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Stephen Prothero Gives Schaff Lecture on Ethics and Morals
Acclaimed author and Boston University professor Stephen Prothero spoke September 24 in the Mercersburg Academy Chapel as part of the school’s 2007–2008 Monday Evening Lecture Series. His lecture, “Religious Literacy and American Education,” was this year's Schaff Lecture on Ethics and Morals.
One of America’s foremost experts on religion, Prothero is chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University and the author of numerous books, most recently Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. Considered one of the great religion books of the decade, American Jesus is an incisive account of Jesus’ transformation (in America’s hearts and minds) from crucified Lord to folk hero, from divinity to celebrity.
Prothero notes that religious illiteracy is rampant in the United States. Such ignorance is perilous, he says, because “religion is the most volatile constituent of culture, and one of the greatest forces for evil.” In Religious Literacy, he calls for schools to teach a mandatory academic study of religions, which has sparked a much-needed debate concerning the powerful and often uncontested role religion plays in our lives.
Prothero earned a Ph.D. in religion from Harvard University, and is considered a specialist in Asian religious traditions in the United States. He is a frequent guest on National Public Radio, and has appeared on The Today Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The O’Reilly Factor. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications.
Funded by the Schaff Family Endowment, this lecture was established through the bequest of Charles B. Schaff ’41 and supports annual speakers “on topics related to fundamental human values—those principles which direct a person’s decisions and actions because they clarify what is ‘right ‘ and what is ‘wrong.’”
Other events in Mercersburg's 2007–2008 Monday Evening Lecture Series include the Jacobs Residency Lecture December 10 (Kwame A. Appiah, a professor and author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers), the Ammerman Family Lecture March 31 (Tim Flannery, an Australian scientist, author, and climate-change activist), and the Class of '48 Lecture April 14 (Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, an author and expert on immigration and human migration).
Acclaimed author and Boston University professor Stephen Prothero spoke September 24 in the Mercersburg Academy Chapel as part of the school’s 2007–2008 Monday Evening Lecture Series. His lecture, “Religious Literacy and American Education,” was this year's Schaff Lecture on Ethics and Morals. One of America’s foremost experts on religion, Prothero is chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University and the author of numerous books, most recently Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. Considered one of the great religion books of the decade, American Jesus is an incisive account of Jesus’ transformation (in America’s hearts and minds) from crucified Lord to folk hero, from divinity to celebrity.
Prothero notes that religious illiteracy is rampant in the United States. Such ignorance is perilous, he says, because “religion is the most volatile constituent of culture, and one of the greatest forces for evil.” In Religious Literacy, he calls for schools to teach a mandatory academic study of religions, which has sparked a much-needed debate concerning the powerful and often uncontested role religion plays in our lives.
Prothero earned a Ph.D. in religion from Harvard University, and is considered a specialist in Asian religious traditions in the United States. He is a frequent guest on National Public Radio, and has appeared on The Today Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The O’Reilly Factor. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications.
Funded by the Schaff Family Endowment, this lecture was established through the bequest of Charles B. Schaff ’41 and supports annual speakers “on topics related to fundamental human values—those principles which direct a person’s decisions and actions because they clarify what is ‘right ‘ and what is ‘wrong.’”
Other events in Mercersburg's 2007–2008 Monday Evening Lecture Series include the Jacobs Residency Lecture December 10 (Kwame A. Appiah, a professor and author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers), the Ammerman Family Lecture March 31 (Tim Flannery, an Australian scientist, author, and climate-change activist), and the Class of '48 Lecture April 14 (Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, an author and expert on immigration and human migration).
