Princeton Professor To Speak At Family Ministries Inaugural Lecture April 10

Dr. Robert Wuthnow, the Gerhard R. Andlinger '52 Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, will deliver the inaugural Barbara Chafin Endowed Lectureship in Family Ministries at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the Fifth Floor Banquet Room at the Cashion Academic Center. He will focus on the topic "Every Family Has a Secret: The Hidden Side of Spirituality and Ministry." In addition to his lecture, Wuthnow will meet with students at 7 p.m. in the Beckham Room at the Bill Daniel Student Center.
The lecture is hosted by Baylor University's Center for Family and Community Ministries and the School of Social Work.
"Robert Wuthnow is one of the foremost thinkers and researchers in the nation in understanding congregations, cell groups and communities, and how people develop compassion and caring," said Dr. Diana Garland, director of the Center for Family and Community Ministries and professor of social work.
Wuthnow completed his undergraduate work at the University of Kansas and received his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. A specialist on religion and culture in the contemporary U.S., he is the author of After Heaven: Spirituality in America Since the 1950s, Loose Connections: Joining Together in America's Fragmented Communities and Learning to Care: Elementary Kindness in an Age of Indifference.
He currently is working on a book about spirituality and the arts and is directing a research project funded the The Pew Charitable Trusts on the public role of mainline Protestantism.
The Barbara Chafin Lectureship was created by a gift from Kenneth Chafin of Houston in honor of his wife Barbara.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 710-1199.