Neustadt Lectures
The Neustadt Lectures were established in 1983 by Walter and Dolores Neustadt of Ardmore, Oklahoma for the purpose of strengthening understanding of the great contributions of the Judaic religious tradition to Western civilization and thought. Scholars are invited to the campus to speak on informative themes in the areas of Hebrew Scriptures, Judaic thought, and Jewish ethics and art.
Lecture #1: 鈥淟earning from Difficult Texts: A Trauma-informed Approach to Divine Punishment in the Hebrew Bible鈥�
Lecture #2: 鈥淩emember What?: Traditions of Slavery and Foreignness in Egypt鈥�
Lecture #3: 鈥淲ho Needs Bible Commentary (and Why Create a New One)?鈥�
Elsie Stern is professor of Bible at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She earned her B.A. at Yale University and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season and is a co-editor of the Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. She has also contributed to the Jewish Study Bible, Torah: A Women鈥檚 Commentary and the forthcoming Westminster Study Bible as well as other essay collections for scholars, clergy and lay readers. She is currently the general editor for the New CCAR Torah Commentary, which will serve as the main Torah commentary for the Reform movement of Judaism. In her teaching and research, Dr. Stern explores how Jews and Jewish communities have engaged with scripture over the centuries.
Willson Lectures
The Willson Lectures are provided by an endowment from James M. and Mavis Willson of Floydada, Texas. The lectures are directed to the interest of students in the area of religion and society.
The Willsons were outstanding members of the United Methodist Church. Their Christian vision was truly ecumenical in its outreach. Since 1953, their gift to 蜜桃影像AV has brought to campus speakers of international stature from the areas of religion, science, Christian theology and ethics, church history, biblical studies, and liturgical studies.
1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9
Performances in the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel
The 2025 Willson Lectures feature Rev. Dr. Becky Copeland, Associate Professor of Theology and the Director of the Faith and Ecological Justice Program at the Boston University School of Theology, Affiliated Faculty with the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, and a provisional deacon with the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Her research and teaching engage theology, ethics, and biblical studies, exploring the ways in which classical Christian texts and doctrine can be reconstructed considering what we learn about the world through environmental studies.
Dr. Copeland has published two books, numerous articles in biblical studies and theology, and received prestigious fellowships and grants to support her work. Her first two books, Created Being: Expanding Creedal Christology (Baylor, 2020) and Entangled Being: Unoriginal Sin and Wicked Problems (Baylor, 2024), use a relational lens to reconsider Christian understandings of the incarnation, sin, and repentance. Her current book project, Replanting the Uprooted: A Social-Ecological Approach to the Agricultural Parables, re-examines parables in the Synoptic Gospels in light of the concrete agricultural practices in the early Roman empire. She will be on research leave during the 2025鈥�2026 academic year, working on this and other projects.
Dr. Copeland was named the 2023-2024 Boston University School of Theology Exemplary Teacher of the Year (awarded by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, UMC) and received the Boston University School of Theology Teaching Excellence Award (awarded by the Class of 2024). She has served in various community and church roles, including as a deacon for Wesley UMC in Worcester, and a member of the Worcester Congregations for Climate and Environmental Justice, the Methodist Higher Education Environmental and Social Responsibility Initiative, and the United Methodist Creation Care Vocations Group.
These events will be livestreamed for those who need to attend remotely.
Contact Dr. Mark Davies, [email protected], for more information.
