WILLIAM H POTEAT
Primacy of Persons
2014 Conference
Thursday June 5
12:00 - 4:50 PM View new archive of Poteat’s unpublished writings at YDS Library Special
Collections Dept.
6:00 PM - 10 PM Informal gathering at Mory's 306 York St
Friday June 6 DAY 1
8:15 AM Yale Divinity School • 409 Prospect St
Display of Poteat Special Collection
Acknowledgement of Poteat Archive at YDS Library Special Collections
Dedication of Moustakas's From the Catastrophe to Rebirth
Orpheus & Eurydice • Haikus to Bill Poteat
10:00 AM-11:30 AM Session 1. Introductory Plenary Session (YDS Day Missions Rm)
10:00 AM-11:00 AM Bruce Lawrence “Who Was William H. Poteat and What Was He About?”
11:00 AM-11:30 AM Discussion
11:40 AM Bus ride from YDS to Morse College Dining Hall (304 York St)
11:50 AM Lunch • Morse College Dining Hall
12:45 PM-3:05 PM Session 2. Poteat’s Career-Long Primary Preoccupation
(WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117)
12:45 PM-1:25 PM R. Melvin Kaiser “What Was Poteat Up To From the Beginning, and What are We
to do About it?”
1:25 PM-2:05 PM James W. Stines “The Early and Later Poteat and the Problematic of Christianity.”
2:05 PM-2:45 PM David Nikkel “Curing Dualistic, Disembodied Patterns of Thinking in the Academy.”
2:45 PM-3:05 PM Discussion
3:05 PM Break • Snack
3:20 PM-6:00 PM Session 3. The Poteat-Polanyi Connection (WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117)
3:20 PM-3:55 PM David Rutledge “Who Was Polanyi and What Was He About?”
3:55 PM-4:30 PM Gus Breytspraak “The Poteat-Polanyi Connection: A History.”
4:30 PM-5:05 PM Walter Mead "Poteat's Contribution to Polanyi's Thinking: A Radically Dynamic
Anthropology.”
5:05 PM-5:40 PM David Rutledge “Fertile Ground and Point of Departure: Poteat's Use of Polanyi.”
5:40 PM-6:00 PM Discussion
6:00 PM Dinner • Morse College Dining Hall (304 York St)
7:00 PM-9:00 PM Session 4. Remembering William H. Poteat (WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117)
7:00 PM-7:45 PM Rev. Sam Mann “The Reflections of a White Ghetto Preacher on the Influence of
the Thought/Spirit of W.H. Poteat on Preaching and The Civil Rights Movement.”
7:45 PM-until- Sharing of Memories • During which all who knew Bill are encouraged to
celebrate Poteat and his legacy through a sharing of memories.
Saturday June 7 DAY 2
8:00 AM Breakfast Buffet (Morse College Dining Hall)
9:00 AM-10:30 AM Session 5. Poteat’s Reading of/Interpretation of/Reliance on Modernity’s
Critics (WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117)
9:00 AM-9:45 AM Diane M. Yeager “Poteat and the Space of Appearances"
Reading, Interpretation, and Reliance on Key Critics
of Modern Culture
9:45 AM-10:30 AM Q&A Discussion • All who worked with Poteat and / or Key critics are welcome
to complement Diane Yeager's presentation
10:30 AM Break
10:45 AM-12:15 PM Session 6. What Is It to Be Post-Critical? (WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117)
10:45 AM-11:30 AM Dale Cannon “What Is It to Be Post-Critical?”
11:30 AM-12:15 PM Q&A Discussion
12:15 PM Lunch • Morse College Dining Hall
Concurrent Afternoon Sessions (WL Harkness Hall • Rms 117 & 112)
1:30 PM-3:30 PM Session 7A. Implications of Post-Critical Thought Opened Up by Poteat
(Rm 117)
1:30 PM-2:20 PM Kieran Cashell “Cézanne’s Belief: Poteat’s Contribution to Aesthetics.”
2:20 PM-3:10 PM Murray Jardine “Political Implications of Poteat’s Philosophy.”
3:10 PM-3:30 PM Q&A Discussion
Session 7B: Implications of Postcritical Thought Opened Up by Poteat
(Rm 112)
1:30 PM-2:20 PM Allen Dyer “Madness as Metaphor: Therapeutic Implications of Post-Critical
Thought.”
2:20 PM-3:10 PM Bob Hyatt “Poteat and Psychoanalysis.”
3:10 PM-3:30 PM Q&A Discussion
3:30 PM Break • Snack
Concurrent Afternoon Sessions (WL Harkness Hall Rms 117 & 112)
3:45 PM-5:45 PM Session 8A: Implications of Postcritical Thought Opened up by Poteat
(Rm 117)
3:45PM-4:35PM Sam Watson “The Mindings Collage: Encouraging Students to Recognize and
Honor the Workings of Their Own Minds.”
4:35PM-5:25PM James Clement Van Pelt “Mindbody at the Gateless Gate: Poteat’s Rediscovery
of the Experiential Singularity.”
5:25PM-5:45PM Q&A Discussion
Session 8B. Implications of Postcritical Thought Opened up by Poteat
(Rm 112)
3:45 PM-4:35 PM Ellen Bernal “Bioethics: Poteat and Polanyi.”
4:35 PM-5:25 PM Richard Prust “If the Personal is Tacit, How Can we Identify a Person?"
5:25 PM-5:45 PM Q&A Discussion
5:45 PM Dinner Buffet • Morse College Dining Hall
7:00 PM-9:00 PM Session 9. Poteat’s Teaching (WL Harkness Hall •Rm 112)
7:00 PM-8:00 PM Ed St. Clair, Bruce Haddox and Elizabeth Newman
“A Panel Discussion of Poteat’s Graduate Seminar Teaching.”
8:00 PM-9:00 PM Q&A Discussion
During this time those who studied with Bill are encouraged to complement the panelists' remarks with reflections upon Poteat's teaching (including Divinity School and Undergraduate Teaching).
Sunday June 8 DAY 3
8:30 AM Continental Breakfast • WL Harkness Hall • Rm 117
9:00 AM-11:00 AM Session 10. Poteat’s Professional Achievements and Place in the Academy
9:00 AM-9:50 AM Elizabeth Newman “Poteat as Theologian.”
9:50 AM-10:40 AM Ron Hall “Dethroning Epistemology.”
10:40 AM-11:00 AM Q&A Discussion
11:00 AM Break • Stroll to 100 Tower Parkway for Session 11 and Full Brunch
11:15 AM Brunch • Final Session occurs during Brunch at 100 Tower Parkway
1:15 AM - 12:30 PM Session 11. Loose Ends: Where to from Here?
(100 Tower Parkway Activity Rm)
Open Discussion (no formal presentations)
12:30 PM End of Conference
Moustakas, in his work and in his person, bore witness before me to a wholeness of being at once alien and familiar: alien as an other to my intellect; familiar as an exigent need of my total being.