Hood Theological Seminary will present its annual Reuben L. Speaks Memorial Lecture Series Oct. 11 and 12 on the seminary campus at 1810 Lutheran Synod Drive in Salisbury.
This year’s featured presenter is the distinguished author and professor, the Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty, one of the most prominent interpreters of religion and culture today. The two-day event will feature three lectures and is open to the public, free of charge. As space is limited, reservations are recommended. This year’s Lecture Series is titled “Uncommon Approaches to the Common Good.”
In announcing this year’s Speaks Lecture Series, Dr. Albert Aymer, president of Hood Theological Seminary, describes Marty as “one of the most respected and well published theologians of the day.”
“The entire Hood Seminary community is greatly honored to have a religious leader of his stature for this occasion and is pleased to invite the public to join us for all of his talks and his book signing.”
Marty will present his opening lecture, “Because I am a Citizen/Because We are Citizens,” Thursday, Oct. 11 at 10:10 a.m. and a second lecture, “Because I Am a Christian/Because We are Christians,” at 7 p.m. Both Thursday lectures will be held in the Chapel (300 building).
On Oct. 12, the third lecture, “The Common Good – Individualism vs. Tribalism vs. Totalism,” will be held at 7 p.m. in Room 315. He will be available to sign copies of his latest book, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison; a Biography,” as well as earlier publications “When Faiths Collide” and “A Cry of Absence,” on Thursday, Oct. 11, 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. in the campus Cokesbury Bookstore.
Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he taught for 35 years and where the Martin Marty Center has since been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors. He writes the “M.E.M.O” column for the biweekly Christian Century, on whose staff he has served since 1956. He was also editor of the semimonthly Context, from 1969 – 2010, and authors the Marty Center’s weekly email column, Sightings.
He taught in the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, the Department of History, and the Committee on the History of Culture from 1963-1998. He focused chiefly on late 18th and 20th century American religious history in the context of “Atlantic Culture.” An ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Professor Marty put considerable effort into the Master of Divinity Program at the Divinity School. His six-year “Fundamentalism Project” for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1988-1994) led him to enlarge his focus to global inter-religious concerns. His 80 honorary doctorates are a testament to the high esteem in which he is regarded in his profession.
Although retired, Dr. Marty considers himself a “utility infielder” for Divinity School activities and is well connected through the internet with the Martin Marty Center, named upon his retirement as an arm of the Divinity School to advance “public religion” endeavors. He continues a vocation centering on writing and academic lecturing. The author of over 60 books, Marty has written the three-volume “Modern American Religion” (University of Chicago Press). Among his other books are “The One and the Many: America’s Search for the Common Good”; “Education, Religion and the Common Good”; and “Politics, Religion and the Common Good.” His “Righteous Empire” won the National Book Award.
The Ruben L. Speaks Lecture Series is named in honor of the late Bishop Ruben Lee Speaks, a gifted African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church leader acknowledged on numerous occasions for his leadership and creative engagement in ministry. Speaks received the Chancellor’s Award from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Brooklyn Advisory Committee of the New York Urban League.
The lectures are offered free of charge and are open to all. As space is limited, reservations are recommended. Lunch is available on Thursday, Oct. 11 at noon for a charge of $7 and reservations are required by Oct.8. Please call the seminary’s development office at 704-636-6926 or email cpalmer@hoodseminary.edu.
For details concerning Continuing Education credits, please contact Dr. Vergel Lattimore at 704-636-6168 or vlattimore@hoodseminary.edu.
Hood Theological Seminary, located at 1810 Lutheran Synod Drive, Salisbury, and sponsored by the AME Zion Church, is a graduate and professional school where intellectual discourse and ministerial preparation occur in tandem within the framework of a diverse community of faith.