February 2020
Feeding America’s Presidents: African Americans Who Made Culinary History
Who cooked for every First Family from the Washingtons to the Obamas? Culinary historian and award-winning author Adrian Miller will share the fascinating story of the more than 150 African Americans who worked in the presidential food service as chefs, personal cooks, butlers, stewards, and servers to our nation’s leaders. Miller is an accomplished storyteller. His research conveys the labor of enslaved people during the antebellum period and the gradual opening of employment after Emancipation. In the process, African…
Find out more »Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America
Join us as historian Darren Dochuk narrates the recent past through the stories of American Christianity and the oil industry. From the earliest discovery of oil in America during the Civil War, citizens saw the resource as the nation's special blessing and its peculiar burden, the source of its prophetic mission in the world. To the present day, the oil industry's leaders and workers together have fundamentally transformed American religion, business, and politics—boosting America's ascent as a preeminent global power,…
Find out more »March 2020
Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age
We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits—and devices—that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"—an age in which all beliefs are equally viable, and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect…
Find out more »Reading Group: “Living in Bonus Time” by Alec Hill
Trials, tragedies, and life-altering events are inevitable. But in the liminal space between crisis and an unknown tomorrow, a surprising freedom can be found and harvested—a fresh sense of what it means to be alive, the consolation of unexpected grace, even a new sense of meaning and purpose. At Upper House, we are gathering to read Alec Hill’s Living in Bonus Time: Surviving Cancer, Finding New Purpose (InterVarsity Press, 2020). Whether you have personally received a life-altering diagnosis, accompanied a friend…
Find out more »Communicating the Gospel in a Secular and Distracted Age
Sharing the Gospel and educating students in a distracted and secular age. In this M-Lab (ministry lab), Alan Noble will discuss ways to: • present the whole Gospel to emerging adults at UW-Madison. • educate the next generation of college students, Gen Z. • thoughtfully prepare college students to share their faith with their peers. Speaker Bio: Dr. O. Alan Noble is an Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and author…
Find out more »Christ and Pop Culture
How do we engage with our culture in a way that is open, winsome, faithful and thoughtful? How do we show the beauty and goodness of the Gospel as it intersects with every sphere of culture and media? How might we publicly offer an alternative vision of a living faith that others might comprehend and receive? Christ and Pop Culture is an online curated magazine, which exists to acknowledge, appreciate, and think rightly about the common knowledge of our age.…
Find out more »POSTPONED – 5 Things I Wish I Had Known In My 30s
Due to growing concerns about the coronavirus and Alec Hill’s location in the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, Alec, in consultation with Upper House, has decided to postpone his visit to Madison. All events with Alec for the week of March 9th have been cancelled. Thank you for your understanding and ongoing prayers. Somehow, you’re supposed to develop all at once as a leader, spouse, parent, professional, Christ follower, community member, and friend. Where did all these roles and…
Find out more »POSTPONED – Just Business
Due to growing concerns about the coronavirus and Alec Hill’s location in the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, Alec, in consultation with Upper House, has decided to postpone his visit to Madison. All events with Alec for the week of March 9th have been cancelled. Thank you for your understanding and ongoing prayers. Business leaders face a multitude of pressures from a wide variety of stakeholders–employees, suppliers, customers, board members, shareholders, and competitors. Moreover, they must face their own…
Find out more »POSTPONED – Living in Bonus Time: Surviving Cancer, Finding New Purpose
Due to growing concerns about the coronavirus and Alec Hill’s location in the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, Alec, in consultation with Upper House, has decided to postpone his visit to Madison. All events with Alec for the week of March 9th have been cancelled. Thank you for your understanding and ongoing prayers. Why am I still here? Where is God in all this? Can anything good come out of my suffering? How should I live differently now? In…
Find out more »Veritas Virtual Forum: Coronavirus and Quarantine
Within the span of a week, things have changed quickly, unexpectedly, and uncomfortably. Hundreds of colleges and universities have gone virtual overnight. What now? What if this disorienting season of quarantine is not simply isolating and inconvenient? What if it provides a space for reflection to ask some of life’s biggest questions? Join us with students and leaders from colleges and universities around the country as we wrestle with some of these important questions. We will hear from David Brooks…
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