Weddle giving Roe Howard lecture
David Weddle, a former longtime Cornell College professor who is now the David and Lucile Packard Professor of Religion (2009–2012) at Colorado College, will give the Roe Howard Freedom Lecture on Thursday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Hedges Conference room in The Commons on Cornell’s campus.
Weddle will speak about themes from his book, “Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions.”
Belief in miracles persists in the modern world despite the power of scientific explanation, Weddle said. His speech will examine, in part, the political significance of miracles and the religious reasons for not believing in them.
“Miracle stories are expressions of hope, signs of authority, moments of revelation, and demonstrations of transcendent power,” Weddle said. “Not all who believe in miracles are irrational and not all who deny miracles are irreligious.”
Prior to coming to Colorado College in 2001 as chair of the department of religion, David taught for 27 years at Cornell College, most of that time as chair of the department. He held the Norma and Richard Small Senior Faculty Chair and hosted a weekly public service program on controversial moral issues on KCRG-TV.
At Colorado College Weddle teaches courses in comparative theology, philosophy of religion, ethics, American religions, and theory and method of religious studies . In addition to articles in scholarly journals, he is the author of “Law as Gospel: Revival and Reform in the Theology of Charles G. Finney” (1985) and “Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions” (2010). His current research is for a book on sacrificial practices in world religions.
This is the fifth in the Roe Howard Freedom Lecture Series, after Amity Shlaes, Mark Steyn, Dinesh D’Souza and Richard Thaler. Howard was a Mount Vernon native, 1917 Cornell graduate and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I. He was killed in action in France in 1918. The lecture series is funded through the generosity of the Riesen Foundation and Cornell trustee and alumnus Dean Riesen ’79 and alumna Barbara Hull Riesen ’82.
