Religious Studies Lecture

"Suffering and Flourishing"

Eleonore Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. She is also honorary professor at Wuhan University, the Logos Institute and School of Divinity at St. Andrews, and York University; and she is a professorial fellow at Australian Catholic University. She has published extensively in philosophy of religion, contemporary metaphysics, and medieval philosophy.

Her books include Aquinas (2003), Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering (2010), and Atonement (2018). Her book The Image of God: The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Mourning will appear in 2022. She has given the Gifford Lectures (Aberdeen, 2003), the Wilde Lectures (Oxford, 2006), the Stewart Lectures (Princeton, 2009), and the Stanton Lectures (Cambridge, 2018).

She is past president of the Society of Christian Philosophers, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and the American Philosophical Association, Central Division; she also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2021, she was given the award of Johanna Quandt Young Academy Distinguished Senior Scientist by the Goethe University (Frankfurt, Germany).

"Creative, Curious and Ethical"

The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins serves as pastor of Bethany Memorial Church (Disciples of Christ) in Bethany, West Virginia. From 2005 to 2017, she served as General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. Upon her election, she was the first female head of a mainline denomination.  

Rev. Watkins has served with the National Council of Churches (US) as director of its truth and racial justice initiative (2018-2019); Phillips Theological Seminary as Director of Student Services, Phillips University as Church Relations Director, and she has served pastorates in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Indiana and Connecticut. Her first ministry calling was to the Church of Christ in Congo, then Zaire.    

Board memberships have included: the Central, Executive and Programme (chair) Committees of the World Council of Churches, the NCC governing board (chair) and President Obama’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the board at Friendship Press and as a member of the board of trustees of Christian Theological Seminary. She preached the sermon at the National Prayer Service following President Obama’s first inauguration.  

Rev. Watkins is the author of Whole: A Call for Unity in Our Fragmented World, 2014).

Dr. Watkins holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Bachelor's Degree in French and Economics from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is married to the Rev. Dr. Richard H. (Rick) Lowery who serves as President of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. They are the parents of two adult children and Mimi and Papa to one adorable grandson.

Rev. Dr. Brad Stagg is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has served as the Senior Minister of First Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri, since July 2012. He has been a member of the Columbia College Board of Trustees since 2012 and serves on various committees. Earlier this year, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Previously, he worked at Bethany Christian Church in Houston, Texas. Stagg earned a Bachelor’s degree in humanities from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1987. In 1993, he received his Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

"Genesis: the Science and Art of Biblical Scholarship"

Dr. Anthony Alioto recently retired after an impressive 37-year tenure at Columbia College, including the last 16 as the first John Schiffman Endowed Chair in Ethics, Philosophy and Religious Studies. He carried out the vision of the Schiffman family, bringing noted speakers to campus two times a year for lectures focused on Religious Studies and Ethics in Society. These showcases were designed to not only enhance a student’s educational experience, but also bring about the conversation of what roles ethics, religion and moral development play as part of an individual’s path in life.

He has played a key role in helping countless students learn while also staying curious of all things around them. Possessing a razor-sharp mind, encyclopedic recall and subtle sense of humor, he led engaging classes in history, religion and philosophy.

Dr. Alioto earned a BS in history and literature from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and then served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War as a personnel specialist. After his military service, he returned to graduate school at Ohio University, where he was the John F. Cady Fellow, earning his masters and doctorate in the history of science and philosophy.

A highly accomplished author, Alioto has written several scholarly texts, including A History of Western Science, which has been used in universities throughout the country. He has also written other works based on in-depth research, including Saintly Sex: Saint John Paul II, Sex, Gender and the Catholic Church and The Ninefold Path, based on his personal experiences with chronic illness, organ transplant and struggles with dialysis. His latest work, Exalted Father: The Books of Marduk, was published earlier this year. It is a retelling of the Book of Genesis and the story of Abram.

"Religion Goes to War"

Retired Lieutenant General, United States Air Force

The son of a U.S. Air Force officer and grandson of a naval officer, Lt. Gen. Richard C. Harding served 34 years on active duty in the Air Force before his retirement in April 2014, eventually becoming The Judge Advocate General (TJAG) of the Air Force in 2010.

Harding earned a direct commission into the Air Force in 1980 as a first lieutenant, starting his career at the Bitburg Air Base in West Germany. He would go on to serve in Texas, Washington, D.C., Alaska, Illinois, Nebraska, Louisiana, Colorado and Virginia. During his time in the Air Force, Harding’s assignments included Air Combat Command, United States Strategic Command, United States Transportation Command, Air Force Space Command and the headquarters of the United States Air Force at the Pentagon.

From 2007 to 2010, Harding served as the commander of the Air Force Legal Operations Agency, where he implemented changes that improved legal services in environmental, contract, labor, criminal and medical law. Harding was appointed TJAG of the Air Force in 2010 and, over the next four years, he helped implement a number of initiatives as the highest-ranking uniformed attorney in the Air Force, including the Special-Service-Award-winning Special Victims’ Counsel Program, which provides victims of sexual assault with independent attorneys.

Harding also led the charge for writing the Air Force Directive, as well as the Air Force Instruction on standards of conduct and created the premier Training and Readiness Office for the Air Force JAG Corps. Growing up, Harding lived in Texas, Arkansas, California, Alabama, South Carolina, Germany, Pakistan and Lebanon. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences in 1975, then earned his doctorate from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1979.

Currently, Harding assists universities and interest groups in eradicating campus sexual assaults by utilizing his military experience and serves on the Advisory Council of the National Crime Victims’ Legal Institute. Harding and his wife, Linda, live in Columbia, Missouri, and he is a member of the Columbia College Board of Trustees.

"Religion and Evolution"

Retired Professor of Human Geography

Larry Brown has been a storyteller and lecturer for more than 30 years, speaking to thousands of people and using original stories and songs of justice, courage and compassion. He has experience in public education, activism and as a pastor, and he brings those worlds together in his presentations, updating traditional themes with modern meaning and connecting with groups through humor, wit, inspiration and thoughtful challenges in stories and songs from the Midwest and around the world.

Brown, a retired professor of Human Geography at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is the president of Missouri Storytelling (MO-TELL), co-founder of the Columbia-based Mid-Missouri Organization for Storytelling (MOST), a member of the River and Prairie Storyweavers (RAPS), a former board member of the National Storytelling Network (NSN) and past president of the Storytelling in Higher Education special interest group of the NSN. Brown is currently completing a certificate in Biblical Storytelling from the Academy of Biblical Storytelling, and he soon will begin a term of office on the board of directors for the Network of Biblical Storytellers. He has traveled in all 50 states of the USA, as well as countries in Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to cultivate his love of the oral tradition, storytelling and folk music.

He received a Ph.D. in Policy Studies from the Department of Education and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri’s College of Education, as well as earning a degree in Sociology from the University of Nebraska, a Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Missouri and a Master of Divinity from the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. Brown pastored congregations in Nebraska, Indiana and Missouri before becoming a full-time professor and has published articles on topics such as the “Christian Identity” movement — a segment of the radical religious racist right — domestic terrorism, Islam and Christianity, youth ministry, stewardship and Christian worship. He has taught at Stephens College and the Missouri School of Religion. He currently teaches regularly in MU Extension’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

"The Sacred and the Brain: Expressions of Selflessness"

Professor of Health Psychology, University of Missouri

Dr. Brick Johnstone is a clinical neuropsychologist and has been a professor in the University of Missouri Department of Health Psychology for 25 years. His research focuses on the neuropsychological foundations of spiritual experiences, which recently has been informed by fellowships in religious experiences and moral identity at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton University, and in science and religion at Oxford University.

Dr. Johnstone’s primary interest is in determining the neuropsychological processes associated with spiritual experiences, specifically, what is happening in the brain rather than the location of such brain activity. The right hemisphere of the brain processes information related to the “self,” and reduced activity in this part of the brain leads to increased “selflessness,” which can be experienced as spiritual transcendence, or connection with higher powers beyond the self.

His research indicates that relationships across cultures and faith traditions, namely among American Christians and Indian Muslims, suggest “selflessness” may serve as a universal neuropsychological foundation for spiritual experiences. Additional research also suggests a relationship between selflessness and transcendence for atheists and agnostics, supporting concepts of spiritual atheism and secular spirituality. Working with religious studies scholars, Johnstone has shown how this neuroscientific research is further supported by multiple texts from diverse faith traditions emphasizing the importance of selflessness for spiritual experiences.

Johnstone holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University. He serves on the University of Missouri Center on Religion and the Professions Spirituality and Health Research Project, and his findings have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.

"Sex, Gender and the Catholic Church"

Co-authors of Saintly Sex: Saint John Paul II, sex, Gender & the Catholic Church

John McHale

John McHale is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order, a Catholic fraternity devoted to living according to the principles advocated by St. Francis of Assisi. McHale received his PhD from the University of Missouri in 2002. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University.

McHale is the author of Convergent Writing: Telling a Good Story Well, Communicating for Change: Strategies of Social and Political Advocates, coauthor of Bush versus Kerry: A functional analysis of campaign 2004, and has published a number of book chapters and academic articles on political discourse. McHale has won several awards for his work as a screenwriter, documentary film producer, and director. McHale has written six unproduced film scripts and a full-act play, 7 produced films, directed 5 produced films, produced 9 films, executive produced over 20 films, and has received over 10 awards for his film work in a number of organizations including the 2012 Grand Prize for Short Film Writing for his television dramatic program pilot episode of The Last Exit to Normal for Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival. Also of particular note, McHale worthier, directed, produced the award winning Picture This: The Fight to Save Joe, narrated by Danny Glover, which was an important catalytic factor in Joe Amrine's release from Missouri death row in 2005. McHale was awarded the Walter Cronkite Civic Engagement Leadership Award at the United Nations in New York in 2006.

Anthony M. Alioto

Anthony Alioto is the professor and John Schiffman Endowed Chair in Ethics, of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri. He is the author of "A History of Western Science," Prentice Hall, "The Ninefold Path: A Memoir" and a fictional work entitled "Toad Familiar." His research and teachings have covered such subjects as: ancient to modern science, philosophy of religion, psychology, ancient and modern cosmology, the quest for the historical Jesus, as well as Eastern philosophies and religions. He teaches Buddhism at the University of Missouri-Osher Foundation and has taught mindfulness for seniors at the University of Missouri.

"Courage to Seek, Courage to Give: Odyssey of a Buddhist Nun"

Founding Co-Abbot of the Embracing Simplicity Hermitage

The Venerable Pannavati Bhikkhuni is a co-founder and co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage in Hendersonville, N.C., and a founding director of Sisters of Compassionate Wisdom Buddhist order. Formerly a Christian pastor, she now is a Buddhist monk ordained in Theravada and Mahayana traditions, a transmission holder from Zen Master Bernie Glassman of Zen Peacemakers and a receiver of Vajrayana empowerments. She is known for her ordination of Thai and Cambodian nuns, work with homeless youth in Appalachia, and ministry to the "Untouchables" in India.

An international teacher and advocate for disempowered women and youth globally, she received the 2008 Outstanding Buddhist Women’s Award and a special commendation from the Her Royal Highness Princess of Thailand for humanitarian acts in 2009. She also established the first Thai and Cambodian ordination platforms for women in 2009 and 2011, respectively, and was the recipient of the 2011 Women in Engaged Buddhism Award, presented by the Buddhist Council of the Midwest. She is the founder of My Place, Inc., a program offering refuge, job training and social enterprise opportunities to homeless youth in Hendersonville, N.C. A guest speaker at BuddhaFest in Washington, D.C., in 2012 and 2013, she also guest teaches at New York Insight Mediation Center and Spirit Rock Mediation Center in Woodacre, Calif.

Though her many accolades are impressive, Ven. Pannavati has never lost sight of her humble concern for and connection to all sentient beings, and is revered for her compassion, contemplation and wit.

"The Liberating Arts and Sciences: Disciples of Christ and Higher Education"

President and Professor of Modern and American Church History, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

D. Newell Williams has been President and Professor of Modern and American Church History of Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University since 2003.

He is the author of Barton Stone: A Spiritual Biography, (St. Louis, Mo. Chalice Press, 2000) and Ministry Among Disciples: Past, Present, and Future, (St. Louis, Mo. Published for Council on Christian Unity by Christian Board of Publication, 1985). He is editor of A Case Study of Mainstream Protestantism: The Disciples’ Relation to American Culture, 1880-1989, (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), which resulted from a Lilly Endowment funded study directed by Dr. Williams involving over thirty historians, theologians, and sociologists. He co-edited with Douglas A. Foster, Paul M. Blowers and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004). He has contributed chapters to books and articles including, “Christianity in Twentieth Century America: Implications for the Twenty-First Century” (Encounter 63:3, Summer 2002, 247-261), “From Trusting Congress to Renouncing Human Governments: The Millennial Odyssey of Barton W. Stone” (Discipliana 61:3, Fall 2001, 67-81), “Pursuit of Justice: The Antislavery Pilgrimage of Barton W. Stone” (Encounter 62:1, Winter 2001, 1-23), “Bringing a Vision to Life: Walter Scott and the Restored Church," (in Walter Scott: A Nineteenth Century Evangelical, ed. Mark G. Toulouse, St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999, 123-133), “Disciples Biblical Interpretation and the Fugitive Slave Law: Ovid Butler Vs. Alexander Campbell" (Encounter 59:1-2, Winter/Spring 1998, 3-22), “Overcoming a Liberal-Conservative Divide: The Commission on Restudy of the Disciples of Christ," (in Christian Faith Seeking Historical Understanding: Essays in Honor of H. Jack Forstman, ed. James O. Duke and Anthony L. Dunnavant, Macon: Mercer University Press, 1997, 246-276), "Disciples-Related Colleges and the Culture of Disbelief," Encounter 56:1 (Winter 1995), 19-26, "Elders in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)," (in The Ministry of Elders in the Reformed Church, ed. Lukas Vischer, Berne: Evangelische Arbeitsstelle Oekumene Schweiz, 1992, 144-161), "Elders as Assistant Ministers: A Call for Restructure of the Ministry in Congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)," (Encounter 48:1 Winter 1987, 93-103), and "Disciples Piety: A Historical Review with Implications for Spiritual Formation," Encounter 47:1 Winter 1986, 1-25).

Dr. Williams is an Ordained Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, the Association of Disciples for Theological Discussion, and the Stone-Campbell Dialogue. He holds a Ph.D. (1979) and M.A. (1975) from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. from University of Tulsa (1971).

He is married to the Rev. Sue McDougal, and they are the parents of three children, Mac, Coert and Errett. Dr. Williams served Brite as Assistant Professor of Church History and as Assistant Dean (1978-1983) and later Associate Dean (1983-1984). From 1984 – 2003 he taught at Christian Theological Seminary, where he served as Vice President and Dean from 1992 – 1998.

Dr. Williams served a two-year term as Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from 2007 to 2009. He is currently the Theological Education Representative to the General Committee on Ministry.

"God's Name in Vain: Religion in Politics"

Acclaimed Novelist, Yale Law Professor, and Leading Intellectual in Law, Religion, and Culture

Stephen L. Carter, a Stanford graduate, attended Yale Law School where he was a notes editor of the Yale Law Journal. He served as a law clerk for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and later for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States. Currently serving as the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University, Carter teaches courses on law and religion, intellectual property, contracts, professional responsibility, lying and secrets, and the ethics of warfare. His first novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park, spent 11 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List. His nonfiction books include The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion; Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy; and God’s Name in Vain: The Wrongs and Rights of Religion in Politics. His most recent nonfiction book is The Violence of Peace: America’s Wars in the Age of Obama.

"Zen and the Brain: A Brief Introduction to Zen, Neuroscience and Meditating Selflessly"

Neurologist, Researcher, and Zen Practitioner

Dr. James H. Austin is a clinical neurologist, researcher and Zen practitioner. He is a Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and a Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health and Science Center.

His Zen training began in 1974 while in Kyoto, Japan, where he began studying under the English-speaking Kobori Nanrei Sohaku-Roshi. His early research background includes publications in the areas of clinical neurology, neuropathology, neurochemistry and neuropharmacology. Austin is the author of more than 140 professional publications, including the best-selling book Zen and the Brain and its sequel, Zen-Brain Reflections. He is also the author of Chase, Chance and Creativity and Selfless Insight: Zen and the Meditative Transformations of Consciousness.

"American Foreign Policy in the Middle East, 2009 and Beyond"

Director, Institute for the Study of Modern Israel of Emory University

Dr. Stein is the William E. Schatten Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Israeli Studies at Emory University. He also directs Emory’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and is President of the Center for Israel Education. As the Middle East Fellow of the Carter Center from 1983-2006, he was instrumental in Carter’s post-presidential engagement in the Middle East.

Stein is the author of The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939 and Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace. He has written numerous articles on Arab politics, the history of modern Israel, Palestinian social history and on educating pre-collegiate students about Israel and the Middle East. He is considered one of Emory’s finest teachers.

"Reason, Unreason and Religion: Say It Ain't So, Where Did America's Rationality Go?"

Author of The New York Times best seller, The Age of American Unreason

Susan Jacoby focuses on the convergence of social forces, which are usually treated as separate entities, that has created a perfect storm of anti-rationalism. These social forces include the upsurge of religious fundamentalism, with more political power today than ever before; the future of public education to create an informed citizenry; and the triumph of video over print culture. Sparing neither the right nor the left, Jacoby asserts that Americans today have embraced a universe of “junk thought” that makes no effort to separate fact from opinion.

“The Age of American Unreason” is Jacoby's eighth book. She is the author of seven previous books, most recently “Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism,” named a Notable Book of 2004 by The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times.

Other books include “Moscow Conversations,” based on her experiences in Moscow from 1969 to 1971; “Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984; and “Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past.”

Jacoby has been a contributor for more than 25 years to various periodicals and newspapers, on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women's rights, Russian literature and political dissent in the Soviet Union. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Book World, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Newsday, Harper's, The Nation, Vogue, The American Prospect, Mother Jones and the AARP Magazine.

She also is program director of the Center for Inquiry-New York City, a rationalist think-tank, and is a regular panelist for On Faith, a blog published by Newsweek and The Washington Post. She has her own political blog, The Secularist's Corner, on the Web site of The Washington Post.

"The Jesus Seminar Mutiny: How Scholarship, Beads and a Little Pluck Sparked a Revolution in the Search for the Historical Jesus"

Professor of New Testament Eden Theological Seminary

• Professor of New Testament at the Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, specializing in the study of the historical Jesus and Christian origins
• Renowned author and contributing essayist to several publications including “Forum”; “The Journal of Biblical Literature”; “The Journal of Religion”; “Journal of the American Academy of Religion”; “Theology Today”; “Bible Review” and “Harvard Theological Review”
• Former contributing editor to the “Bible Review” and a member of the editorial board for “The Journal of Biblical Literature”
• Guest of numerous television and radio shows, including appearances in documentaries airing on A & E Network, Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and National Geographic Channel; and featured in the popular educational series, “Living the Questions”
• B.A.,Yankton College, S.D.; M. T. S., Harvard University; M.A. and Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School, Calif.
• 1986 Fulbright Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany

"Religion: the Healer That Kills and the Killer That Heals"

Pastor, author and Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School

• Lutheran pastor and the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School; the Martin Marty Center was founded at the Divinity School to promote public religion endeavors
• Graduate of Concordia and Washington universities in St. Louis with graduate work at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; doctorate from the University of Chicago
• Author of more than 5,000 articles and 50 books, including “Righteous Empire,” a National Book Award winner
• Columnist for The Christian Century
• Founding president and George B. Caldwell Senior Scholar in Residence for Chicago’s Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics
• Past president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History and the American Catholic Historical Association
• Winner of the National Humanities Medal, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools and the Order of Lincoln Medallion
• Served on two U.S. Presidential Commissions and directed the Fundamentalism Project at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago
• An elected member of the American Antiquarian Society and of the Society of American Historians and an elected fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences
• Recipient of more than 70 honorary doctorates

2005 Religious Studies speaker: Ellen O'Grady.

2004 Religious Studies speaker: Rev. John Yonker.

2003 Religious Studies speaker: Dr. Shakir Hoomodi.

2002 Religious Studies speaker: Dr. Linda Lindsey.