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April 30, 2008
PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES TO GIVE ANNUAL JEFFERSON LECTURE AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ON MAY 7
David L. Holmes, the Walter G. Mason Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary, will present the 24th Annual Abram Kartch/Thomas Jefferson Lecture at William Paterson University in Wayne on Wednesday, May 7, 2008.
More than 400 students from area high schools are expected to attend Holmes’ address, titled “Thomas Jefferson and Religion,” a lecture which will include a discussion of Jefferson’s religious writings and beliefs. The program will begin at 9:45 a.m. in Shea Center on campus. A limited number of seats for the free program will be available to the public.
Holmes is a leading scholar of American religious history. At the College of William and Mary, he teaches courses on religious history and biblical studies. Among his many publications are the “Religion of the Founding Fathers,” and the “Faiths of the Founding Fathers.” He is also a frequent lecturer at Monticello, President Jefferson’s home in Virginia.
The Abram Kartch/Thomas Jefferson Lecture Series began in 1985 after Abram Kartch, a retired Paterson businessman and Jefferson scholar, provided William Paterson with an endowment to establish and continue the series. Designed to provoke discussion about the relationship of Jefferson’s words and thoughts to modern society, the series has presented lectures by many of the country’s leading Jefferson scholars, including Henry Steele Commager, James B. Shenton, Jan Lewis and Pauline Maier. Kartch, who in later years resided in Wayne, died in 1997 at age 93.
An essay contest for high school and college students will be conducted by the University in connection with the lecture. Certificates and monetary prizes will be awarded to students who write the two best essays on the theme developed in Holmes’lecture.
The essays will be judged by Richard Kearney, William Paterson University Library, and George Robb and Lucia McMahon, William Paterson University department of history. Winners will be announced by June 6 and their winning papers will be placed on file in the University library. Their names will be engraved on twin plaques kept by their schools for the next year.
For additional information about the event, contact George Robb, William Paterson University associate professor of history, at 973-720-3058.
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