The college’s annual Critical Issues Symposium provides an intensive look at a single topic. This year’s symposium, being held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 25-26, is examining “Reconciliation: Hope in a Divided World” and will include two keynote addresses, two blocks of concurrent panel presentations or focus sessions, and several department-sponsored events.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

The symposium events open on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel with the keynote address “Reconciliation: Why It Matters and How to Do It Well” by Miroslav Volf, who is the founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Conn.

The symposium will continue on Wednesday, Sept. 26, beginning at 9 a.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel with the keynote address “Reconciliation: How Teachings from a 2,000-Year-Old Book Can Bring Healing to a 500-Year-Old Wound” by Mark Charles, who is a speaker, writer and consultant from Fort Defiance, Ariz., located on the Navajo Reservation.

Both keynote events will also include music by visiting artist Gillian Grannum, who is a bassist, pianist, songwriter and singer, performing with members of the Hope jazz faculty.

The morning sessions on Wednesday, Sept. 26, will begin at 10:30 a.m. The afternoon focus sessions on Wednesday, Sept. 26, will begin at 1 p.m.  The department-sponsored sessions will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 2:15 p.m.

Additional details concerning the blocks of concurrent focus sessions and departmental sessions, including locations, will be available in the printed program distributed during the symposium, and may also be found through the college’s web site at hope.edu/cis. Additional information may be obtained by calling Alfredo Gonzales, associate provost and dean for international and multicultural education at Hope, at (616) 395-7080.