Dorrien to speak at Schaff lectures

Staff report

youngstown

Dr. Gary Dorrien, the Reinhold Niebuhr professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary and professor of religion at Columbia University, will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 Schaff lectures March 27 at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave.

Registration will be at 3:30 p.m. followed by a clergy/lay leaders seminar at which the speaker will address the subject “Inventing Social Christianity: The World as the Subject of Redemption.”

The session is free, but reservations are requested.

The lecture will be followed by a catered buffet supper at 5:30 p.m. Paid reservations of $10 must be at the church office by March 21. For information, call the church office at 330-744-4307.

A public lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. on “Economic Crisis, Economic Democracy and Occupy Wall Street.” No reservations required.

An Episcopal priest, Dr. Dorrien previously was the Parfet Distinguished Professor at Kalamazoo College, where he taught for 18 years.

He is the author of 44 books and about 250 articles on such topics as ethics, social theory, theology, philosophy, politics and history.

Princeton University philosopher Cornel West described Dr. Dorrien as the “preeminent social ethicist in North America today.”

More than 40 book reviewers have described his trilogy, “The Making of American Liberal Theology,” as the definitive work in the field.

He has two books planned for release this year including “The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective,” which makes a progressive critique and defense of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The David S. Schaff Lecture Series is made possible by the late Mrs. Philip H. (Jane Booth) Schaff, who died in 1981. In her will, she provided for the completion of the endowment of the previously established David S. Schaff Lectureship at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It was stipulated that the Schaff lecturer would give one address in Youngstown. Mrs. Schaff’s father-in-law, professor David S. Schaff, taught church history at Western Theological Seminary, a forerunner to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Historically, the series has been sponsored by First Presbyterian in conjunction with Eastminster Presbytery, Mahoning Valley Association of Churches and the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

The educational program is open to people of all denominations.