Lectures Sponsored by the Department
The Religion Department frequently brings in well-known scholars in the field of religious studies to address our students and faculty.
Please view the lectures presented by some of our recent speakers below.
February 2025
Natalie Carnes delivers the departmental lecture, entitled “Why Feminist Theology Needs Art.”
October 2024
Merry Wiesner-Hanks delivers the McGee Endowed lecture entitled “Foremothers: Remembering Women and the Reformations.”
September 2024
Tim Alberta presents the J. M. Dawson lecture on “The Crisis of American Christianity”
February 2024
Cynthia Shafer-Elliott delivers this year’s Departmental Lecture on “Home Sweet Home: Ancient Israelite Houses in Context."
November 2023
Luke Timothy Johnson gives the 2023 Drumwright Lecture on the topic “The New Testament Scholar and the Church: A Way Forward”
October 2023
M. Shawn Copeland delivers the 2023 McGee Lecture on “Jesus Christ in Texas: Interrogating Solidarity with W. E. B. DuBois”
March 2023
Dr. Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi gives this year’s Departmental Lecture on “Jesus in the World of the Spirits: Caribbean Christianity’s Interplay with Afro-Caribbean Religions.”
February 2023:
Brett Scharffs delivers the J. M. Dawson lecture on "Human Dignity and the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
October 2022:
Sue Garrett presents the McGee Lecture on “The Golden Rule in Debates Over Slavery and Abortion”
Leah Payne discusses “Contemporary Christians: How Baylor and the Baptists of Waco Shaped the Sound of American Evangelicalism.”
September 2022:
Joao Chaves delivers the J. M. Dawson Lecture entitled “For Jesus, Country, and Robert E. Lee: Not Your Momma’s History of Baptist Missions”
April 2022:
Robin Jensen speaks on “The Demise of Pagan Idols and the Rise of Christian Icons: Art, Cult, and Controversy in the Early Church”
February 2022:
Kelly Iverson delivers the Departmental Lecture, entitled "Performing Early Christian Literature: Foundational Distinctions and Interpretive Possibilities"
November 2021:
Edgardo Colon-Emeric presents the McGee Lecture on "A New 'We': Reconciliation from the American Global South"
October 2021:
Mitch Randall presents the J. M. Dawson Lecture on "Native Reservations: Exploring the Hypocrisy and Hope of Religious Liberty Throughout American History"
February 2020:
Mandy McMichael delivers the Departmental Lecture, entitled "'I'm Every Woman': Miss America and the Religion of Identity."
January 2020:
Jonathan Kaplan discusses "Using Rabbinic Literature to Illuminate the New Testament."
October 2019:
Charles Foster Johnson speaks on "Religious Liberty, the Public School, and the Soul of America" at the Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies' Wamble Symposium
September 2019:
Susan Ackerman delivers the McGee Lecture on "Mothers and Rituals of Childbirth in Ancient Israel"
March 2019:
Chief Judge Maurice Foley speaks on "His Glory, My Story"
February 2019:
Jonathan Tran delivers the Departmental Lecture on "Racism, Politics, Economy, and Tradition"
January 2019:
Brent Landau discusses "Jesus the Shape-Shifter"
October 2018:
Randall Balmer delivers the McGee Endowed Lecture, "The Death of Evangelicalism"
Bill Leonard's presentation "Teaching Dissent: The Witness of the Minority"
Amanda Tyler speaks on "Unity in our Differences: How Commitment to Religious Liberty for All Can Provide a Way Forward"
March 2018:
Erik Carter's address on The Church and People with Disabilities
January 2018:
Edmund Cueva discusses "The Multivalent Genre: Ancient Fiction and Society"
Konrad Schmid's lecture on "How God Became a Lawgiver"
November 2017:
Philip Ziegler's presentation "'God For Us': Bonhoeffer's Ongoing Reformation of the Christian Doctrine of God"
October 2017:
Bill Leonard speaking on "A Theology for Racism: Southern Fundamentalists and the Civil Rights Movement"
Luke Bretherton delivering the McGee lecture on "The People, Populism, and the Church in the Era of Trump"
Elijah Brown speaking on "International Religious Freedom in an Age of Global Religious Revival"
March 2017:
Bill Leonard's address entitled "Redeemer Nation or Lost Cause Religion: Making America Great Again (For the First Time)"
Jane Wilson speaking on "Faith That Sticks" at the Ministry Guidance Workshop
February 2017:
Deirdre Fulton's Religion Department Annual Lecture, "No Bones About It: The Philistines of Ashkelon in the Bible and Archeology"
January 2017:
Kelley Coblentz Bautch speaking on "Rogue Angels and the Origin of Evil: Contemporary Perspectives on Ancient Theology"
October 2016:
Amina Wadud speaking on "Combining Spirit, Intellect, and Social Justice for Islamic Reform and a Better World"
Marvin McMickle speaking on "Religious Liberty and Racial Injustice"
September 2016:
Grant Wacker speaking on "Billy Graham and American Political Culture"