Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)

Each year the department invites noted scholars and writers in the field to give lectures or readings on campus. Such visits enrich the curriculum and provide models of how Christian scholars and writers have integrated their faith into their professional work. Recent visitors have included Jeanne Murray Walker,Carl Dennis, Robert Siegel, Mary Brown and Susannah Childress, among others.

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The Conference deals with a question: "How can we tell the best and truest stories of race and faith?" The question is complicated--as our conference title indicates. If race is a fiction or a social construction, how can race play a role in telling true things about God or faith? Do different ways of telling stories (histories, sermons, songs, memoirs, novels, poems, plays, etc.) affect the kinds of (or qualities of) truths that emerge about faith and race? How does considering WRITING in concert with faith and race conflict with or support more embodied encounters with race and faith, such as those that take place in college classrooms, dorm rooms, and dining rooms? How best can teaching the stories of race and faith affect the narratives our students take with them when they leave the environments of our campuses and communities? Working through these and other questions with an undergraduate community will be our conference agenda. To that end, we are bringing together teachers, scholars, and writers to engage with students in talks, roundtables, and readings.

The Conference is free and is open to all Wheaton College students, faculty, and staff, and to the general public. The conference schedule and speakers list will be posted soon. For additional information, please call Marie Friesema, English Department Academic Coordinator, at 630-752-5051 or email her at Marie.E.Friesema@wheaton.edu.