We had the wonderful opportunity to visit Silicon Valley this past spring break as part of the CEL Immersion trip to California. While we were there, we experienced many contrasting moments that led us to consider our theme of beauty and justice. We engaged with incredible people and technical advancements that made us hopeful for the future. Yet we also observed broken systems that challenged us in our roles as innovators, scholars, entrepreneurs, and, most importantly, as Christians. We saw and smelled vibrant flowers growing in the ruins of Alcatraz, and in the construction site of a Christian rehabilitation ministry– yet outside the doors of some of the world’s most wealthy companies, there are countless people forced to make the streets their home. By sharing our insights through narratives and photos, we hope to explore our experience seeing how God is doing beautiful and just works through his people across the world.
We have diverse students majored in literature, economics, environmental science, and international affairs who will discuss the questions below: 1. Is beauty necessary for justice, or can justice exist without beauty? 2. Who gets to define justice on a global scale? On what basis (e.g. cultural, national, institutional, etc.)? 3. Are government systems capable of upholding justice, or do they require moral guidance? 4. Is justice primarily about equality, or about protecting human dignity? 5. How do societies preserve beauty (e.g. culture, art, traditions) amidst economic/political crises. 6. Does globalization create more justice, or does it deepen inequality between nations? 7. Should Wealthy countries be responsible for addressing global poverty and climate change? 8. Are democratic systems necessary for justice, or can justice exist under different political systems? 9. Do international institutions (UN, IMF, World Bank) actually promote justice, or reinforce power structures? 10. Can technological progress (AI, automation, cryptocurrency) create a more just world? What are some challenges we might face related to inequality?
The questions are formulated to draw out conversations derived from cross-cultural experience and classroom knowledge on global operations.
Gordon's student literary magazine, The Idiom, wishes for this session to be a chance to take a closer look at what goes into The Idiom and what it means to us. Some of the students who were published this year will share and read from their work, followed by an open discussion. A lot of the pieces in this edition are prayerful and reflective, which is the kind of writing that slows you down and makes you think. In that way, we think it connects naturally to this year's theme of Beauty and Justice, since literature has a way of holding both at once. We'll also talk about some of the recent changes The Idiom has gone through as a publication and what direction it's heading. This grows out of the real work students are doing here at Gordon, both in and out of the classroom, and we're excited to share it with the broader community.
Various experiences and opportunities through Community Engagement work have allowed students the unique privilege of meeting diverse groups of people, hearing stories of beauty, and seeing where the work of justice is being done in communities around us. Join us for an interactive experience as we engage with these stories and these communities, looking at where we have seen the image of God reflected in the faces of others and in their experiences. Explore how there is beauty in diverse stories and how we experience the beauty of a relationship with a Savior who "not only became one of the actually poor and marginalized, he stood in the place of all those of us in spiritual poverty and bankruptcy (Matthew 5:3) and paid our debt. Now that is a thing of beauty. To take that into the center of your life and heart will make you one of the just" (Keller, 2010, 188).
The Linguistics Club is hosting a time to listen to God's word shared in many of the languages represented at Gordon and hear from the work of linguistics students studying writing systems used around the world. We are reflecting on the beautiful things of language and considering how God is speaking across cultural and linguistic boundaries. We will be presenting multi-lingual Bible readings, poetry readings, a language learning liturgy, presentations of students' calligraphic designs, and a lesson in unique writing systems from around the world.
Rome's culture has had a long and varied influence on societies that followed it, particularly in the spheres of art, architecture, law, and government. In this session students will display works of art inspired by the Roman world and present on diverse topics ranging from the apostle Paul's imprisonment, to gladitorial combat in Rome and Hollywood, Cicero's speeches, and Roman fashion.
In an age where technological progress is measured by speed, scale, and efficiency, we rarely ask whether efficiency itself is beautiful, or just. My session would explore the environmental, political, and ethical consequences of the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure across the globe. As multinational technology companies invest millions in data centers and digital networks, developing nations such as the Dominican Republic are dragged into the global AI economy. These projects promise innovation and growth, yet they raise urgent questions about environmental degradation, energy consumption, land use, and national sovereignty. I would examine how technological globalization can reproduce patterns of resource extraction and dependency. It will also propose policy-oriented solutions that prioritize our spiritual responsibility in environmental stewardship, local sovereignty, and long-term sustainability. Rooted in Christian principles of stewardship, subsidiarity, and justice, I would argue that beauty and justice must shape how societies evaluate technological progress. Ultimately, I will invite listeners to reconsider their relationship with technology and explore simpler and more sufficient ways of living. This topic is what I am planning on covering for my Senior Seminar final paper (POL 434 State, Citizen and Civil Society). This topic serves as my foundation in feeling called to pursue Environmental Law post-grad.
