Emory Williams Lectures in the Liberal Arts - Video

Walter Melion, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History and chair of the Art History Department, gives a talk to undergraduates entitled "How Painters Read the Classics" (April 9, 2014). Dr. Melion has published extensively on Dutch and Flemish art and art theory of the 16th and 17th centuries, on Jesuit image-theory, on the relation between theology and aesthetics in the early modern period, and on the artist Hendrick Goltzius. The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures/

Nicholas Buccola, Linfield College, gives a talk entitled "Frederick Douglass's Declarations of Independence" to Emory undergraduates (April 2, 2014). Political science Professor Nicholas Buccola teaches and researches American politics, including contemporary issues such as same-sex marriage, social justice, contemporary moral controversies, and political liberals and conservatives. Other areas of expertise include the Supreme Court and constitutional law. The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures/

Susan Collins, University of Notre Dame, gives a talk to undergraduates entitled "Civic Freedom and Reverence for Law: The Legacy of Ancient Sparta" (March 19, 2014). Dr. Collins is Associate Professor of Political Science, specializing in Ancient Political Philosophy. Her most recent book is a translation of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," with Robert Bartlett (University of Chicago, 2011), including notes, glossary, and interpretive essay. The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures/

Russell Reno, editor of "First Things" magazine, gives a talk entitled "The King James Bible" to Emory undergraduates (March 5, 2014). Reno is the author of several books, including "Fighting the Noonday Devil", a theological commentary on the Book of Genesis in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series for which he also serves as general editor, "In the Ruins of the Church", and "Redemptive Change: Atonement and the Cure of the Soul". He has also coauthored two books, "Heroism and The Christian Life" and "Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible". His scholarly work ranges widely in systematic and moral theology, as well as in controverted questions of biblical interpretation. [Source: Wikipedia] The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures/

Roosevelt Montas, Columbia University, gives a talk entitled "Liberal Education and Democratic Citizenship" to Emory undergraduates (February 26, 2014). Dr. Montás specializes in Antebellum American literature and culture, with a specific interest in citizenship and American national identity. He is also Director of Columbia's Center for the Core Curriculum, where he has taught both Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization. He is currently writing on the interrelated biographies Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Charles Sumner. He also lectures and writes on the history and future of liberal arts education. The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures/

Natalie Haynes, writer and critic, gives a talk entitled "The Ancient Guide to Modern Life" at Emory University (January 22, 2014). The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University).

Robert Shaw-Smith, an actor and instructor at the Atlanta International School, talks about performing in the plays of Shakespeare (March 20, 2013).

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series, Christine Rosen, senior editor of "The New Atlantis," gives a talk entitled "The Changing Role of the Bible in America" (November 20, 2013). Rosen writes about the social and cultural impact of technology, as well as bioethics and the history of genetics. As a Future Tense Fellow at the New America Foundation, she is working on her forthcoming book, "The Extinction of Experience," to be published by W. W. Norton in 2014. The Emory Williams Lectures in the Liberal Arts have been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series, Dr. Ralph Hexter of the University of California - Davis gives a talk entitled "Reading Vergil Through the Ages" (November 6, 2013). Dr. Ralph Hexter holds an appointment as distinguished professor of Classics and Comparative Literature. He is also currently serving as the provost and executive vice chancellor (http://provost.ucdavis.edu/people/hexter-biography.html). He received a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in comparative literature from Yale University. The Emory Williams Lectures in the Liberal Arts have been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series, Jerry Muller, chair of the Department of History at Catholic University, gives a talk entitled "Adam Smith on the Uses, Abuses, and Limits of Self-Interest" (October 29, 2013). Dr. Muller holds a PhD (1984) from Columbia University and has written extensively on modern European intellectual history and modern Germany. His most recent work is "Capitalism and the Jews" (Princeton University Press, 2010). The Emory Williams Lectures in the Liberal Arts have been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series, John Agresto, former president of St. John's College, gives a talk entitled "Toward an American Liberal Education" (October 23, 2013). Dr. Agresto holds a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University. He has published in the areas of politics, law, and education, and has taught at the University of Toronto, Kenyon College, Duke University and the New School University. From 1989 to 2000, he served as president of St. John's College in Santa Fe. In 2008-2009 he was a visiting fellow at Princeton University's James Madison Program. The Emory Williams Lectures in the Liberal Arts have been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University). http://college.emory.edu/home/academic/voluntary-core-program/lectures

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series, Allen Guelzo of Gettysburg College gives a talk entitled " Lincoln and the War Powers" (September 18, 2013).

Prof. Ceaser has written several books on American politics and political thought, including "Presidential Selection", "Liberal Democracy and Political Science", "Reconstructing America", and "Nature and History in American Political Development". He has held visiting professorships at the University of Florence, the University of Basel, Oxford University, the University of Bordeaux, and the University of Rennes. He is also a frequent contributor to the popular press.

Tracy Lee Simmons, Lynchburg College, gives a talk entitled "Thomas Jefferson, Humanism, and Classical Education" (Feb. 27, 2013). The author of "Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin," he is currently writing a book about Thomas Jefferson.

Ronna Burger, a professor of philosopy at Tulane University, gives a talk entitled "The Best Human Life: On Aristotle's Ethics I.5" at Emory University on Feb. 12, 2013. Dr. Burger is the author of "Aristotle's Dialogue with Socrates: on the Nicomachean Ethics" (University of Chicago Press, 2008, paperback edition, 2009).

Luke Timothy Johnson of the Candler School of Theology gives a talk entitled "Jesus among the Philosophers: Ancient Conceptions of Happiness" (Jan. 30, 2013). Professor Johnson's research concerns the literary, moral, and religious dimensions of the New Testament, including the Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts of early Christianity (particularly moral discourse), Luke-Acts, the Pastoral Letters, and the Letter of James. The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University).

Aurelian Craiutu of Indiana University gives a talk entitled "Tocqueville on the Sources of Greatness in Democratic Societies" (November 27, 2012). His research interests include French political and social thought (Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Constant, Madame de Staël, Guizot, Aron), varieties of liberalism and conservatism, democratic theory as well as theories of transition to democracy and democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe.

As part of the Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts, Donald Livingston, a retired philosophy professor at Emory University, delivered this talk entitled "David Hume's Ethical Philosophy" (November 14, 2012). The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College '32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University).