March 21, 2008

Public Lectures: Politics and Religion Take Center Stage Next Week

Larry Sabato to Give Rushton Lecture at Samford March 25

Larry SabatoDr. Larry Sabato, author of more than 20 books on American politics and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, will speak at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law Tuesday, March 25, on the Rushton Lecture Series.

He will discuss the topic of his latest book, A More Perfect Constitution, at 4:30 p.m. in the moot courtroom of Robinson Hall law building.  The program is open to the public free.

The Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at Virginia, Sabato also wrote The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency and Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election.

He maintains an election analysis website, "Sabato's Crystal Ball," that recorded the most accurate 2006 election predictions in the nation, correctly forecasting every contest for the U.S. Senate, all but one gubernatorial race and a net party change of 29 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A former Rhodes Scholar and Danforth Fellow, Sabato has been a Virginia faculty member since 1978.

Learn More:
University of Virginia Center For Politics

Noted Scholar Culpepper to Deliver Inaugural Robbins Lecture

Dr. R. Alan Culpepper, founding dean of McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, will deliver the inaugural Ray Frank Robbins Lecture in Religion at Samford University Thursday, March 27.

He will speak at 10 a.m. in Reid Chapel.  The program is free-of-charge and open to the public.

Culpepper is a New Testament scholar who taught at Baylor University prior to becoming dean at McAfee.  He is New Testament editor for the Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary and for the Biblical Interpretation Series published by E.J. Brill, and is on the editorial board for the Library of New Testament Studies.

Culpepper has written nine books including Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel and John the Son of Zebedee.

The late Ray Frank Robbins was also a New Testament scholar who taught at Samford in the l940s and ‘50s and later at New Orleans Baptist Seminary and Mississippi College.  He also served churches as an interim pastor during a career that spanned 50 years.  Following his death in 2003, his family established the Ray Frank Robbins Lectureship at Samford.

Learn More:
McAfee School of Theology