Dr. Martin E. Marty, one of the world’s more renowned and respected religious scholars, will speak at Virginia Wesleyan College on October 26, 2006. This event will inaugurate the annual Cookson Religious Freedom Lecture. Marty’s talk, entitled “Theo-cracies, Demo-cracies, and Other -cracies,” will explore the implications of an impulse toward theocracy that has recently resurfaced in America.
Marty, a professor of religious history for 35 years at the University of Chicago, is a speaker, columnist, pastor, teacher, and author. He has written more than 5,000 published essays and articles, and is author of more than 50 books. Among his books are Righteous Empire, for which he won the National Book Award; the three volume treatise Modern American Religion; and his most recent book, When Faiths Collide. He has received numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal and the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been awarded more than 70 honorary doctorates.
The Cookson Religious Freedom Lecture is named for the Center’s founding director, Dr. Catharine Cookson. Following Dr. Cookson’s death in 2004, a fund was established for the purpose of bringing scholars in religious freedom and related areas to the Virginia Wesleyan campus. This lecture series honors these gifts. To support the continuation of this series, please contact the Center or the college’s Department of Advancement, 757-455-2136.