Cornell Professor to Deliver Lecture on Religious Liberty Sept. 27

Renowned historian Brian Tierney, Professor Emeritus of History at Cornell University, will deliver the Hugh and Beverly Wamble Lecture on Religious Liberty at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, in room 510 at the Cashion Academic Building on the Baylor University campus. Tierney's lecture, "Religion and Natural Rights: Historical Contexts and Contingencies," is free and open to the public.
Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Tierney came to Cornell in 1959 as a professor of medieval history after serving eight years on the faculty of The Catholic University of America. He earned international distinction during his career at Cornell and was named Goldwin Smith Professor of Medieval History in 1969, and the first Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies in 1977.
A specialist in medieval church history, he focused his studies on the structure of the medieval church and the medieval state, and on how the interactions of the two influenced the development of Western institutions. He published numerous articles on this subject, and is the author of several books, including "The Middle Ages"; "Western Societies: A Documentary History"; "The Idea of Natural Rights: Studies on Natural Rights, Natural Law and Church Law, 1150-1625"; and the "Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300." A practicing Roman Catholic, Tierney risked controversy when he challenged the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal infallibility in 1972.
He was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1953 and 1954, and was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1961-62.
In 1997, at the request of Beverly Wamble, the Dawson Institute received a generous donation to establish the G. Hugh Wamble and Beverly C. Wamble Fund for Religious Liberty. In addition, the Institute received Dr. Wamble's extensive collection of theological and historical research, as well as his private papers and archives, which will be used to educate future generations of students.
For more information, call the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at 710-1510.