Esther Menn, the Marilyn and Ralph Klein Chair of Old Testament Studies and Director of Advanced Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago will give the 2011 George Hall Lecture at Gustavus Adolphus College at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12.
Menn’s lecture is titled “Reading Scripture with Christians and Jews: Confluence and Conflict,” and will take place in the Wallenberg Auditorium, located on the second floor of the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science. This is event is free and open to the public.
The event will also honor the significant contributions of Darrell Jodock, the Drell and Adeline Bernhardson Distinguished Professor in Lutheran Studies, who is retiring at the end of this academic year. Christian-Jewish relations is one of Jodock’s areas of research. He is the editor of the book Covenantal Conversations: Christians in Dialogue with Jews and Judaism.
In addition to Menn’s keynote speech, the audience will hear brief remarks from Rabbi Barry Cytron and David Tiede. Rabbi Cytron is director of the Jay Phillips Center, a venture devoted to fostering sustained interfaith education, based at St. John’s University in Collegeville. He currently serves as Director of Spiritual Life and Visiting Professor at Macalester College in St. Paul. Tiede is president emeritus and professor of the New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. Tiede’s most recent book is titled Jesus and the Heritage of Israel.
The George Hall lecture at Gustavus is named after George F. Hall (1908-2000), who taught in the College’s Christianity Department from 1938 to 1952. Hall left his post at Gustavus when he and his family left the country to serve as missionaries in Tanzania. His wife Lorena was instrumental in founding the College’s Art Department. The George Hall Lecture is sponsored by the Gustavus Religion Department, the Lecture Series, and the Office of Church Relations.
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