Williams Faculty Lecture Series Continues with Talk on Early Christianity

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Feb. 9, 2004 – Williams annual Faculty Lecture Series continues on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 4:15 p.m. with Denise Buell, associate professor of religion. She will discuss “Race, Ethnicity, and the ‘People of God’: Some Surprises about Early Christian Universalism.” The lecture will be held in Wege Auditorium in The Science Center. The public is cordially invited to attend and a reception in the center’s Atrium will follow the lecture.

Early Christian universalism includes three main ideas: the ability for anyone to become a Christian (regardless of background), the aspiration to win over all humans as members, and the ideal that Christianity consists of a unified set of beliefs and practices.

“Despite the fact that early Christians often speak about themselves as belonging to a people, most people interpret Christian universalism in sharp contrast to ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’,” said Buell.

This talk will complicate this line of interpretation, showing instead how early Christians used ideas about race and ethnicity to form and shape their universal claims. In addition, the lecture reflects on the implications for current ways of thinking about Christianity, race, and ethnicity.

Buell’s research focuses on early Christian history. Her first book, “Making Christians: Clement of Alexandria and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy” (Princeton, 1999) explores the significance of procreation and kinship for early Christian self-definition. In 2000-01, she was named a Radcliffe Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, allowing her to pursue research on her second book, “Why This New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity.” At Williams, she teaches a range of courses, including “Reading Jesus, Writing Gospels: Christian Origins in Context,” “The Development of Christianity: 30-600 C.E.,” “Feminist Approaches to Religion,” and a tutorial titled “Haunted: Ghosts in the Study of Religion.” Buell received her A.B. from Princeton in 1987, her M.Div. from Harvard in 1990, and her Ph.D. in religion from Harvard in 1995.

Other lectures in this annual series include:

Associate Professor of Psychology Kenneth Savitsky comes to Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on Feb. 19 with a lecture titled, “But Enough About Me… What Do You Think About Me? Egocentrism and the Psychology of Impression Detection.”

On Feb. 26, Associate Professor of History Kenda Mutongi will give insight into “Widows, Family and Community in Colonial Kenya” at Wege Auditorium.

Associate Professor of Physics Daniel Aalberts will discuss “Assembling and Decoding the Genome” on March 4 at Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall.

The following Thursday, March 11, sees Associate Professor of Mathematics Susan Loepp deliver a lecture titled “To Detect Errors Is Human, to Correct Them Divine: An Introduction to Error Correction” at Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall.

Finally, James McAllister, Associate Professor of Political Science, will draw the lecture series to a close on March 18 with his timely take on “National Security and the 2004 Presidential Election” at Wege Auditorium.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs (413) 597-4279. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap

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Published February 12, 2004