute for Church  Planting (2000)  
• Initiator of New England daughter church plants:  
• Christ Redeemer Church, Hanover, NH (2000).  
• Redeeming Grace Church, Fairfax, VT (Easter 2005).  
• Initiator of International church plants:  
• Redeemer Baptist Church, Bamenda, Cameroon (Spring 2005).