WVU Parkersburg hosting lecture on "Violence, Culture and Religion: The Future of Hope?"

WVU Parkersburg to host Jan. 14th lecture on "Violence, Culture and Religion: The Future of Hope?"

CONTACT: Debbie Richards, special assistant to the president, 304-424-8201.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Virginia University at Parkersburg will host a lecture on "Violence, Culture and Religion: The Future of Hope?" at 11 a.m., Monday (Jan. 14) by scholar and author Michael Hardin.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held in Room 1305.

Hardin’s lecture will describe how the basic foundations for peacemaking can relate to the dominant societal and global realties facing the lifetimes of young adults, while integrating comprehensively with their "spiritual needs." He will suggest ways to live out actions for a more peace fulfilling world and build bridges of unity between differing groups and factions.

Hardin is co-editor of a new book, "Stricken by God?", a variety of analyses whose common thread is that violence comes from man and not from God. He is the director of Preaching Peace, a ministerial resource, and director of The School of Peace Theology in Lancaster, PA. He has been affiliated with the Colloquium on Violence and Religion since 1990 and is an expert on the theological anthropology of René Girard. He has published in the Scottish Journal of Theology, St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, Brethren Life and Thought, The Covenant Quarterly, The Journal of Ministry in Addiction and Recovery, and Violence Renounced. He has presented papers at academic meetings both in the United States and Europe. Hardin is a graduate of North Park Theological Seminary.

The lecture is made possible through a collaboration between PreachingPeace.org, the producer of a ministerial resource website in Lancaster PA, and Wayside United Methodist Church in Vienna. His lecture is offered in conjunction with a regional ecumenical conference to reflect on foundations for peacemaking grounded on ethics and theology of nonviolence. This project is partially funded by the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund.