UNC Asheville will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the month of January with a host of special events, including a candlelight vigil, a film screening and lectures. Sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Multicultural Student Programs, the events are free and open to the public.

 Candlelight Vigil and Film Screening

UNC Asheville’s Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration will open with a candlelight vigil from 6-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union lower level lobby. Following the vigil, the documentary “Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks” will be screened in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union room 104. The film infuses the familiar story of Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott with first-person accounts, dramatizations and narration by the Parks family and others involved with the movement. Produced by Teaching Tolerance and Tell the Truth Pictures, “Mighty Times,” has received critical acclaim and was broadcast nationally by HBO.

 
Local Activist Gives Talk on Early African-American Scientist

Local activist Errington C. Thompson will discuss “The Similarities of Dr. Charles Drew and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, in UNC Asheville’s Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall.

Drew was a preeminent African-American surgeon, teacher and scientist who helped devise the now universal blood-bank process to store large amounts of plasma. During World War II, Drew was chosen as medial supervisor of the “Blood for Britain” project, which helped save the lives of many soldiers. Later, he was named director of the first American Red Cross effort to collect and bank blood on a large scale. As Drew set up the blood banks and trained staff, he spoke out against the practice of separating blood according to the race of the donor.

Thompson, a trauma and critical care surgeon, is the associate director of trauma/surgical care at Mission Hospitals. He is also the host of the local radio program “Where’s the Outrage?” and the author of “A Letter to America: Is President Bush Leading Us in the Right Direction?”
 

Theologian to Give Two Lectures on Contemporary Christian Issues

Noted theologian Paul Metzger will wrap up the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration with two talks on contemporary Christian issues. Metzger, professor of Christian theology at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Oregon, holds masters’ degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a doctorate from King’s College at the University of London. He is the director of “The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins,” which aims to address current issues in a Christian context – especially issues not commonly dealt with in the church. He is the author of “The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth” and “Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology.” He is currently working on two new books, “Eating (Jim) Crow: Consuming Race and Class Divisions in the Consumer Church” and “The Bride: An Ecumenical and Evangelical Ecclesiology.”

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, Metzger will discuss “On the Christian Religion: A Latté for the Consumer Masses.” The event will be held in UNC Asheville's Rhoades-Robinson Hall room 125. During his talk, Metzger will address various injustices that undermine American culture as well as the church. He will discuss why he believes that these injustices are larger than individual choices but are systemic in our society and churches. Metzger will present a rallying call for Christians to move beyond what he sees as pious patriotism to an all-encompassing social change.

Metzger will speak again at noon Wednesday, Jan. 31, in UNC Asheville’s Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. In this talk Metzger will address “Eating Jim Crow: Consuming Race and Class Division in the Consumer Church.” He will invite audience discussion on the specific injustice of race and class divisions that exist deeply within the church.

Metzger’s talks are co-sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.

For more information about these events, call UNC Asheville’s Multicultural Student Programs Office at 828/232-5110.