JBU Hosts 'Reimagining Faith and Public Life' Event
SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (Oct. 1, 2019) – John Brown University will host the third annual “Reimagining Faith and Public Life” event on Tuesday, Oct. 15 featuring David French of the National Review, Jemar Tisby of The Witness and Jenny Yang of World Relief. The three guest speakers will discuss "The Future of Faith & Public Life" in Simmons Great Hall B at 7 p.m.
Hosted by JBU’s Center for Faith and Flourishing and the Honors Scholars Program, in partnership with the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Office of the President and the support of the American Enterprise Institute’s Values and Capitalism project, the event is designed to explore the relationship between religious commitment and political engagement.
“We hope to raise important questions for Christians to consider as they think about their role in civic life.” Dr. Trisha Posey, director of the Honors Scholar Program, said. “It is more important than ever that Christians lead the way in discussing and responding to the key issues of our day. Reimagining Faith and Public Life is a chance for us to do this.”
David French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and a contributor to Time. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. French is also a former major in the United States Army Reserve and was awarded the Bronze Star. A New York Times bestselling author, French’s next book, The Great American Divorce, will release later this year.
Jemar Tisby is the president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective where he writes about race, religion and culture. He is also the co-host of “Pass the Mic,” a podcast that amplifies dynamic voices for a diverse church. His writing has been featured in the The Atlantic, the Washington Post, CNN, Vox and the New York Times. He has spoken nationwide at conferences on racial justice, U.S. history and the church. He is the author of "The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism" and is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Mississippi studying race, religion and social movements in the 20th century.
Jenny Yang is the Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief where she provides oversight for all advocacy initiatives and policy positions at World Relief, representing World Relief’s advocacy priorities to the U.S. government and mobilizing churches on advocacy campaigns. Yang has conducted research on refugee and asylum law in Madrid, Spain through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and is on an active deployment roster for UNHCR. She is also former chair of the Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) Africa Work Group. Yang is co-author of “Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate” and a contributing author to “Talking Taboo: American Women Get Frank about Faith and Global Diasporas and Mission: Volume 23.”
“Each of our three guests think about these issues in different ways, but they all do so from a shared Christian foundation,” said Dr. Daniel Bennett, assistant director of The Center for Faith and Flourishing. “The diversity of views on display at this event are a reminder that Christians can disagree on politics while sharing in the hope that comes in Christ.”
Tisby will address the student body at JBU’s chapel service at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, and all three speakers will meet with faculty and student clubs during their visit.
For more information, visit the Center for Faith and Flourishing Facebook Page.
John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News Best Colleges, 2019), JBU enrolls more than 2,300 students from 38 states and 53 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers more than 40 undergraduate majors, with top programs including engineering, nursing, family and human services, biology, graphic design and construction management. Sixteen graduate programs are available in the areas of business, counseling, cybersecurity, education and higher education.
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