Christians, Sex and Politics: An American History,” will be the topic of this year’s Ray Frank Robbins lectureship at Samford University Thursday, March 4.

Harvard University divinity professor R. Marie Griffith, a leading scholar in the area of gender, sexuality and American evangelicalism, will speak at 10 a.m. in Reid Chapel. The public is invited free of charge.

Dr. Griffith’s books include God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (University of California Press, 1997) and Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (University of California Press, 2004). The latter explores the religious underpinnings of the ideologies of the body that play a central role in American consumer culture. Her current book project will examine sexuality debates in 20th century U.S. Christianity.

Prior to joining the Harvard faculty as professor of New England church history in 2009, Griffith was professor of religion at Princeton University, where she also was director of the university’s program in the study of women and gender.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, she holds master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard.

During her Samford visit, Griffith will participate in an undergraduate seminar on women and evangelicalism, led by Samford professor Dr. Penny Marler. She will also meet with local clergy at a lunch organized by Samford’s Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence.

The annual lectureship, established in 2008 to honor the memory of former Samford religion professor Ray Frank Robbins, focuses on the intersection of scholarship and Christian living.