Danforth Inaugural Lectures in Religion and Politics: Conference and Seminar

Inaugural Danforth Distinguished Lectures in Religion and Politics

PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS and SECULARIZATION in MODERN AMERICA

David Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor Emeritus

University of California at Berkeley

November 18-20, 2013

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis is pleased to announce the First Danforth Distinguished Lectures to be held November 18-20 at Washington University in St. Louis. The Distinguished Lectures are convened to initiate and sustain ongoing discussion about multiple interactions between religion and politics in American public life and thought. The Lectures approach this objective by inviting a distinguished scholar to focus his or her remarks on some dimension of religion and politics that requires nuanced illumination. 

For our 2013 Lectures, we are delighted to have David Hollinger, the Preston Hotchkis Professor Emeritus of History, University of California at Berkeley, as our inaugural lecturer. The title for Professor Hollinger's Lectures is "Protestant Foreign Missions and Secularization in Modern America" and a number of events organized around this common theme will be held during the three-day event. Professor Hollinger will deliver two lectures, one each on the nights of Monday, November 18, and Wednesday, November 20. Between these two lectures, on Tuesday, November 19, a symposium featuring commentary by three esteemed scholars of American religion, history, and politics--Jon Butler of Yale University, Darren Dochuk of Washington University, and Molly Worthen of UNC-Chapel Hill--will respond to Hollinger's initial lecture. 

The Danforth Distinguished Lectures are free and open to the public, but we understand that the costs of travel to Washington University may be prohibitive for many prospective participants. In keeping with the Lecture series' guiding concerns with stimulating generative dialogue across ideological, methodological, and disciplinary divides, the Center solicits applications from advanced graduate students and junior scholars in religion, politics, history, and related fields whose research would benefit from attendance and participation in the conference proceedings. Selected participants will attend the three signature events as well as a seminar with Professors Hollinger, Butler, Dochuk, and Worthen on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 19. Seminar participants will have the opportunity to discuss their own work and its relation both to the theme of the conference and the larger framework of religion and politics in America. Seminar participants will be eligible for generous travel and hotel subsidies. In order to accommodate as many participants as possible, we urge all applicants first to request funding through one's home institution. To apply for the seminar, please prepare a one-page letter of application that includes: a brief description of current research; how you anticipate the Lectures will contribute substantively to your endeavors; an itemized budget proposal; and any resources you are receiving through your home institution. Please email this letter of application and a current c.v. as one .pdf attachment to rap@wustl.edu. The deadline for applications is October 15, 2013, and selected seminar participants will be notified by October 20.