TOPEKA, Kan. – “Beyond the Bible: Recovering the Gospel” will be presented by The Rev. Peter J. Gomes at the 2009 Thomas L. King Lecture at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 25, in White Concert Hall, Garvey Fine Arts Center, Washburn University. No admission is charged and the public is invited to attend.

An American Baptist minister, Gomes is a member of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School and is Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard. Regarded as one of America’s most distinguished preachers, Gomes lectures internationally and participated in the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Reagan and of George Herbert Walker Bush. He was named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life, was listed as one of America’s seven star preachers by Time in 1979 and has appeared on “60 Minutes” and “Nightline.” A member of the arts and sciences and divinity faculties of Harvard University, Gomes holds degrees from Bates College and Harvard Divinity School and has received 36 honorary degree. In 2007, he was keynote speaker at the Trinity Institute National Theological Conference and in 2001 received The Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award from Harvard University.

He is the author of “The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart” (1996); “Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living” (1998); “The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need” (2002); “Strength for the Journey: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living” (2003) and “The Backward Glance and the Forward Look” (2005). The King Lecture in Religious Studies was established by a gift from the First Congregational Church of Topeka from funds donated in memory of Thomas L. King, an alumnus and benefactor of Washburn University. The lectureship is designed to enhance the understanding of religion within the context of the humanities. The event is sponsored by the Washburn philosophy department. For information, call (785) 670-1542. For more information on the speaker/performer please visit www.apbspeakers.com.