Date: Jan 16, 2007

PROMINENT RELIGION SCHOLARS TO SPEAK AT HOFSTRA

Bart Ehrman, Mary Gordon and Peter Manseau scheduled for Department of Religion lectures this sprin

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - Best-selling New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman and popular Catholic authors Mary Gordon and Peter Manseau will be lecturing at Hofstra University this spring as part of the expanded offerings from Hofstra's Department of Religion.

Presidential Scholar Program/ Gospel of Judas Iscariot

Bart Ehrman, Ph.D., will be at Hofstra for a two-day visit Feb. 15 and 16 as part of the University's Presidential Scholar program, which brings distinguished scholars in various fields to campus for two-day visits consisting of public lectures and classroom visits.

Dr. Ehrman will deliver his lecture "The Newly Discovered Gospel of Judas Iscariot" - the document that was recently discovered in a Long Island bank safe deposit box - on Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, 10th Floor, South Campus.

Dr. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of 15 books including, most recently, Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006); Misquoting Jesus: The Story of Who Changed the Bible and Why (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005); Truth and Fiction in the DaVinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Can Really Know about Jesus, Mary, and Constantine (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); and co-author with Bruce Metzger of The Text of the New Testament: Its Origin, Corruption, and Restoration, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hofstra Religion Department Lecture Series in Catholic Studies: Catholicism and Literature

Gordon and Manseau will appear as part of the first annual Hofstra Religion Department Lecture Series in Catholic Studies: Catholicism and Literature. The series was established following the endowment of the Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman Chair in Catholic Studies at Hofstra and the installation in October 2006 of Julie Byrne, Ph.D., as the endowed chair.

Peter Manseau, author of the critically acclaimed memoir Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son, (New York: Free Press, 2005) will speak Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, located on the first floor of the Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus.

Vows is a memoir which tells the story of his family's struggle to reconcile the obligations of faith and the necessity of love. Manseau's father is a censured priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston who refused to resign his ordination to the priesthood despite his marriage and three children. The author's mother is a former nun who taught in Roxbury, MA.

Mr. Manseau is also coauthor of Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible (one of Publishers Weekly's best books of the year) and editor of the award winning webzine KillingTheBuddha.com.

Mary Gordon, an award-winning novelist, essayist, and critic whose most recent works include The Stories of Mary Gordon (New York: Pantheon, 2006), a collection of short stories, and the novel Pearl (New York: Pantheon, 2005), will speak at Hofstra on April 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, 10th Floor, South Campus.

The Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of Writing and chair of the English Department at Barnard  College in New York, Prof. Gordon is the   author of four bestselling novels: Final Payments, The Company of Women, Men and Angels, and The Other Side. She has also published a book of novellas, The Rest of Life; a collection of stories, Temporary Shelter; and a book of essays, Good Boys and Dead Girls. She is the recipient of a Lila Acheson Wallace Reader's Digest Writer's Award and a Guggenheim fellowship.

Hofstra University Department of Religion

Hofstra's Department of Religion offers students the opportunity to explore the central role religion plays in social, political and economic events, as well as in the lives of individuals and communities. Courses examine the history of religions, the rituals that mark important life events, the human beliefs that underlie those rituals and the sacred texts and stories that shape the way so many people experience each other and the world. In addition to the Hartman Chair for Catholic Studies, the department is home to the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Endowed Chair in Sikh Studies and a newly endowed chair in Jewish studies.

Hofstra University

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students find their edge to succeed in more than 140 undergraduate and 150 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. With a student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1, our professors teach small classes averaging 25 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis. Hofstra offers a faculty whose highest priority is teaching excellence, cutting edge technology, extensive library resources, internships and special educational programs that appeal to their interests and abilities. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.

Related Link: Hofstra Department of Religion