Distinguished Professor Will Give Second Lecture in Sacred Texts, Holy Images Series

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Dr. David Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities in the Honors College at Baylor University, will give the second of three lectures in the Community Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, in the SBC Theater of the Mayborn Museum Complex.

Jeffrey's lecture will focus on "Yafeh Talmud Torah: the Joyful Jewish Art of Marc Chagall."

Jeffrey's lecture was chosen to coincide with the Sacred Texts, Holy Images: Rouault's Miserere and Chagall's Bible Series exhibition currently at the Mayborn Museum Complex. The exhibition will showcase Chagall's Bible Series from Tuesday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Nov. 28.
The Community Lecture Series is designed to make aspects of the intellectual and cultural life of the university available to Waco community and the surrounding area.

"I hope to be able to show that the Bible Series of Marc Chagall can best be understood and appreciated in a Jewish context, specifically the Hasidic spirituality of the culture into which the artist was born and in which he commenced his life as an artist," Jeffrey said.

Jeffrey is also Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where in 1995 he was named the inaugural Arts Faculty Professor of the Year. He has been Guest Professor at Peking University in Beijing since 1996, and Honorary Professor of the University of Business and Economics in Beijing since 2005. He served as chair of the department of English both at the University of Victoria and the University of Ottawa, both in Canada, and has taught also at the Universities of Rochester and Hull in UK.

"I want the audience to come away with some understanding of appreciation not only of the art of Chagall, but also the spiritual content and power of the biblical narratives themselves," Jeffrey said.

This lecture is free to the public; however seating is limited.

For reservations, call 254-710-7981.

For more information on the Honors College, visit www.baylor.edu/honorscollege.

The Mayborn Museum Complex is located at 1300 S. University Parks Dr.

by Alison Higgins, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805