Panel to Examine How Ancient Texts Discuss Handling Pain

How should we understand pain? Embrace it as a gift? Avoid it like the plague? Endure it as a necessary evil? Come join us at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, for a panel discussion from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the Great Hall at Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall to see what insight we can garner on handling pain from ancient texts such as Homer’s Iliad, the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Galen’s On the Affected Parts and many others.

How should we understand pain? Embrace it as a gift? Avoid it like the plague? Endure it as a necessary evil? Come join us at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, for a panel discussion from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the Great Hall at Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall to see what insight we can garner on handling pain from ancient texts such as Homer’s Iliad, the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Galen’s On the Affected Parts and many others. The panel is free and open to the public.

Members of this renowned panel are participants in an unprecedented interdisciplinary project, funded by the International Catacomb Society, in collaboration with Houston Methodist Research Institute and Perkins School of Theology. Participants explore how ancient texts can illuminate our modern perceptions of pain. 

Panelists for this event include:

  • Jack Levison, W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology
  • Robert Fine, Clinical Director of Clinical Ethics & Palliative Care at Baylor Scott & White Health
  • Angela Kim Harkins, Associate Professor of New Testament at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
  • Brooke Holmes, Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Humanistic Studies at Princeton University

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Perkins School of Theology, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with The Graduate Program in Religious Studies at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.