Lectures

Azza Karam, of the UN Population Fund, comes to the Wheatley Institute's annual Student Conference of Religion in the Public Sphere. She describes the fine line between supporting and patronizing religious actors across the world.

Dr. Shaun Casey, director of the Berkley Center and former U.S. special representative for religion and global affairs/director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, details why religion should be a part of statecraft. He dives into his work establishing the Religion and Global Affairs office in the State Department and the work his office did in establishing religious harmony in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the refugee crisis, and the normalization of US-Cuba relations.

David Campbell from the University of Notre Dame presents the Keynote Address for the 2017 Wheatley Religion in the Public Square Conference. His talk discusses the surprising role that religion has played in partisan politics.

Roger Scruton, eminent scholar of aesthetics, raises important questions about the individual's relationship with morality and the arts.

Dr. David I. Smith, a Calvin College Professor and Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, has spent his life developing ways to incorporate the Christian values he holds dear into the secular language subjects he loves to teach. In this speech given on March 1 at Brigham Young University, he gives his advice on how to bridge the gap between the two, thus creating an improved learning experience for both teachers and students. He challenges academic norms that have crept into every subject and that cause students to see subjects in a selfish and 2 dimensional way. His discussion is a battle cry to teachers of faith everywhere to teach better, more engaging, and unusual lessons; and not be afraid to use their values to enrich every facet of their teaching.

John D. Caputo discusses the complexities of post-modern religious sentiments.

Robert P. George, McCormick Chair of Jurisprudence, Princeton University, sat down with Richard N. Williams, Director of the Wheatley Institute. Robert P. George discusses the roles of public intellectuals, the virtue of dispassion, and dedicating our lives to the pursuit of truth. George talks about how he came to be involved in the academic field. They delve into the question of why do we argue, and understanding marriage and the importance of conjugal marriage. Religious liberty as a foundational liberty.

Lisa Miller, Professor & Director of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, discusses spiritual development as it pertains to children and adolescents.

Robert P. George is the McCormick Chair in Jurisprudence at Princeton University. In this lecture he discusses just and unjust laws, and political morality. George talks of humanity's ability to flourish or fail to flourish, what religion is, and faith's incapability to be coerced. He goes through and analyzes a quotation from Nostra Aetate, the Declaration of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.

James Smith, professor at Calvin College, makes a case against rising secularism, emphasizing the continued presence of spirituality, and he asserts that a secularist explanation of humanity cannot account for spiritually motivated behaviors.

Bill Allen, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at Michigan State University

Arthur Brooks, outgoing president of the American Enterprise Institute, believes that each American can root out contempt by proactively sharing warm-heartedness.

Robert P. George speaks at the 10th-anniversary celebration for the Wheatley Institute. He speaks about the liberal democracy each of us can participate in and the constitutional rules that empower our society.

Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair at the American Enterprise Institute and renowned political economist and demographer, offers a unique look into America's biggest demographic crisis yet: men without work. American men seem to be leaving the labor force in greater numbers than at any other time in the history of the world. The problem is uniquely American. Dr. Eberstadt explores why this is happening, what these men are doing instead, and what consequences it has on the American economy and culture.

Dr. Daniel Mark is an expert on family law and government from Villanova University. He speaks about how each of us have an responsibility to promote religious liberty and human rights.

This distinguished lecture in civic virtue is sponsored by the James Wilson Institute and the Wheatley Institute and presented by Dr. Daniel N. Robinson, a Fellow of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University and a former Senior Fellow at the Wheatley Institute.

Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, discusses some keys to a happy and prosperous life with points from his new book "The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America."

John Nagl, headmaster of the Haverford School, argues that teaching the next generation of American thinkers and leaders is just as important as fighting enemies on the fields of battle.

Dr. Stacie Molnar-Main discusses the benefits of teaching children how to participate in democracy. She notes different ways to do so and the responsibility each of us have to civic education in the classroom.