Talk: “From Wilberforce to Malala: Assessing the Religious and Ethical Journeys of Transformative Leaders” by David P. Gushee

• Event Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019
• Time: 7:30 pm (CST)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Part of the Department of Religion Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture Series.

David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, will look at the steps taken by some of the great moral leaders of modern history, such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, William Wilberforce, Harriet Tubman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mother Teresa, and Malala Yousafzai, on the path to becoming leaders of transformative social change, developing a religio-moral vision and sustaining it despite intense criticism and conflict. Dr. Gushee will also discuss some of the moral causes he has taken up in his career, such as torture, LGBTQ inclusion, and environmental stewardship, and how these leaders have inspired and sustained him.

The Marjorie Hall Thulin Lecture is presented annually by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Religion. Marjorie Hall Thulin (1910-2009) graduated from the University of Illinois in 1931. She enjoyed a successful career in advertising. Her desire for students to understand how religion grows and functions in a complex society, especially Christianity in American society, led her to endow a fund that makes it possible for an internationally known scholar of religion and contemporary culture to be resident on the Champaign-Urbana campus for several days each academic year.