Washburn to welcome scholar who will speak about Christianity

In 1982 the First Congregation Church of Topeka gifted Washburn University with the Thomas L. King Lecture in religious studies. The series was created to enrich the religious studies program at Washburn  by providing students, faculty and the Topeka community with a formal public lecture with distinguished scholars from all over the world.

This year, Washburn welcomes William E. Arnal, associate professor and chair of the department of religious studies at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Arnal is the author of several theological books and articles including “Jesus and the village scribes” and “Nerve in the academic study of religion”. His work focuses on the origins of Christianity and the study of religion. Arnall will be presenting a lecture on the topic “Just how Christian were the first Christians?”

“This is a major event in the intellectual history of Topeka and north eastern Kansas where we have scholars of such caliber come to campus,” said Barry Crawford, professor of religious studies at WU. “The lecture hosts some of the world’s most prominent scholars and is free to the public. It is a chance for students to come listen to someone who really knows what they are talking about when it comes to the subject of religion.”

The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 24, 2013 in the Washburn room in the Memorial Union. This event is free to all students, faculty, staff and public.