Mississippi College School of Law invites you to a colloquium on The Religious Use of Politics: Temptation, Tool, or Task.

Featuring Robin W. Lovin, Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics Southern Methodist University

With a response by Mark C. Modak-Truran, J. Will Young Professor of Law Mississippi College School of Law

Monday, September 29, 2008, 11:30 a.m. Mississippi College School of Law Student Center Auditorium

Abstract: Are religion and public life really separate spheres of human activity? Should they be? Based on his new book Christian Realism and the New Realities (Cambridge University Press 2008), Dr. Lovin will argue that throughout American history, religious groups have wavered between rejecting politics as a temptation and using politics as a tool for religious purposes. Alternatively, he will affirm a religious commitment to the integrity of politics, as a task that neither threatens damnation nor promises salvation, but demands continuous, faithful engagement.

Dr. Robin W. Lovin is Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University, where he previously served as Dean of the Perkins School of Theology from 1994-2002. He was also the Dean of the Theological School of Drew University (1991-94), and a faculty member at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago (1978-91). He is a graduate of Northwestern University (B.A.) and Harvard University (B.D. and Ph.D.) and an ordained minister of The United Methodist Church. His books include: Christian Faith and Public Choices: The Social Ethics of Barth, Brunner, and Bonhoeffer (1984), Cosmogony and Ethical Order: New Studies in Comparative Ethics (1985)(edited with Frank E. Reynolds), Reinhold Niebuhr and Christian Realism (1994), Christian Ethics: An Essential Guide (2000), Reinhold Niebuhr (2007), and Christian Realism and the New Realities (2008). For more information, see the press release on the MC website: http://www.mc.edu/newsevents/prnews/user/story.php?id=852