September 4, 2007

“Tools for War, Tools for Change, Tools for Peace” will continue to be the featured exhibition a La Sierra University’s Stahl Center Museum of Culture through November 2007. The Stahl Center is located on the La Sierra University campus in La Sierra Hall.

The exhibit is the first time the Stahl Center has displayed several of its collections including a number of objects used by the Alaska/Yukon Inuit people as part of everyday life, war clubs from Figi and Papua New Guinea, agricultural instruments from Burkina Faso in Western Africa, as well as weapons and ceramics on loan from La Sierra University’s Biblical archaeology collections. 

Inspired by the admonition to “Beat your plowshares into swords” (Joel 3:10) and ancient prophesies that in the last days “they will hammer their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3), the Stahl Center’s current exhibit uses tools symbolizing both destruction and creative production to explore universal themes of conflict, social change, and reconciliation that are at once timeless and timely.

“Tools for War, Tools for Change, Tools for Peace” offers to audiences of all ages a thought-provoking look at themes of war, social change, and peacemaking as well as everyday life in cultures around the world.  Want to know more about what solar ovens, pens, and sewing machines have to do with building peace or what swords and ploughs have in common?  Come and find out!

The Stahl Center and its Museum of Culture were established in honor of Ana & Fernando Stahl, educators/developers in Peru’s Andes and Amazon.  The Stahls who sought to understand and share their lives and their medical and educational skills with the peoples of the Amazon and the Antiplano in Peru and Bolivia. 

“This couple is celebrated by investigators on three continents for establishing the first indigenous school system and first coeducational school system—progressive initiatives that fostered individual empowerment, human rights, and religious toleration,” according to Stahl Center curator Inelda Ritchie Christianson. 

The goal of the museum is to share the vision of the Stahls and other medical missionaries who have contributed artifacts to the Stahl Center, and to assist visitors in appreciating and understanding the cultures of the world.  This exhibit supports the Stahl Center’s mission to educate students and community members about global cultures and issues of social justice.

“Tools for War, Tools for Change, Tools for Peace” can be seen on Saturdays, from 2 to 5 p.m., on the La Sierra Campus, and by appointment at other times during the week. For more information and appointments, contact the Stahl Center at 951-785- 2041.

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)