Full List of Merrick Lectures

2020s

• 2021
  • Miroslav Volf
    “Faith and Work”

2010s

• 2019
  • Vasudha Narayanan
    ”Who Owns a Story? Global Religions and Cultural Territoriality”
• 2018
  • Carol Newsom
    “Hope in a Time of Climate Change: A Conversation between the Bible and Science”
• 2017
  • Paul C.H. Lim
    “Global Christianity and War on Human Trafficking: Snapshots from America, India, and Korea”
• 2015
  • Christiane Gruber
    “Prophetic Products: The Prophet Muhammad in Contemporary Iranian Visual Culture”
    (Spring)
  • Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
    “An Uncommon Faith: Pragmatism and Religion”
    (Fall)
• 2013
  • Robin Jensen
    “Ritual Spaces and Holy Places: The Archaeological Evidence for Ancient African Christianity”
• 2012
  • Laura Lieber
    “Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight: Scriptural Drama and Biblical Playfulness in Antiquity”
• 2011
  • Lori Meeks
    “‘Talking Past’ Androcentric Religious Discourse: Gender, Agency, and Ideology in Medieval Japanese Buddhism”
• 2010
  • David Frankfurter
    “Exorcising the World: New Perspectives on Christianization and Culture”

2000s

• 2009
  • Daniel T. Spencer
    “The Greening of Religion: Religions’ [Re]Encounter with the Earth and Its Distress”
• 2008
  • Jason C. Bivins
    “Like Beating the Dog”: Religion, Fear and American Democracy”
• 2006
  • Yvonne Haddad
    “What Kind of Islam will America Tolerate?”
    (October 12, 2005, co-sponsored with Sagan National Colloquium)
• 2005
  • Dr. Franklin H. Littell
    “Religion in the Pressure Cooker: Christianity and Judaism under Soviet and Nazi Rule”
• 2004
  • Al Staggs
    “A View from the Underside”
    (November 8, 2003, co-sponsored with the Theatre Department)
• 2003
  • Professor Aloysius M. Lugira
    “Christianity in Our Time: The Meaning and Significance of Voluntary Celibacy Today”
• 2002
  • Charles Kimball
    “When Religion Becomes Evil”
• 2001
  • Carol Adams
    “The Pedagogy of Grief” (Lecture)
    “The Sexual Politics of Meat” (Slide Show)
• 2000
  • Miriam Therese Winter
    “The Singer and the Song”

1990s

• 1999
  • Bishop Peter Storey
    “God and Caesar in Conflict: The Role of Religion in the Rise and Fall of Apartheid in South Africa”
• 1998
  • F. Forestor Church
• 1996
  • Richard Olson
    “New Models for Understanding Science/Religion Interaction”
    “Astronomy, Astral Religion and the Birth of a Transcendent God in the Ancient Near East”
• 1995
  • Jane I. Smith
    “Muslims in America: Who Are Our Neighbors?” “Surviving in an Alien Environment”
• 1994
  • John Anton
    “The Spiritual Odyssey in Greek Thought: From Homer to Nikos Kazantzakis and Constantine Cavafy”
• 1992
  • James Charlesworth
    “Would Jesus Have Admired the Authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls?” “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Faith”
• 1990
  • Michael Novak
    “Liberation Theology”

1980s

• 1986
  • Robert Jewett
    “Rambo’s Darkness and the Red Dawn”
• 1985
  • Kempton Hewitt
    “Methodism and the Working Class”
• 1983
  • Gene Outka
    “Logic of Moral Discourse: Theory and Application”
• 1982
  • Robert Nozick
    “Philosophy and the Meaning of Life”
• 1981
  • James Fowler
    “Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian: Adult Development, Christian Faith, and the Human Vocation”
• 1980
  • Martin E. Marty
    “The Next Turns in American Religion”

1970s

• 1978
  • John Smith
    “Man and the Nature of Responsibility”
    “Responsibility and Personal Identity”
• 1977
  • Hazel Barnes
    “Classical Greek Religion in Contemporary Culture”
• 1976
  • Robert Bellah
    “Civil Religion”
• 1975
  • Jacob Neusner
    “Judaism in Contemporary America”
• 1972-1973
  • Mr. Howard Moody
    “Moral Issues and Public Policy”
    1. Drugs: An Artificial Tragedy with Authentic Victims
    2. Abortion: Refocusing on Religious and Political Principles Involved in Compulsory Child-Bearing Laws
    (Minister of the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village)
• 1971-1972
  • Dr. Rosemary Radford Reuther
    “Women’s Liberation in Historical and Theological Perspective” “Foundations for a Theology of Liberation”
• 1970-1971
  • Dr. Huston Smith
    “TAO NOW: The Sublime Milieu”
    1. Technology as World Stance
    2. Technology: The Roots of our Crisis
    3. The Realm of the Great Infinite
• 1969-1970
  • Mr. Alvin A. Carmines
    “Celebration as a Style of Life”
    (Associate Minister and Director of the Arts Program at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village)

1960s

• 1968-1969
  • Dr. Eugene Carson Blake
    “The Relevance of Christian Faith and Life to the Real World of 1969”
    1. New Trends in the Ecumenical Movement
    2. The Crisis of Faith and Meaning in the Life of Man
    3. The Christian Contribution to the World Community
• 1967-1968
  • Dr. Joseph F. Fletcher III
    “Situation Ethics and Social Concern”
    1. An End To Conscience
    2. An End To Ideology
    3. An End To Human Rights
• 1966-1967
  • Dr. Harvey G. Cox
    “A New Faith: Toward a Worldly Hope”
    1. The Secularization of Eschatology
    2. The Politics of Apocalypse
    3. The Prophetic Perspective
• 1965-1966
  • Dr. Gregory Baum, O.S.A.
    “The Listening Church”
    1. The Church Listening to God
    2. The Church Listening to Her Members
    3. The Church Listening to the World
• 1964-1965
  • Dr. Schubert M. Ogden
    “The Reality of God”
    1. The Problem of God’s Reality
    2. The Reality of Secular Faith
    3. Toward a New Theism
• 1963-1964
  • Dr. J. Robert Nelson
    “The Integrity of Human Community”
    1. Beyond Civil Rights
    2. Tolerance, Bigotry and the Christian Faith
    3. Can the Reconcilers Be Reconciled?
• 1962-1963
  • Dr. Will Herberg
    “At the Boundary of Religion and Culture”
    1. Logical Positivism, Linguistic Analysis and Religious Language
    2. Anxiety, Faith, and the Courage to Be: A Psycho-Religious Exploration
    3. Religion and the Changing Cultural Situation in Present-Day America
• 1961-1962
  • Philip S. Watson
    “The Holy Spirit in Scripture and Experience”
    1. The Nature of the Spirit
    2. The Mediation of the Spirit
    3. The Criteria of the Spirit
• 1960-1961
  • John Herman Randall, Jr.
    “The Intellectual Challenge of Religious Pluralism”
    1. Language and Religious Vision
    2. Religious Symbols and the Divine
    3. Toward a Community of Religion
• 1959-1960
  • H. Richard Neibuhr
    “The Responsible Self”
    1. The Idea of Responsibility
    2. Response and Responsibility in Society
    3. Self in Time and History
    4. The Self in Absolute Dependence

1950s

• 1958-1959
  • Paul Tillich
    “Religion and Higher Education”
    1. The Meaning and Aims of Higher Education
    2. Education and Initiation
    3. Religion and the Institutions of Higher Education
• 1957-1958
  • Jerald C. Brauer
    “Protestantism Yesterday and Today”
    1. The Preeminence of Faith
    2. Search for Authority
    3. Worship
    4. Towards a Responsible Society
• 1956-1957
  • Charles C. Noble
    “Why Bother With Christianity?”
    1. Christianity and Our View of Life
    2. Christianity and Our Campus Codes
    3. Christianity and Our Personal Power
    4. Christianity and Our Social Responsibility
• 1955-1956
  • Eugene L. Smith
    “The Christian Mission and the Making of History”
    1. The Power of the Gospel
    2. You Cannot Export What You Do Not Have
    3. The Word Is Made Flesh
    4. Our Calling to Fulfill
• 1954-1955
  • Canon M. A. C. Warren
    “Partnership – The Study of an Idea”
    1. The Concept of Partnership
    2. The Theology of Partnership
    3. Partnership and the Ecumenical Idea
    4. Partnership and the Christian Mission
• 1953-1954
  • Howard Thurman
    “Religious Experience and the Social Witness”
    1. The Inwardness of Religion
    2. The Outwardness of Religion
    3. The Inner Need for Love
    4. The Outer Necessity for Love
• 1952-1953
  • Albert C. Outler
    “Psychotherapy and the Christian Message”
    1. The Practical Wisdom of Psychotherapy
    2. Allies or Rivals?
    3. The Human Quandary
    4. The Human Possibility
• 1951-1952
  • Dr. Bernard Iddings Bell
    “A Plea for Constructive Rebels”
    1. The Cultural Picture
    2. The School
    3. The Church
    4. The Individual
• 1950-1951
  • Dr. Ralph W. Sockman
    “Our Faith and Our Reason”
    1. What is Faith?
    2. Beyond our Reason
    3. Beyond our Strength
    4. Beyond our Life
• 1949-1950
  • Dean Liston Pope
    “Christian Faith and Social Responsibility”
    1. The Hour of Decision: Demands for Loyalty
    2. A Divided World: Contemporary Social Conflict
    3. Living in Two Kingdoms: Christian Integrity and Social Responsibility
    4. One Faith: Christianity and Democracy

1940s

• 1948-1949
  • Dr. Gordon W. Allport (Harvard)
    “The Individual and His Religion”
    1. The Origins of the Religious Quest
    2. The Religion of Youth
    3. The Religion of Maturity
    4. Conscience and Mental Health
    5. The Nature of Doubt
• 1947-1948
  • Dr. Arnold S. Nash
    “Toward the Redemption of the University”
    1. The Need of Christian Categories
    2. The Christian Witness in Philosophy
    3. The Christian Witness in History
    4. The Christian Witness in the Social Sciences
    5. The Christian Witness in the Natural Sciences
• 1946-1947
  • Dr. William Hung
    “Social and Political Ideals of the Awakened China”
• 1945-1946
  • Dr. Eddy Asirvatham
    “India and the New World Order”
  • Bishop Bromley Oxnam
    “Religion’s Responsibility in Counteracting Totalitarian Ideologies”
  • Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert
    “Religion’s Responsibility in Counteracting the Demoralizing Effects of War Devastation”
  • Dr. Walter W. Van Kirk
    “Developing Techniques Adequate to the Demands of the New Social Order”
  • Dr. H. R. Knickerbocker
    “Two Worlds – Will They Clash?”
• 1944-1945
  • Sir Norman Angel
    “Present Relations Between U.S. and England”
  • Hans Kohn
    “U.S. – German Peace”
  • Dr. Maxwell Stewart
    “U.S. Action on Postwar China”
  • Robert Aura Smith
    “Future Relationship of U.S. and South Eastern Asia”
  • W. Ball
    “Postwar World Court”
• 1943-1944
  • “Postwar Problems”
  • Dr. Hastings Eells
    “The Difficulties of Making Peace”
  • Dr. R. H. Lynd
    “Power Politics and the Postwar World”
  • Dr. J. L. Hromadka
    “The Problem of Germany”
  • Dr. Thomas A. Bisson
    “The Treatment of a Defeated Japan”
  • Dr. Francis B. Sayre
    “Rebuilding a War-torn World”
  • Dr. Y. C. Yang
    “China, America’s Pacific Ally”
  • A. Atkinson
    “A Postwar World Organization for Peace”
  • Dr. John L. Childs
    “Soviet Russia and the Postwar World”
  • Dr. Gordon Hayes
    “Economics Welfare and World Peace”
  • Dr. Clair Wilcox
    “Competition and Monopoly in the Postwar World”
  • O. Hudson
    “International Organization after the War”
  • Senator Harold H. Burton
    “American Attitudes and Leadership”
  • Vera Micheles Dean
    “Problems of the Small States in the Postwar World”
    (Delivered before Atkinson’s lecture)
  • Dr. H. C. Hubbart
  • Dr. Gilbert H. Barnes
  • Dr. James Shotwell
  • Former President Herbert Hoover
• 1942-1943
  • “Christian Bases of World Order”
  • The Hon. Henry a Wallace
    “Practical Religion in the World of Tomorrow”
  • Bishop Francis J. McConnell
    “Fundamental Christian Conception of Man”
  • Prof. Edgar S. Brightman
    “A Christian View of Nature”
  • Dr. Umphrey Lee
    “The Spiritual Basis of Democracy”
  • Gonzalo Baez-Camargo
    “Factors in World Order: Christianity and the Race Problem”
  • Prof. John B. Condliff
    “Economic Freedom”
  • Bjarne Braatoy
    “The Land and Human Welfare”
  • Vera Micheles Dean
    “Political and Human Welfare”
  • Charles-Edward A. Winslow, M.D.
    “The Health of the World Community”
  • Carter Goodrich
    “Christianity and the Workers of the World”
  • Reinhold Schairer
    “Human Character and World Order”
  • (Sponsored by Division of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Church. Bishop R. McConnell presided – R. E. Diffendorfer directed arrangements)
• 1941-1942
  • “Bases for a Just and Durable Peace”
  • Bishop Francis J. McConnell
    “Fundamental Christian Conception of Man”
  • Dr. John Foster Dulles
    “Toward World Order”
  • Dr. William Paton
    “The Ecumenical Church and World Order”
  • Dr. Leo Pasvolsky
    “The Problem of Economic Peace After the War”
  • Dr. Hu Shih
    “Factors necessary for a Durable Peace in the Pacific’s Area: A Chinese View”
  • Dr. Carl J. Hambro
    “Some Problems of World Organization”
• 1940-1941
  • Bishop Bromley Oxnam
    “Our Contemporary Crucifixion and Crusade”
• 1939-1940
  • Dr. Ernest F. Tittle
    “Christianity for our Times”

1930s

• 1938-1939
  • Canon Charles E. Raven
    “The Gospel and the Church”
• 1937-1938
  • Dr. Reinhold Neibuhr
    “The World of Tomorrow”
• 1936-1937
  • Bishop Herbert Welch (Former OWU President)
    “The Challenge of the Orient”
• 1935-1936
  • Dr. Trumbull G. Duvall
    “Great Thinkers”
• 1934-1935
  • Dr. Robert L. Calhoun
• 1933-1934
  • Dr. George A. Buttrick
    “The Christian Fact and Modern Doubt”
• 1932-1933
  • Dr. John A. Mackay
    “Wilderness Voices of Yesterday and Today”
    (Delivered Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1932)
• 1930-1931
  • Dr. T. R. Glover
    “The World of the New Testament”
• 1929-1930
  • Dr. Halford E. Lucock
    “Jesus and the American Mind”
    (Delivered Feb. 1930)

1920s

• 1928-1929
  • Dr. Richard Roberts
    “The Christian God”
    (Delivered Dec. 2-7, 1928)
• 1927-1928
  • Dr. Hugh MacKintosh
    “Religion and Human Life”
    (Delivered March 11-17, 1928)
• 1926-1927
  • Dr. Oscar M. Buck
    “Our Asiatic Christ”
• 1925-1926
  • Dr. Johnston Ross
    “Christian Worship and Its Future”
    (Listed on L.C. card as 1926, but was given March 22-26, 1925; listed in a list of Merrick Lectures as “One Avenue of Faith.”)
• 1923-1924
  • Bishop William F. McDowell
    “Making a Personal Faith”
• 1922-1923
  • Dr. Lynn Harold Hough
    “Synthetic Christianity”
• 1921-1922
  • Dr. Henry Sloan Coffin
    “What is There in Religion”
• 1921
  • (Book lacking as none was given owing to the death of Gunsaulus who was to have given a series called “Religion in Art.”)

1910s

• 1919
  • (May)
    Dr. John Kelman
    “The War and Preaching” – Religion after the War
  • (Nov.)
    Dr. Walter S. Athearn
    “A National System of Education” – Problems of Religious Education in America
• 1918-1919
  • Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick
• 1917-1918
  • Dr. Robert E. Speer
    “The Stuff of Manhood: Some Needed Notes in American Character”
• 1916-1917
  • Dr. Charles E. Jefferson
    “What the War is Teaching”
• 1915-1916
  • Rev. George A. Johnston Ross
• 1913-1914
  • Bishop Naphtali Luccock
  • Bishop Edwin H. Hughes
  • Bishop W. F. Anderson
  • Bishop W. F. McDowell
  • Rev. Hugh Black
  • Dean Edward Bosworth, D.D.
• 1911-1912
  • Bishop Francis J. McConnell
    “The Increase of Faith”
• 1910-1911
  • Prof. Walter Rauschenbusch
    “Christianizing the Social Order”
• 1909-1910
  • Rev. George Jackson
    “Studies in the Old Testament”

1900s and earlier

• 1907-1908
  • “The Social Application of Religion”
  • Rev. Charles Stelzle
    “The Spirit of Social Unrest”
  • Jane Addams
    “Woman’s Conscience and Social Amelioration”
  • Dr. Charles P. Neill
    “Some Ethical Aspects of the Labor Movement”
  • Dr. Graham Taylor
    “Industry and Religion”
  • Dr. George P. Eckman
    “Christianity and the Social Situation”
• 1906-1907
  • Robert E. Speer
    “The Marks of a Man”
• 1905-1906
  • “The New Age and Its Creed”
  • Bishop Elijah E. Hoss
    “The New Age”
  • Dr. Doremus A. Hayes
    “The New Biblical Learning”
  • Dr. Charles E. Jefferson
    “The New Theology”
  • Dr. Edwin H. Hughes
    “The New Patriotism”
  • Bishop William F. McDowell
    “The New Evangelism”
• 1904
  • John R. Mott
    “The Pastor and Modern Missions”
• 1895-1903
  • Dr. George Adam Smith
    “Christ in the Old Testament”
  • Dr. James M. Buckey
    “The Natural and Spiritual Orders”
  • Dr. James Bashford (Former OWU President)
    “The Science of Religion”
• 1894
  • Dr. James W. Butler
    “Mission Work in Mexico”
• 1891
  • Dr. James Stalker
    “The Preacher and His Models”
• 1890
  • Dr. R. S. Foster
    “Philosophy of Christian Experience”
• 1889
  • (First Series, March 1)
    Dr. Daniel Curry
    “Christian Education”
  • (Second Series, March 28)
    Dr. James McCosh
    “Tests of Various Kinds of Truth”