Guest Speakers and Reading Groups

James Davison Hunter
Labrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture, and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture
"Christianity, Politics, and Power"
September 22, 2011

Fr. Uwe Michael Lang
Coordinator of the Master's program in "Architecture, Sacred Art and Liturgy," Università Europea di Roma/Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum and staff member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Vatican
"Heart Speaks to Heart: John Henry Newman as a Reader of the Church Fathers"
January 25, 2011

Denis Alexander
Director, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmunds College, Cambridge
"The Dawkins Delusion: Debunking the Conflict between Science and Religion"
October 21, 2010

James K. A. Smith
Associate professor of philosophy and adjunct professor of congregational and ministry studies at Calvin College
"From the Classroom to the Dorm Room and Back Again: Formation Across the University"
April 23, 2010

Br. Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J.
Astronomer and Curator of Meteorites at the Vatican Observatory
The Virtuous Astronomer: How the Work of Science Is Shaped by the Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love
March 2, 2010

Conor Cunningham
Lecturer, Theology and Religious Studies, University of Nottingham
"A Screening and Discussion of the BBC Documentary Did Darwin Kill God? with the Film's Writer and Presenter" November 4, 2009

Elizabeth Newman
Professor of Theology and Ethics, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
"Hospitality and Higher Education: An Invitation to a Way of Life"
March 17, 2009

Robert Benne
Director, Center for Religion and Society
Roanoke College
"A Lutheran Vision of Baptist Christian Higher Education"
November 8, 2007

John Wilson
Editor, Books & Culture
"The Political Captivity of the Church?"
September 4, 2007

Tjerk de Reus
Dutch journalist & cultural critic
"Why Was the Great Grandson of Vincent Van Gogh Killed? Christian Responses to Islamist Violence in the Netherlands"
Sponsored by the Baylor University Department of Religion, Center for Jewish Studies, and the Institute for Faith and Learning
October 25, 2006

Norbert Kroó
Vice President
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
"God, the Creator and Heavenly Father"
Hosted by the Department of Physics and Co-sponsored by the Institute for Faith and Learning
January 11, 2006

David C. Schindler
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Department of Humanities and Augustinian Traditions
Villanova University
"Free Thinking or Freedom for Thinking? An Untimely Meditation on the Nature of Academic Freedom"
November 3, 2005

Eugene McCarraher
Assistant Professor of Humanities
Department of Humanities and Augustinian Tradition
Villanova University
"Consider the Lillies: Why the Protestant Work Ethic Is So Awful"
October 27, 2005
"The Enchantments of Mammon: Corporate Capitalism and the American Moral Imagination"
Hosted by the Institute for Faith and Learning and co-sponsored by the Honors College
October 28, 2005

Simon Oliver
Senior Lecturer in Theology University of Wales, Lampeter
Inaugural Traditio Lecture: "Aquinas and Newton on Trinity and Motion"
April 1, 2005

Ellen Charry
Associate Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology
Princeton Theological Seminary
"Can We Know God?"
February 24, 2005

Naomi Schaefer Riley
"God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation are Changing America"
February 10, 2005

Jorge L. A. Garcia
Professor of Philosophy
Boston College
"Race in Christian Higher Education"
March 29, 2004

Terry Mattingly
Associate Professor of Mass Media and Religion
Palm Beach Atlantic University
"The Passion and the Press: Inside a Media Storm"
March 9, 2004

David Livingstone
Professor of Geography and Intellectual History
The Queen's University of Belfast
"The Idea of a University: Irish Interventions"
February 12, 2004

Mark Osler
Associate Professor of Law
Baylor University
"Justice, Mercy and a Humbling Walk: The Christian Challenge to the Vocation of Law"
November 13, 2003

Edward Blum
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology
Baylor University
"The Soul of W. E. B. Du Bois: Critically Integrating Faith, Learning, and Social Justice"
October 3, 2003

David Bebbington
Visiting Distinguished Professor of History
Baylor University
"The International Legacy of Jonathan Edwards"
September 24, 2003

Robert Benne
Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion & Director, Center for Religion and Society
Roanoke College
"The Most Contentious Claims of Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Christian Colleges and Universities Keep Faith With Their Religious Traditions"
April 24, 2003
"Vocation as Another Proof for the Existence of God"
April 24, 2003
"Christian Engagement with Higher Education: The Vocation of a Christian Scholar"
April 25, 2003

Byron R. Johnson
Director, Center for Research on Religion & Urban Civil Society
University of Pennsylvania
"Overview of the Relationship Between Spirituality and Social Issues"
April 16, 2003
"The Opportunities and Obstacles in Conducting Faith-Based Research: Being Wise as a Serpent and Gentle as a Dove"
April 16, 2003

Richard Hughes
Distinguished Professor of Religion and Director, Center for Faith and Learning
Pepperdine University
"How Christian Faith Can Sustain the Life of the Mind: The Power of Christian Traditions"
February 13, 2003
"What Might It Mean to Teach from a Christian Perspective?"
February 14, 2003

Ralph Wood
University Professor of Theology and Literature
"On Keeping Our Scholarship Free: How to Avoid Becoming Either Conservatives or Liberals"
November 20, 2002

C. Stephen Evans
University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities
"Must Christian Scholarship Be Overtly Christian?"
October 9, 2002