Davidson College will host the Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor as its 2012 Staley Distinguished Christian Lecturer on Tuesday, February 7. Her talk is titled “Learning to Walk in the Dark: The Ancient Way of Unknowing,” and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Duke Family Performance Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Dr. Taylor is the Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga. She also taught for many years on the faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1982, she served as Rector of Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church during the 1990s. In 1996 she was named one of the twelve “most effective” preachers in the English-speaking world by Baylor University.
Dr. Taylor has authored many articles and twelve books on Christian spirituality, including the New York Times bestseller An Altar in the World (2009), Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith (2006), The Luminous Web: Essays on Science and Religion (2001) and The Preaching Life (1993). She was votedGeorgia Author of the Year in 2006.
Dr. Taylor received her B.A. in Religion from Emory University and her Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. She has also been awarded the Doctor ofDivinity degree from various institutions, including Wake Forest University, the University of the South (Sewanee), and Yale Divinity School.
Her Staley Lecture at Davidson College will be based on the book she’s currently writing, the thesis of which is that darkness has gotten a very bad name among religious people, when it is in fact where Goddoes some of God’s best work. Additional information may be found at www.davidson.edu/religiouslife or by calling the Office of the Chaplain at 704-894-2423.
Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aidpackages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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