ENC welcomes Harvard professor as part of religious lecture series

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

Eastern Nazarene College’s History Department will welcome Harvard Divinity School Professor David N. Hempton this Friday in a lecture to discuss religion in North America and Europe.

The free event, titled “Godless Europe, Religious America: Comparative Secularization 1750-2000” will draw upon Hempton’s research in religion as well as pop culture, identity, and ethics conflicts.

It’s an event that should be well attended, said Dr. Randall Stevens, associate history professor and department chairman, especially due to the interest in this type of material.

“There’s a course here right now taught by Josh Sweeden that’s taught on Christianity and empire, and it fits in perfectly with that,” Stevens said. “We’ve also advertised for it, and its also homecoming weekend, so there should be some alumni. And people from the area come as well.”

Hempton’s credentials should also help garner him a crowd. Prior to joining Harvard University in 2007, he served as the university professor and professor of the history of Christianity at Boston University.

He has also served as the Professor of modern history and director of the Queen’s University of Belfast.

Currently, he is teaching “Colloquium in American Religious History” and “Encountering the Other: The Expansion of the Christian West, 1650-1850,” at Harvard.

Professors and students say they are looking forward to hearing his lecture.

“He’s a well known religious historian,” Stevenson said.

The event is at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the second-floor auditorium of the Mann Student Center on ENC’s Wollaston campus.

This lecture is a part of ENC’s Donald Metz Lecture Series, to honor a ENC alumni who passed away several years ago.

Although only the second in the series since last year, Stevenson hopes to bring in other historians and interesting locals to chat with students on a religious topics.

The college also brings in other guests for general lectures on a variety of subjects.

The next lecture will feature Eileen McNamara, a Boston Globe Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who currently teaches at Brandeis University.

For more information, visit here www.enc.edu/history.