Lectures

One of the highlights of the BYU academic year is the annual Truman G. Madsen Lecture on Eternal Man which consistently brings to campus insight and inspiration from internationally renowned scholars.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, joins the Wheatley Institute in a discussion about morality and answers timely questions.

James K.A. Smith speaks at the 2022 Truman G. Madsen Lecture. He talks about the importance of Christian resurrection and how art helps us remember the divine.

"This is the great challenge facing us all: Will we embrace or accept communion?"

Truman G. Madsen was a renowned philosopher, teacher, and biographer and regarded as one of the greatest LDS thinkers of our time. One of his goals as a founding senior fellow of the Wheatley Institute was to bring academic experts and civic leaders “to the fire” at BYU.

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.

Distinguished Wheatley Fellow Kevin J. Worthen gave a devotional address at BYU-Idaho about disciple-scholars and their unique responsibility to uphold the Constitution.

Wheatley Institute and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies welcomed Jeff Rosen to BYU campus on Nov 13, 2025 as he spoke on his recent book, "The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America," a New York Times bestseller and an enriching examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy.

Watch Dr. Paul Carrese's full remarks from his September 19, 2024 lecture.

George discussed what institutions—beginning with the family—instill the habits of mind that make for good citizenship.

Wheatley gets a visit from the authors of "The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again"

Conversation with Father-Daughter Duo of Political Scholars

The BYU campus community was invited to sit down with Utah Governor Spencer Cox.

Author, religion and ethics scholar, historian, and Harvard law professor, Noah Feldman, addressed the BYU community as part of Constitution Week. Feldman's lecture focused on ideas from his book, "The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery & The Refounding of America." All are welcome to attend the lecture.

On November 11, Timothy Shriver gave a lecture on “Moving From a Culture that Divides Us to a Culture that Unites Us.” The event was sponsored jointly by the Office of Civic Engagement and the Wheatley Institute. Tim and his growing team at UNITE, are building around a bold vision to promote national unity and mutual respect across differences. They are working to find solutions that transcend tired debates and old divides.