President’s Speaker Series

Current Events

See you in the fall of 2024

TBA

No current events are scheduled. Check back in the fall of 2024!

Past Events

Dr. Praveen Sethupathy

Dalton Lecture: Stardust and Wonder

Dr. Praveen Sethupathy

Professor of Physiological Genomics

March 14, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium

What does it mean to be human? This lecture explored this question from both scientific and Biblical perspectives, with an emphasis on awe. The lecture identified shared values in both the scientific and spiritual approaches to exploring human distinctiveness. Dr. Praveen Sethupathy included concepts from science/genomics that invited the audience to marvel at who we are and how it relates to our calling as image bearers of God.

Dr. Sethupathy is professor of physiological genomics in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and director of the Center for Vertebrate Genomics at Cornell University, where he leads a research lab focused on genomic approaches to understand physiology and human disease.

He received his BA degree from Cornell University and his PhD in genomics from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute under the mentorship of NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, he moved in 2011 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics. The same year, he was selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top-25 rising young investigators in genomics. In 2017, he returned to Cornell University as an associate professor.

Dr. Sethupathy has authored over 115 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals such as PNAS, Cell and Science and has served as a reviewer for over 45 different journals. Recent honors include a faculty merit award for outstanding teaching and mentoring and the prestigious American Diabetes Association Pathway To Stop Diabetes Research Accelerator, which is awarded to only three people per year.

Dr. Brian L. Johnson

W.E.B. Du Bois in African American Intellectual and Christian History

Dr. Brian L. Johnson

President of Warner Pacific University

February 22, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building Room 105

Dr. Brian L. Johnson is the first minority president in Warner Pacific University’s 83-year history. Johnson is an accomplished professor, scholar, speaker and administrator. He has published seven academic and scholarly books, including two books on William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.

Dr. Johnson received his PhD in English from the University of South Carolina, specializing in 17th to 19th century American literature, and his MA in English from The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Before taking the helm at Warner Pacific, he was the vice president/senior campus administrator at Mercy College in Manhattan, New York. From 2014 to 2017, he served as the president and CEO at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. He also served as interim vice president for strategic planning and institutional effectiveness and assistant provost/assistant vice president for academics at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Dr. Johnson is a sought-after speaker, accomplished professor, scholar and academic administrator. He has also received a number of fellowships, including a 2004-05 non-resident fellowship within the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

Drew Van der Werff

Reiten Lecture: Crypto and Your Gift is Someone Else's Miracle

Drew Van der Werff

Chartered Financial Analyst

February 19, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building, Room 105

Drew Van der Werff started his career at Deloitte, helping advise and develop statistical models for the Department of Defense and the largest financial institutions in the world. Drew then joined Goldman Sachs and was the second hire on the Goldman Sachs Digital Assets team. He was critical to their current-day strategy and helped scale the team from two to where it is today, including contributing heavily to their tokenization efforts, DeFi / on-chain strategy, cryptocurrency offerings, and regulatory engagement. Most recently, Drew helps lead Brevan Howard Digital investing efforts around technical infrastructure supporting blockchain networks and applications. 

Drew graduated from George Fox University in 2013 as a business administration major, has published research in multiple peer-reviewed journals, passed the CFP exams, became a CFA charter holder and sits on the Advisory Board for George Fox's Financial Planning Program.

Jonathan Kuttab

Woolman Peacemaking Forum Lecture: Is There a Balm in Gilead? Prospects for a Palestinian / Israeli Peace

Jonathan Kuttab

International human rights attorney

Feb. 13, 2024 at 6 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building, Room 105

Jonathan Kuttab is executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) and cofounder of Sabeel Jerusalem. He has also helped found the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, Nonviolence International, and Just Peace Advocates Mouvement pour une Paix Juste, a Canadian-based international law human rights nonprofit. A well-known international human rights attorney, Kuttab practices in the U.S., Palestine, and Israel. He serves on the board of Bethlehem Bible College and is president of the Board of Holy Land Trust. 

Kuttab was the head of the legal committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO and has authored Beyond the Two-State Solution, suggesting that any solution be predicated on the basic existential needs of the two parties.

As a Christian Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, Kuttab brings personal perspectives in addition to professional insights from decades of experience as a human rights attorney. A question and answer session will follow the lecture. 

Kaitlyn Schiess

Chapel Series: Engaging Political Discourse From a Biblical Perspective

Kaitlyn Schiess

Writer and Author

February 1, 2024 at 10:50 a.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Kaitlyn Schiess is a writer, author, and a doctoral student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2021 with a ThM in systematic theology.

She is the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor. Her latest book, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here, was released in August 2023.

Schiess has written about theology, politics, and culture for Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, CT Women, RELEVANT, Sojourners, Fathom, and the Christian Research Journal

Eric Lautenbach

The World of Sports Marketing and College Basketball

Eric Lautenbach

Sports Marketing Professional

November 7, 2023 from 1:15 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building Room 105

Eric Lautenbach is a 1988 graduate of George Fox University. He retired as Senior Director-Basketball Sports Marketing at Nike in 2022. As a negotiator of multi -sport, multi-million-dollar equipment and licensing deals for Nike, Lautenbach became one of George Fox's most influential persons in the business world. By maintaining good relationships with the "already famous" and the "up-and-coming" in the world of basketball, he ensured that the best teams in college basketball were wearing the Nike "swoosh". 

During his time at George Fox, Lautenbach was a four-year basketball letterman from 1984-88. He was named a team captain and "Most Inspirational" his senior year after a serious knee injury during his junior season deprived him of a chance to play professionally overseas. 

Dr. Allen C. Guelzo

Why Do We Remember the Civil War?

Dr. Allen C. Guelzo

New York Times best-selling author and American Historian

October 17, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Canyon Commons

George Fox University will host a distinguished American Civil War lecturer from the Organization of American Historians. Dr. Allen C. Guelzo is a New York Times best-selling author and commentator on public issues. He is one of Power Line’s 100 “Top Professors” in America. Dr. Guelzo serves as senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities and director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

An eloquent and riveting speaker, he electrifies audiences with his gift for narrative and historical storytelling, and drawing illuminating connections between past events and modern times. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, National Affairs, First Things, U.S. News & World Report, The Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, National Review, and The Daily Beast, and has been featured on NPR, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Meet the Press and Brian Lamb’s “Booknotes.”

Anna Lee

Chehalem Symphony Orchestra Featuring World Renowned Violinist Anna Lee

Anna Lee

Concert violinist, chamber musician, and teacher

October 11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Delighting her listeners with "her warm, humane musicianship" and "sweet spot of grace," Anna Lee is an active concert violinist, chamber musician, and teacher. She began violin studies at the age of 4 with Alexander Souptel and debuted as a soloist performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 a year and a half later with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lan Shui.

She spent a large part of her childhood in Japan and Singapore even though she was born in South Korea, and at the age of 6 moved to New York after being accepted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki.

Anna Lee has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, awarded by Office for the Arts at Harvard, the Bernhard and Mania Hahnloser Violin Prize at the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

Anna Lee’s teachers were Masao Kawasaki and Cho-Liang Lin at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy, Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music, and Miriam Fried and Don Weilerstein in Boston, where she completed her Comparative Literature degree at Harvard College. Currently, she is an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. She has also taught as a chamber music teacher, most notably at the Kronberg Academy's Mit Musik—Miteinander festival in Germany, Classical Music Institute San Antonio in Texas, and Festival MusicAlp in France.

Dr. Joshua Choonmin Kang

Deep-Rooted in Christ

Dr. Joshua Choonmin Kang

Pastor and author

September 28, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Canyon Commons

Renowned Christian author and teacher Richard J. Foster will present an award in his name to pastor and fellow author Dr. Joshua Choonmin Kang at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, in the university’s Canyon Commons dining hall. The presentation will be followed by Kang’s lecture, “Deep-Rooted in Christ.” He will deliver his talk in Korean, but will have a translator with him. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The Richard J. Foster Award in Spiritual Formation, first presented in 2022, is an opportunity to recognize both established and rising figures whose work continues in the spirit of Foster himself. A selection committee selected Dr. Kang as the 2023 recipient.

The award honors those whose intellectual and practical work helps others come into an ongoing transformational relationship with Jesus Christ. The university’s Portland Seminary, School of Theology, and Office of Spiritual Life helped make the honor possible.

Kang is the founding pastor of New Life Vision Church in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. He is a speaker and has written books such as Deep-Rooted in Christ and Scripture by Heart. He is also the author of more than 80 books in Korean, including Solitude of a Leader, with over 1.5 million copies in print.
Dr. Stuart Halpern

The Ancient Avengers: How the Heroes of the Hebrew Bible Inspire the American Story

Dr. Stuart Halpern

Rabbi and writer

September 12, 2023 at 4:30 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building, Room 105

Dr. Stu Halpern is Senior Advisor to the Provost of Yeshiva University, and is responsible for developing and executing interdisciplinary thought-projects and educational and communal initiatives. During his 12 years at Yeshiva University, Dr. Halpern has served in various capacities, including Chief of Staff to the President, Assistant Director of The Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, and as an Instructor in Bible.

Dr. Halpern received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Psychology in Education from Teachers College at Columbia University, an MA in Bible from Revel, an MBA in Nonprofit Management from Touro University, an EdD from the Azrieli Graduate School of Education and Administration, and rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Chaim Brovender. He has edited or co-edited 17 books, including most recently, Esther in AmericaProclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States, and Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth. He has taught at Yeshiva University, synagogues, Hillels, and adult educational settings across the US, Europe, and Israel, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street JournalNewsweekTablet magazine, and the Jewish Review of Books.

Dr. Marc LiVecche

C.S. Lewis and Just War

Dr. Marc LiVecche

McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life

April 13, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Canyon Commons

George Fox's C.S. Lewis Initiative and Honors Program are hosting Dr. Marc LiVecche on campus. He is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at The Institute on Religion & Democracy. He serves as managing editor for the institute’s foreign policy and national security journal, Providence. He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics. 

Dr. LiVecche received his doctorate from the University of Chicago and his post-doctorate from Oxford University. His first book, The Good Kill: Just War & Moral Injury, was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Another project, Responsibility and Restraint: James Turner Johnson and the Just War Tradition, co-edited with Eric Patterson, was published by Stone Tower Press in the fall of 2020. 

Dr. LiVecche lives in Annapolis, Maryland, but spent 12 years doing a variety of things in Central Europe. He helped build sports and recreational leagues in post-communist communities. He worked at a Christian study and research center. He also led seminars on history and ethics onsite at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp in Poland.

Rev. Dr. Brent Strawn

The Old Testament Is Dying and What You Can (and Should) Do About It

Rev. Dr. Brent Strawn

D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Professor of Law

March 16, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

Canyon Commons

Rev. Dr. Brent Strawn’s research focuses on ancient Near Eastern iconography, Israelite religion, biblical law, the Psalms, poetry, and Old Testament theology. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 2019 and has a secondary appointment at the Duke University School of Law. Dr. Strawn is also a member of the Hebrew Bible track in the Ph.D. program in Religion, where he teaches and advises doctoral students in Duke’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Strawn previously taught at Asbury Theological Seminary for three years and at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University for 18 years. 

Dr. Strawn has published more than 250 articles, chapters in books, contributions to reference works, and reviews. He is the author of What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, The Old Testament Is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment, The Old Testament: A Concise Introduction, Lies My Preacher Told Me: An Honest Look at the Old Testament, and Honest to God Preaching: Talking Sin, Suffering, and Violence. Dr. Strawn has also edited or coedited more than 25 volumes, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law.

Dr. Strawn is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church and regularly speaks and preaches at churches across the country. He has also appeared on CNN on matters ranging from Easter celebrations to Pope Francis to gun violence, and has served as both translator and member of the editorial board for The Common English Bible.

Rev. Efrem Smith

2023 Rodney Sisco Symposium

Rev. Efrem Smith

Pastor, Consultant, Author, and Motivational Speaker

March 13, 2023 at 7 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Rev. Efrem Smith is the keynote speaker for the 2023 Rodney Sisco Symposium. The symposium will explore biblical theology, ministry praxis, and spiritual rhythms for engaging our world as influencers for God's kingdom.

Smith is passionate about life transformation, racial righteousness, thriving churches and community development. He is currently the co-lead pastor of Midtown Church, a thriving and multi-ethnic community in Sacramento.

Smith was the founding pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church, a multi-ethnic church in Minneapolis, and co-founded the Sanctuary Community Development Corporation. He formerly served as the superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, providing leadership to 160 churches within California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Utah. In addition, he served as the president and CEO of World Impact, an urban missions organization committed to empowering urban leaders and planting churches in under-resourced communities. 

The 2023 Rodney Sisco Symposium is a three-day event. Take a look at the full schedule and a list of other speakers.
Todd Deatherage

Woolman Peacemaking Forum: What Makes for Peace? Lessons from the Road to Jericho

Todd Deatherage

Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Telos Group

March 9, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building, Room 105

Todd Deatherage spent 16 years in senior positions in the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government before co-founding the Telos Group. From 2005 to 2009, he was Chief of Staff in the Secretary of State’s Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. He also spent two years as Senior Advisor in the Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, where he specialized in religious freedom in the Middle East. Deatherage worked for a decade in the U.S. Congress, including six years as Chief of Staff to Senator Tim Hutchinson. 

In 2009, Deatherage co-founded an educational non-profit called the Telos Group. He and his colleagues lead a steady stream of high-touch, multi-narrative educational pilgrimages to Israel and organize numerous speaking tours for Israeli, Palestinian and international leaders. The Telos Group has become a leading organization of America’s emerging pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-American, pro-peace movement. Deatherage saw a unique opportunity to make a global impact for peace by educating, inspiring, and equipping key American communities to actively pursue the common good for everyone in the Holy Land. 

Deatherage is a native of Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Arkansas. He began his career as an educator. He and his family currently live in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Dr. Deborah Haarsma

Life Beyond Earth and the Place of Humans in the Cosmos

Dr. Deborah Haarsma

Astronomer and President of BioLogos

February 23, 2023 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Astronomer and expert on modern science and the Christian faith, Dr. Deborah Haarsma, will give two talks at George Fox University as part of the Dalton Lecture series. Dr. Haarsma is president of BioLogos based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. BioLogos is a Christian advocacy group that supports the view that God created the world using evolution of different species as the mechanism.

Dr. Haarsma is a graduate of MIT and Bethel College. She previously served as professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Calvin University. Both she and her husband were faculty at Calvin College and have co-authored several texts. Her work appears in several recent books, including Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Design and Christ and the Created Order.  She wrote the book Origins with her husband and fellow physicist, Loren Haarsma, presenting the agreements and disagreements among Christians regarding the history of life and the universe. 

Dr. Haarsma’s afternoon lecture will focus on life beyond earth and the place of humans in the cosmos. In her evening lecture, Dr. Haarsma will discuss trends in our culture on science and faith, ways to distinguish reliable scientific findings from speculation, and research-based practical tips for better conversations with friends and family.

Sabrina Bailey

Can’t Touch This: Investing in Success Factors No One Can Take Away

Sabrina Bailey

Global Head of Investment & Wealth Solutions for London Stock Exchange Group

February 16, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

Hoover Academic Building, Room 105

A proven senior level executive leader with more than 20 years of financial services experience will share her thoughts on how success is built. Sabrina Bailey, global head of Investment & Wealth Solutions for London Stock Exchange Group, is scheduled to speak at George Fox University as part of the Reiten Lecture series. Unlike many presentations you may have heard on management style, career ladders, goal setting, key performance indicators, and the like, Bailey will reveal the underrepresented fundamental factors that secure an unshakeable foundation for vocational success. 

Bailey holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from George Fox University. In 2020, she was named “Top Women in Asset Management'' by Money Management Executive. In 2017, she was named “Distinguished Woman Investment Professional of the Year” by Women Investment Professionals. And in 2016, Bailey was named a “40 under 40” by Crain’s Chicago business, being selected for the business leadership honor from more than a thousand nominees. 

In May 2021, Bailey took on her current role at London Stock Exchange Group. She spearheads the development and delivery of strategic vision and direction for the company’s Global Investment & Wealth Solutions business. This includes embracing and leveraging technological advances to deliver innovative, customer-centric offerings. 

Bailey will give an hour lecture with refreshments and a social hour to follow.

Shaun Horne

Special Chapel Event

Shaun Horne

Justice and care pastor at New City Church in Phoenix, Arizona

February 7 and 9, 2023 at 10:50 a.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Shaun Horne leads the justice and care ministry at New City Church. He's passionate about restorative justice, as well as local and global missions. He has his undergraduate degree in biblical studies and preaching, and his master's degree in strategic ministry. He will visit the Newberg campus to speak at two university chapels.

Horne's church, New City, is in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. Through the Justice & Care ministry, he works to bring the hope of Jesus beyond the walls of the church to the surrounding community. Every person has infinite value, and deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and love. New City Church provides opportunities for the congregation to carry out the gospel message through community practices that help the city flourish by restoring hope, loving thy neighbor, and bringing the good news to a world that needs it.

Horne seeks out conversations surrounding race and equity in order to fulfill the Biblical vision of unity and reconciliation. His vision focuses on abiding in God, and caring for those within the community.

Kobe Campbell

Special Chapel Event

Kobe Campbell

Award-winning licensed trauma therapist, author, media expert and speaker

January 24, 2023 at 10:50 a.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Kobe Campbell is a passionate preacher and speaker who has served countless churches and organizations. She will visit the Newberg campus from Charlotte, North Carolina to speak on mental health at chapel. 

Campbell was named one of Charlotte’s Most Influential Women by Charlotte Lately magazine. She was also awarded as a Rising Star Under 30 by WILMA magazine. She received her bachelor degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and her master’s degree in Christian counseling from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Campbell is currently preparing to release her first book titled Why Am I Like This?: How to Break Cycles, Heal From Trauma, and Restore Your Faith.

With a kind, compassionate, and energetic spirit, Campbell helps people find the truest versions of themselves. She is the owner of The Healing Circle Therapy & Wellness Center in Charlotte North Carolina. She is passionate about helping people heal from the trauma as they discover who they are apart from what they’ve been through.

Trevor Hudson

Recipient of the Richard J. Foster Award in Spiritual Formation

Trevor Hudson

October 3, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Canyon Commons

Renowned Christian author and teacher Richard J. Foster is set to present an award in his name to pastor and fellow author Trevor Hudson at a special gathering on campus.

A selection committee selected Hudson as the first recipient of the Richard J. Foster Award in Spiritual Formation. George Fox will welcome Foster, a 1964 alumnus of the institution, to its Newberg campus to present the inaugural award to Hudson. The presentation will be followed by Hudson’s keynote speech and a reception. The public is encouraged to attend the event in the university's Canyon Commons dining hall.

The Portland Seminary, School of Theology, and Spiritual Life Office helped make this honor possible. The award recognizes those whose intellectual and practical work helps others come into an ongoing transformational relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Award recipient Hudson is the author of more than 20 books, the most recent of which, Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St Ignatius and Dallas Willard, was released in September. He is also an ordained minister in the Methodist Church of South Africa. After spending more than 40 years in pastoral ministry, Hudson now gives his time to lecturing, teaching and writing in the areas of spiritual formation and spiritual direction. He lectures at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, and works closely with the Renovaré Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation, a Christian organization Foster founded that is dedicated to helping people become more like Jesus. 

Foster is an expert on spiritual formation – the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and for the sake of others. He earned his undergraduate degree from George Fox and his doctor of pastoral theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is best known for his 1978 book, Celebration of Discipline, which examines spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, fasting, study, solitude, confession and worship. It was named by Christianity Today as one of the top 10 books of the 20th century. 

SCOTT FINNIE, PHD

Letter from Birmingham Jail

SCOTT FINNIE, PHD

PROFESSOR, EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

March 15, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.

Hoover 105

Scott Finnie, PhD, has been a faculty member in Eastern Washington University’s Africana Education Program and history department since 1992 and currently serves as director of Africana studies and as director of race and cultural studies. He has made more than 40 presentations worldwide in the last 10 years, including visits to Oxford in England, Mexico City, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, Sao Paulo, and Honolulu. His presentations have covered themes surrounding civil rights, affirmative action, servant leadership, diversity and cross-cultural communication, the American criminal justice system, and faculty hiring in higher education.

In addition, he has published a dozen articles in numerous publications, including The National Social Science Journal, Investigating Diversity: Race, Ethnicity and Beyond, The Oxford Round Table Journal, The Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, and The International Journal of Servant Leadership.

View the event recording

NANCY PEARCEY

Love Thy Body: Sexual Truth in a Secular Age

NANCY PEARCEY

PROFESSOR AND SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE AT HOUSTON BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

MARCH 15, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Canyon Commons/George Fox Honors Program Lecture Series

People today are not asking, "Is Christianity true?" They're asking, "Why are Christians such bigots?" Nancy Pearcey, professor of apologetics at Houston Baptist University, takes on the headline issues of our day: abortion, assisted suicide, homosexuality, transgenderism, and the hook-up culture. She shows that we will be much more effective if we dig down to the worldview level. The secular ethic rests on a radically dehumanizing worldview that denigrates the body and demeans the person. By contrast, Pearcey shows how to craft the biblical ethic in a way that is more positive and more appealing than the secular ethic.

Pearcey is the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. Her earlier books include The Soul of ScienceSaving Leonardo, Finding Truth, and two ECPA Gold Medallion Award Winners: How Now Shall We Live (coauthored with Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson) and Total Truth. Her books have been translated into eight languages.

She is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Baptist University. A former agnostic, Pearcey has spoken at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, USC, and Dartmouth. She was highlighted as one of the five top women apologists by Christianity Today and was hailed in The Economist as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual."

Patti Callahan

Surprised By Joy

Patti Callahan

Author

March 10, 2022, at 7:00 p.m.

Hoover 105

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of sixteen novels and podcast host. She is the recipient of The Christy Award — A 2019 Winner “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2020 and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for 2019. She is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly online Friends and Fiction live web show and podcast. Patti is also a contributor to the weekly life lesson essay column for Parade Magazine. A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.
Dr. Paul Miller

Just War and Ordered Liberty

Dr. Paul Miller

Professor of the Practice of International Affairs

March 7, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.

Hoover 105

Dr. Paul D. Miller is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He serves as co-chair of the Global Politics and Security concentration in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program.

He is a research fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a visiting professor with the American Enterprise Institute’s Initiative on Faith and Public Life, and a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Dr. Miller spent a decade in public service as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council staff, an intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, and a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army.

Dr. Miller writes widely on international affairs, political theory, religion and public life, and film and culture. His most recent book, Just War and Ordered Liberty, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. His next book, The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong With Christian Nationalism, is forthcoming from InterVarsity Academic Press in 2022.

Joseph Pearce

Unlocking The Lord of the Rings

Joseph Pearce

Author and Director of the Center for Faith & Culture

November 4, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Canyon Commons 101-103

Tolkien described The Lord of the Rings as “a fundamentally religious work”. Joseph Pearce, author of Tolkien: Man and Myth and Frodo’s Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings, unlocks the symbolism that allows Tolkien’s epic to be read and understood on the deepest level of religious significance and Christian meaning.
Pearce is a Catholic author and biographer who has written about subjects as various as GK Chesterton, economics, and Shakespeare. His latest book, Race with the Devil, chronicles his conversion from racial hatred to Catholicism. He is also the Director of the Center for Faith & Culture and Writer-in-Residence at Aquinas College in Nashville as well as the editor of St. Austin Review.

Joseph Pearce is Senior Editor at the Augustine Institute

David French

Jesus Loves Your Political Enemies and America Needs You to Love Them Too

David French

Political commentator, author and attorney

November 1, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium & Livestream

The George Fox Civility Project hosts Christian political commentator and attorney David French. Masks were required for the in-person event. No video recording is available to publish at the moment.
Dominic Done

A conversation about calling

Dominic Done

Pastor, speaker, author

February 2021

Executive Dean Joseph Clair and Pastor and Professor Dominic Done take a deep dive into the subject of God’s calling, both for the individual and the collective Church. In a recent Barna poll, 40 percent of Christians admitted to having no clear sense of God’s calling on their lives. But God is using the disruption of 2020-21 to get our attention and, if we let Him, bring us to a place of healthy reconstruction. Join us, for this rich dialogue between two colleagues and friends about finding true and lasting purpose—not because of the things we do, but because of who we can become in Christ. Watch video.
Jemar Tisby

Complicity in Racism: The Path Forward

Jemar Tisby

Author, speaker and president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective

October 30, 2020

Virtual / George Fox Honors Program Lecture Series

An hour-long conversation with Jemar Tisby, a public historian with the ability to explore racial justice solutions and cultural conversations that compel audiences to action. Tisby brings history to bear with contemporary relevance. His style offers richly-informed explorations, unflinching moral insight, and clear paths forward. Moderated by provost Andrea Scott and professor Joseph Clair.
Justin Giboney

A Faithful Christian Public Witness

Justin Giboney

Attorney, political strategist and cofounder of the AND Campaign

October 2020

Giboney has served as a delegate for the Democratic National Convention and as the co-chair of Obama for America's Gen44-Atlanta initiative. Together with Michael Wear and Chris Butler, Giboney published Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement .

Giboney addresses the George Fox community about being a faithful Christian witness and all that entails. Watch video

Antipas Harris

Is Christianity the White Man's Religion?: How the Bible Is Good News for People of Color

Antipas Harris

Author

September 2020

George Fox University provost Andrea Scott dives into an interview with Antipas Harris, author of Is Christianity the White Man's Religion?: How the Bible Is Good News for People of Color. Follow along as they tackle the book's themes and discuss its takeaways.

This fall, every employee is reading the book and engaged in discussions around it as part of George Fox's commitment to initiatives and programs surrounding diversity and change in our university. Watch video

Rev. Sunggu Yang, PhD

King's Speech: Preaching Reconciliation in a World of Violence and Chasm

Rev. Sunggu Yang, PhD

Professor, George Fox University

Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020 7 p.m.

Hoover 105

Sunggu Yang joined George Fox’s College of Christian Studies in 2017 as an assistant professor of Christian ministries. Before his arrival, Yang served as the Louisville Institute’s Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, where he taught courses ranging from homiletics and worship to prophetic ministry. One of his innovative courses was “Film & Preaching: The Gospel According to Hollywood.”

Yang is the author of two books, King’s Speech: Preaching Reconciliation in a World of Violence and Chasm (2019) and Evangelical Pilgrims from the East: Faith Fundamentals of Korean American Protestant Diasporas (2016), and two books that are in progress, Picasso and Preaching: An Aesthetic Homiletic for the 21st Century and Sacred Waters: Pastoral Essays for Aspiring Preachers.

Ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Yang has preached at various venues around the nation. He holds a PhD in religion from Vanderbilt University (2015), a master’s degree in liturgical studies from Yale Divinity School (2010), an MDiv from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University (2009), and a bachelor’s degree in theology from the College of Theology at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. He lives in Sherwood with his wife, Rebecca Jeong, and their daughter, Stella.

Pat Gelsinger

Balancing Work, Family and Faith

Pat Gelsinger

CEO, VMware

October 9, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

Bauman Auditorium

Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, spoke on balancing work, family and faith. VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology, and a recent article on VMware in Forbes described the company this way: “It’s not an exaggeration to say that VMware stands at the center of the IT universe. The company’s software touches nearly every element of modern IT architecture.” VMware employs more than 24,000 employees and revenue for fiscal 2018 was nearly $9 billion.

Gelsinger brings almost 40 years of technology and leadership experience. Since coming to VMware in 2012, he has doubled the size of VMware, which software powers the world’s complex digital infrastructure. The company’s compute, cloud, mobility, networking, and security offerings provide a dynamic and efficient digital foundation to over 500,000 customers globally, aided by an ecosystem of 75,000 partners. Based on his efforts, Fortune Magazine named Gelsinger one of its top “Businesspersons of the Year” in 2018.

Prior to joining VMware, Gelsinger was president and chief operating officer of EMC’s Infrastructure and Products Group. There, he was responsible for all of EMC’s products – including storage, data analytics, security, management and data protection products, analytics, and the large majority of EMC’s revenue.