“Are We Safe Yet? Vulnerability and Security in an Anxious Age”
September 18-19, 2008

The topic of this year’s Sarah Smith Conference seeks to address a common concern for all – from global leaders around diplomatic tables to local families around the kitchen table. We ask the simple question, “Are We Safe Yet?” and locate the conversation thinking about “Vulnerability and Security in an Anxious Age.”

The conference will bring thoughtful engagement regarding the constructive role faith can and does play in public leadership. It is obvious to all that security, as traditionally pursued, comes with an extremely high price, in monetary and human terms. Can we describe means to understand and enact security outside of the typical turn to power dynamics? Can we envision a way to draw upon “vulnerability” positively, rather than viewing it as a liability? In short, the conference asks: how can we envision modes of professional leadership where faith reframes vulnerability and security, opening new possibilities for safety and human flourishing?

The conference, interdisciplinary by design, seeks to address such pressing questions for those working in the fields of politics, law and divinity, but with direct impact on and participation by those in business, medicine, the media, the academy and in various other spheres of life in society.