Lamar Lecture Announcement

LAMAR LECTURES PRESS RELEASE

October 23, 2008

Prominent Historian to Deliver Lamar Lectures on Religion in The South

MACON — Paul Harvey, Ph.D., will present the 2008 Lamar Memorial Lecture Series of Mercer University, on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 3 and 4, on the University’s Macon campus. Harvey, a history professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, will present three lectures around the theme: “Moses, Jesus and the Trickster in the Evangelical South.” All lectures are free and open to the public.

At 10 a.m. on Nov. 3 in the Medical School Auditorium, Harvey will present a lecture titled “Jesus of the South."

He will give two evening presentations – “Moses, Jesus, Absalom, and the Trickster: Southern Evangelical Culture in History and Literature” on Nov. 3; and “Religion, Race, and Southern Ideas of Freedom,” on Nov. 4 – each of which will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Medical School Auditorium.

In its 51 years, the Lamar Lecture Series has become one of the most prominent Lectures series on Southern Culture and History, and has included presentations by renowned historians, sociologists and literary scholars.

“Harvey continues this legacy of engaging Southern culture with an intriguing series of lectures that center on religious experiences in the American South,” said lecture series director Sarah Gardner, Ph.D., associate professor of History at Mercer. “Harvey is the first scholar to address the religious experience of the South since Sam Hill gave the lectures in 1979.”

Dr. Harvey is the author of two books, including: “Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities Among Southern Baptists, 1865-1925” and “Freedom’s Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era.” Harvey has two books that are under contract to be published as well: “Jesus in Red, White and Black” (co-authored with Edward J. Blum), and the book “Moses, Jesus and the Trickster in the Evangelical South” based on his Lamar Lectures.

Dr. Harvey has also edited several works, including: “Themes in Religion and American Culture,” “The Columbia Documentary History of Religion in America since 1945” and “The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History.”

Dr. Harvey has published numerous papers, articles and book chapters in the areas of Southern history, culture and religion. He earned his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, 1992.

About the Lamar Lecture Series:

Made possible by the bequest of the late Eugenia Dorothy Blount Lamar, began in 1957. The series promotes the permanent preservation of Southern culture, history and literature. Given each fall, it is recognized as the most important lecture series on Southern history and literature in the United States. Speakers have included nationally and internationally known scholars, such as Cleanth Brooks, James C. Cobb and Eugene Genovese. All lectures are original and are published as books following the lectures.

About Mercer University:

Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has more than 7,500 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah; three regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit http://www.mercer.edu/.

For More Information:
Media Contact: Mark Vanderhoek (478) 301-4037
Lecture Contact: Bobbie Shipley (478) 301-2357