(March 20, 2015)

"Religion Matters" series at Centenary hosts Dr. Meredith Minister

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College of Louisiana concludes its Religion Matters speaker series for 2014-2015 with theologian and professor of religion Dr. Meredith Minister of Shenandoah University. Minister will present a public lecture entitled "Responding to Sexual Violence: Drawing on Neglected Traditions to Imagine Future Alternatives" on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. in Centenary's Kilpatrick Auditorium.

Minister's scholarship and teaching interests include Christian theology, comparative religious studies, women's and gender studies, and disability studies. She holds a B.A. in theology from Union University, an M.T.S. in theology from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in religious studies and women's and gender studies from Southern Methodist University. Her work has been published in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and Disability Studies Quarterly.

Who: Dr. Meredith Minister, Assistant Professor of Religion at Shenandoah University
What: Public lecture, "Responding to Sexual Violence: Drawing on Neglected Traditions to Imagine Future Alternatives"
Where: Kilpatrick Auditorium, Centenary campus
When: Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m.

In addition to her public lecture, Dr. Minister will be a guest lecturer in Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Spencer Dew's "Politics and the End of the World" course and will meet with interested students for informal discussions about her scholarship.

"Dr. Minister is an academic theologian, which means she engages contemporary social issues not only through critical intellectual inquiry but also in a constructive response informed by everything from scripture to feminist theory," said Centenary Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Spencer Dew. "I'm excited for Centenary students to get a chance to hear about this kind of work."

Minister's lecture at Centenary will offer an analysis of historical justifications for sexual violence and is a prime example of her critical approach to social issues.

"Minister is passionately concerned about her topic, sexual violence, which, as an increasingly recognized problem on college campuses, is of urgent importance for the Centenary community to address," said Dew.

Minister's visit concludes a successful second year of the Religion Matters series, a set of events that is designed to generate wide-ranging conversations about the intersection of religion and other cultural issues across the larger Shreveport-Bossier community. The 2014-2015 series also featured lectures by Dr. Steven Salaita and journalist Sarah Posner.