Dickinson Distinguished Lecture

The Dickinson Distinguished Lecture is presented by a distinguished scholar who has made a significant impact upon the study of religion. In addition to presenting a public lecture to the community, the visiting scholar engages with students in the Dickinson seminar and critiques their papers.

Previous Dickinson Fellows

Term Faculty Instructor Dickinson Lecture Title Distinguished Visitor
12F Susannah Heschel Eastern Wisdom in an Era of Despair: Orientalism in 1920s Central Europe Suzanne Marchand (Louisiana State University)
12S Nancy Frankenberry Joseph Smith and the Discovery of the Golden Plates Ann Taves (University of California, Santa Barbara
09S Gil Raz This Foreign Religion of Ours: (Mis)Translation East and West, Medieval and Modern Stephen R. Bokenkamp (Arizona State University)
08S Reiko Ohnuma From Stone to Flesh: The European Encounter with the Buddha Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (University of Michigan)
07S Susannah Heschel The End of History and the Last Jew: Apocalypse and Anti-Semitism from the Middle Ages to Left Behind Lisa Lampert-Weissig (University of California, San Diego)
04S Reiko Ohnuma Convents & Courtesans: Locating Buddhist Nuns in the Cultural & Urban Landscape of Early North India Gregory Schopen (UCLA)
03S Kent McConnell Picturing Faith:   Religious America in Government Photography, 1935-1943 Colleen McDannell (University of Utah)
01F Susannah Heschel Before the 'Final Solution':   Nazi Ghettoization Policy in Poland, 1939-1945 Christopher R. Browning (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
01W Amy Hollywood How Do I Tell It; Let Me Count the Ways: Representation and the Historian's Promise Edith Wyschogrod (Rice University)
00S Nancy Frankenberry From Nothing Until Now: Faith in the Natural History of Our Universe Willem B. Drees (University of Twente and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
99W Kevin Reinhart Religion and Religious Revolutions Said Arjomand (SUNY at Stony Brook)
98S Hans H. Penner Cannibal Vignettes in the South Seas Gananath Obeyesekere (Princeton)
95F Ifi Amadiume Violence, Young Men and the Preparation for Ritual Maurice Bloch (London School of Economics)
95S Robert G. Henricks Early Chinese Mythology Sarah Allan (School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS, London)
93F Hans H. Penner The Charisma of Saints and the Cult of Relics, Amulets and Tomb Shrines: A Comparison Stanley Tambiah (Harvard University)
93S Susan Ackerman Yahweh and the Goddesses of Canaan William G. Dever (University of Arizona)
92F A. Kevin Reinhart Wilfred Cantwell Smith and the Study of Religion Wilfred Cantwell Smith (Harvard University)
91S Ronald M. Green Academic Freedom and Catholic Higher Education Charles Curran (Auburn University)
90S Nancy Frankenberry How My Mind Has Changed, or Reflections on Catholic Theology Today David Tracy (University of Chicago Divinity School)
88F Charles Stinson Themes of Contemporary Christian Thought Avery Dulles (Catholic University of America)
88S   Confucianism & Christianity Robert C. Neville (Boston University)
88W Robert G. Henricks The Mudwall Saga: Inter-shrine Competition in Taiwan David K. Jordan (University of California, San Diego)
87F   Mencius & Aquinas: Theories of Virtue and Conceptions of Courage Lee H. Yearley (Stanford & Amherst)
87S Hans H. Penner Rationality and Ritual Jonathan Z. Smith (University of Chicago)
87W Robert G. Henricks Hereditary Rulership in Ancient China Angus C. Graham (SOAS, London)
86W Ronald M. Green Roman Catholic Social Thought in the Twentieth Century Thomas Sanders, Bryan Hehir, David Hollenbeck
85S Robert A. Oden Ways of Reading the Bible James Barr (Oxford)
85W Robert G. Henricks Taoism: The Religion Michel Strickmann (University of California, Berkeley)
84W Steven Katz Mysticism Seyyid Hussein Nasr
83W Stuart Blackburn The World of Hindu Mythology Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (University of Chicago)
82F Robert G. Henricks The Hero Pattern and Founders of Religions Alan Dundes (University of California, Berkeley)
82S Fred Berthold Evangelical Christianity Donald G. Bloesch (Dubuque Theological Seminary)
81S Ronald M. Green The Ethical Thought of James Gustafson James Gustafson (University of Chicago)
80S Nancy Frankenberry Women and Religion: The Writings of Rosemary Radford Ruether Rosemary Radford Ruether (Garrett Theological Seminary, Northwestern University)
79S Robert G. Henricks Early Chinese Thought: The Works of Herrlee G. Creel Herrlee G. Creel (University of Chicago)
78S Robert A. Oden Abraham in History and Tradition John Van Seters (University of North Carolina)
77S Charles Stinson The Thought of William Christian William Christian (Yale University)
76S Ronald M. Green Special Seminar in Paul Ramsey's Ethics Paul Ramsey (Princeton University)
74F Hans H. Penner The Problem of Understanding Another Religion Melford Spiro (University of California, San Diego)
74W Fred Berthold The Mind/Body Problem in the Thought of H.D. Lewis. H.D. Lewis (Kings College, University of London)
72S Fred Berthold
David Adams
Edward Yonan
On the Concept of God: The Work of Schubert Ogden Schubert Ogden (Perkins School of Theology, SMU)