SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (Feb. 24, 2026) — John Brown University will host classicist and historian Nadya Williams, Ph.D., for its Honors University Lecture on Monday, March 2, at 3:30 p.m. in Simmons Great Hall C.

Williams will lecture on “The Classics and Spiritual Formation in the Year of America’s 250th: Why Jerusalem Still Needs Athens in the Age of AI.” She will examine what we lose when we neglect the classics and why America, a country founded by people who were grounded in the classics, still needs Athens in the age of artificial intelligence.

Williams is the author of "Cultural Christians in the Early Church" (Zondervan Academic, 2023), "Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic: Ancient Christianity and the Recovery of Human Dignity" (IVP Academic, 2024) and "Christians Reading Classics" (Zondervan Academic, 2025). She is books editor at Mere Orthodoxy, where she hosts the "Christians Reading Classics" podcast. She is also a contributor at Christianity Today, a contributing editor at Front Porch Republic and Providence Magazine, and featured author at Fairer Disputations. 

"Dr. Williams is one of the best thinkers today on the relationship between the ancient classics and spiritual formation," said Ryan Butler, Ph.D., director of Honors Scholars Program. "The old question about the best of pagan learning and the Christian life — what Athens has to do with Jerusalem — is as relevant now as ever, and I’m excited that Dr. Williams will be taking up this topic with the JBU and wider community. She is a learned and trusted guide who pushes our thinking in all the right directions and especially so as we navigate the path of discipleship in the AI age.

Williams is a homeschool mom, writer and editor based in Ashland, Ohio, where she serves as interim director of the MFA in Creative Writing at Ashland University. 

The lecture is sponsored by JBU's Honors Scholars Program. It is free and open to the public.

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) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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