Adult Education – July 2017

The Heart of the Matter

Grab this summer opportunity to reflect on our role as Christians in a world of uncertainty, change, and anxiety. Come looking to claim your hope, Christian resilience, and the gifts God bestows for the work our times call us to do.

Coffee and bagels served at every class

For a look at the entire Summer offerings, download the brochure: AE Summer-2017 bro.


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Mission Matters: Christianity in Taiwan Today

Jonathan Seitz

July 2, 11:15AM
Assembly Room

Come hear about what Presbyterians are doing in Taiwan today. Explore ongoing issues and challenges and questions that impact the future. You will have a chance to ask your questions of our mission coworker on the ground in Taiwan.

Jonathan Seitz has lived in East Asia for more than a decade, first in Beijing and Singapore, and now in Taipei after first going in 2005. Jonathan and Emily are two of about 120 PCUSA mission co-workers serving throughout the world. Jonathan teaches at Taiwan Graduate School of Theology. They also lived in New Jersey for about ten years. Jonathan did his MDiv and PhD at Princeton Theological Seminary and Emily did graduate school in library science at Rutgers. Nassau has proudly supported their work since 2013.


Advocacy and Change Matter: Writing Checks, Signing Petitions, and Protest Marches… Is That All There Is?

Sam Daley-Harris

July 9, 11:15AM
Assembly Room

Are you hungry for a bigger voice in our democracy? Are you frustrated by the options you see: writing more checks, signing more petitions, and joining more protests or counter-protests? Are you wondering if that’s all there is? Sam Daley-Harris answers no, there’s so much more. For Daley-Harris the key is connecting with an organization committed to helping dissolve the powerlessness, but that’s not an easy task. Join Sam as he guides us around the pitfalls and on a path to making a profound difference on issues like getting money out of politics, climate change, ending global and
domestic poverty, and reducing the Pentagon budget.

Sam Daley-Harris founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980 and founded the Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation (CCET) in 2012. CCET helps non-profits train their members to create champions in Congress and the media for their cause. Daley-Harris coached Citizens Climate Lobby the first seven years of its existence and is author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break between People and Government. Ashoka (Everyone a Changemaker) founder Bill Drayton called Daley-Harris “one of the certified great social entrepreneurs of the last decades.”


The Constitution Matters: Reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016–17 Term

Larry Stratton

July 16, 11:15AM
Assembly Room

Explore the U.S. Supreme Court’s cases regarding playgrounds and religious school funding; the scope of the duty of prosecutors to give defendants exculpatory evidence; presidential appointees and congressional recesses; gerrymandered congressional districts; land use regulation and takings; and other hot-button legal issues in the overall context of the judiciary’s place on the constitutional map following Justice Neil Gorsuch’s elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Lawrence M. Stratton is Director of Waynesburg University’s Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership, and Assistant Professor of Ethics and Constitutional Law at Waynesburg. Dr. Stratton received his M.Div. and Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Princeton Theological  Seminary and also has a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. As a field education intern at Nassau Presbyterian during his M.Div. studies, Dr. Stratton began an ongoing exploration of American constitutional  law in relation to insights from the Christian faith during many sessions at Nassau Presbyterian beginning in the fall of 2001.


The Constitution Matters in the Age of Trump

Keith Whittington

July 23, 11:15AM
Assembly Room

Come and explore constitutional issues in the Trump administration. Included will be an examination of the Supreme Court confirmation politics.

Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of several books on American  constitutional history, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. presidency. He has two forthcoming books, one on the history of judicial review of federal statutes and one on free speech on college campuses.


The Presidency Matters: What God Wrought?

Mark Herr

July 30, 11:15AM
Assembly Room

No, not Samuel B. Morse, but Trumpalooza. Come for a post mortem of the 2016 election and an interpretation of the first six months of life under the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

Mark Herr is a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Communications of Point72 Asset Management, L.P. He is responsible for creating and  overseeing the firm’s enterprise-wide internal and external communications strategy and operations. Previously, Mr. Herr was a member of the administration of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, serving as the Director and Assistant Attorney General in charge of New Jersey’s  Division of Consumer Affairs and Bureau of Securities. Mark is a member of Nassau Presbyterian Church.