Lecture Series

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Jellema Lecture Series

For over thirty years, the philosophy department at Calvin has brought some of the greatest minds in Christian philosophy and theology to participate in this prestigious lecture series. This prestigious lecture series is free and open to the public; we hope you'll join us.

William Harry Jellema (1893-1982) was the founder of Calvin's philosophy department. A brilliant and inspiring teacher, Professor Jellema graced the university with his presence from 1920 to 1936, and again--after a 12-year stint at the University of Indiana--from 1948 to 1963. Together with his colleagues, he produced a generation of students for which Calvin's philosophy department has justly won national--indeed, international--recognition. Jellema has the unique honor of having three of his students elected President of the American Philosophical Association, and two of his students delivering the prestigious Gifford Lectures. In the words of a former student, Kenneth Konyndyk, Jellema was everything a professor should be: "stately, dignified, erudite, insightful, and thoroughly in command of his subject."

2023 Jellema Lecture

Dr. Andrew Chignell

October 9, 7:30pm, Meeter Center Lecture Hall

"What to Do When You Don't Make a Difference"

Past Lecturers

2022: Kyla Ebels Duggan, Northwestern University

2021: Ruth Groenhout, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

2019: Jennifer Lackey, Northwestern University

2019: Vincent Lloyd, Villanova University
2017: Christian Miller, Wake Forest University

2016: Jennifer Herdt, Yale Divinity School

2015: William J. Abraham, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

2014: Timothy O'Connor, Indiana University

2013: Norman Wirzba, Duke Divinity School

2012: Jean Porter, University of Notre Dame

2011: Michael Murray, John Templeton Foundation

2010: Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago Divinity School
2009: Nancey Murphy, Fuller Theological Seminary
2008: Allan Verhey, Duke Divinity School
2007: Brian Leftow, Oxford University
2006: Jeffrey Stout, Princeton University
2005: Scott MacDonald, Cornell University
2004: Peter van Inwagen, University of Notre Dame
2003: Calvin Seerveld, Institute for Christian Studies
2002: Azizah al-Hibri, Virginia Commonwealth Law School
2001: Sarah Coakley, Harvard Divinity School
2000: Julia Annas, University of Arizona
1999: Merold Westphal, Fordham University
1998: Gordon Graham, University of Aberdeen
1997: Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
1996: Linda Zagzebski, Loyola Marymount University
1995: Robert M. Adams, Yale University
1994: Kenneth J. Konyndyk, Calvin College
1993: Arthur F. Holmes, Wheaton College
1992: Marilyn McCord Adams, UCLA
1991: Bas van Fraassen, Princeton University
1990: Ralph McInerny, University of Notre Dame
1989: Eleonore Stump, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
1988: Richard Swinburne, Oxford University
1987: J.R. Lucas, Oxford University
1985: Henry J. Stob, Calvin Theological Seminary

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