Who would you invite to a dinner party?

My classmates and I are utterly busy the first week of the quarter. So much so that we have time to ponder interesting questions:

Assuming no language barriers, and considering any real person dead or alive, which 5 people would you invite to a dinner party in your home?

This interesting question had our whole class responding via e-mail. I can't wait to see the compiled list courtesy of Dave. It got me thinking. . .there are certainly over 5 people I would love to converse with at a dinner party. But how much more interesting would it be to have people who are not only phenomenal contributors to philosophy, science, christianity, and society, but to have people whose points of view are so utterly different that they spark a very fun and engaging dialogue. I began to consider what Ravi Zacharias must have thought when he wrote Jesus Among Other Gods.

In fact, Jesus was one person /Lord / Saviour (this list could go on for chapters) I considered as a dinner guest. But then I thought that in light of the others I wanted to invite, half of us wouldn't be engaged in jovial dinner party conversation, rather we would fall prostrate on our faces and worship Christ in His glory as our Saviour and Lord. As wonderful and life-changing as that may be, it doesn't seem to cover the purpose of the dinner party question. Aside from the obvious fact that through the ever-present Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is always here ruling as the High Priest on his throne and as our mediator to God. So, we could just assume that He's already going to be there.

Other considerations were that although some guests would have been absolutely fascinating (such as Albert Einstein, Saint Paul of Tarsus, Aristotle, Plato, Ghandi, Bhudda), but some of them may not actually eat at a dinner party, some many not be the most engaging conversationalists even if they're exceptional writers, and I really wanted to think about which people would play well off of each other.

Now, with that out of the way, I began to consider what other historical figures would be truly fun to have at a dinner party. One thing I'd noticed from a few other classmates submissions, all their invited guests were white men or Hebrew men. I guess this is something that stands out to me, and I've haven't yet sees any white men key in on the obvious omission of another gender or other ethnicities in their lists. Call me observant or sensitive, but I notice. I've also noticed that when I began running through a list of historical figures and great leaders, I couldn't recall any women who were as notable as the men. I asked Steve about this and he said there were incredible women leaders, they're just not so obviously mentioned nor named in documents like the Bible nor in most other history books.

So, back to my list of 5--oh that it could only be 5:

1. Martin Luther
2. William Shakespeare
3. Bruce Lee
4. King Soloman
5. Hillary Clinton

I must note that #5 is not whom I'd consider a role model for a woman, wife, or mom, but Hillary along with the other 4 guests would make for a lively dinner discussion. Oh wouldn't it be fun? Crazy how a silly little pondering question can awaken so many avenues of contemplation and consideration.

So here's the question, who would YOU invite?