2019 Bitar Memorial Lecturers: R. J. Snell and Matthew Kaemingk

(BEAVER FALLS, Pa.) – “Political theology” explores the implications of a particular theological perspective for political philosophy—that is, for philosophical ideas that shape how we understand the nature of our political involvement together. In these days of deep political upheaval in the face of massive challenges to human existence worldwide, this philosophical consideration could not be more timely.

Geneva College’s Philosophy program is devoting its 2019 Bitar Memorial Lecture Event to political theology. A student reading group will be considering two recent works which represent two complementary philosophical approaches, as will the two public Bitar Lectures this semester.

Returning for an unprecedented third time to the Bitar Series, Dr. R. J. Snell will present “The Law of Love: A Classical Approach to Political Theology.” February 6 (7 p.m., John White Chapel). His recent book, The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode (Pickwick, 2014) is one of the Bitar student reading group’s texts.

The other text is philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff’s The Mighty and Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology (Cambridge, 2014). Presenting a Reformed approach to political theology such as Wolterstorff’s is Dr. Matthew Kaemingk. Kaemingk’s lecture title is “The Cross, the Crown, and our Muslim Neighbor,” to be given March 27 (7 p.m., John White Chapel).

Both philosophers will also give a special class for Geneva College students and engage conversation informally with them.

Dr. Snell (MA Boston College, PhD Marquette University) is director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ. Previously he was for many years Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Philosophy Program at Eastern University and the Templeton Honors College, where he founded and directed the Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good. His many books include Through a Glass Darkly: Bernard Lonergan and Richard Rorty on Knowing without a God’s-eye View (Marquette, 2006), Authentic Cosmopolitanism (with Steve Cone, Pickwick, 2013), The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode (Pickwick, 2014), Acedia and Its Discontents (Angelico, 2015), and Nature: Ancient and Modern (Lexington).

Dr. Kaemingk (MDiv Princeton, PhD Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, PhD Fuller Theological Seminary) is assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Seminary, associate dean for Fuller Texas, and a scholar-in-residence for the Max De Pree Center for Christian Leadership. Matthew also serves as a fellow for the Center for Public Justice. A 2011 Fulbright Scholar, for some years prior to his current appointment, he founded and served as executive director of the Fuller Institute for Theology and Northwest Culture in Seattle, Washington, launching innovative theological initiative designed to equip regional churches to engage the arts, marketplace, and culture of the Pacific Northwest. He is author of Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear (Eerdmans, 2018), a book on Christian political ethics. Dr. Kaemingk is also an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church.

The annual Dr. Byron I. Bitar Memorial Lecture in Philosophy was endowed by the William C. Kriner Family in memory of Geneva College’s beloved professor of a quarter-century, in order to continue his legacy and vision for philosophy. The Lecture was inaugurated in 2004, a year after Dr. Bitar’s untimely death, and has been held every year since that time. The Bitar Lecture endowment enables Geneva College to have the rare privilege of inviting the world’s finest Christian philosophers to speak to the students, faculty, neighbors and friends of Geneva. Past lecturers include renowned Christian philosophers Stephen Evans, Nicholas Wolterstorff, James K.A. Smith, Alvin Plantinga, Paul Moser, Merold Westphal, D. C. Schindler and John Crosby.

The mission of the Philosophy program at Geneva College is: “Engaging the philosophical conversation, honing critical skills and passions, cultivating wisdom for service, for living, in submission to Jesus Christ the Truth.

The public is warmly welcomed to join the Geneva College community for the lectures.

For further information regarding the Bitar Lecture, contact Geneva College’s Philosophy Program Office, 724-847-6700.

Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 115 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva’s programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the top engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God’s Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today’s world.