3/27/08

Va Festival of the Book on Evil and Sin

After a dinner of baked potatoes with all the fixings, Sue, foreign exchange student Dora, and I attended the event they had selected, "Evil and Sin," which Jacob Goodson moderated at the Village School on East High Street. The panel consisted of:
  • Jennifer Geddes, editor of Evil After Postmodernism, a research associate professor of Religious Studies at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at UVa and editor of The Hedgehog Review: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture;
  • Dr. Barbara Oakley, author of Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend, who is professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan; and
  • John Portmann, author of A History of Sin: Its Evolution to Today and Beyond, and assistant professor of religious studies at UVa.
A bit dry and Oakley thinks her sister has evil genes. As Dora said, "What does that say about her?"