The College of Theology, Arts & Humanities at Concordia-Chicago will welcome Dr. Wilfred M. McClay on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. as the next speaker in its Lectureship in Christianity, Humanities and Public Life. McClay will give his lecture on the topic, “The Burden of the Humanities.”
“The humanities … have been losing confidence in themselves, and doing so at the very moment when we need them most,” says McClay. “It will be the special burden of the humanities in the years ahead to clarify their mission, and teach us what it means to be human.”
McClay is a professor of history at Hillsdale College (MI). His book “The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America” received the 1995 Merle Curti Award of the Organization of American Historians for the best book in American intellectual history. He served for 11 years on the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is currently is a member of the U.S. Commission on the Semiquincentennial, which has been charged with planning the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Academy of Education, and received the Bradley Prize in 2022. He is a graduate of St. John’s College in Annapolis and received his PhD in history from Johns Hopkins University.
Established in the fall of 2021, the Lectureship in Christianity, Humanities and Public Life is a biannual series designed to explore the intersection of and tensions within the humanities, science and the Christian faith. It is generously funded by Dr. and Mrs. C. Ross Betts.
The free event will take place in room 200 of the Christopher Center on Concordia-Chicago’s campus, located at 7400 Augusta St., River Forest, IL. Free off-street parking is available in the University’s parking structure, south of Division Street on Bonnie Brae Place. Handicapped-accessible parking is available in the visitors’ lot adjacent to the north side of the University parking structure.
Share this article
