Arnold H. Lowe Endowed Lecture Series
The Arnold H. Lowe Lectureship at Macalester College was established in 1984 in honor of Arnold H. Lowe (1889-1977), pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis from 1941 to 1965. He also served for twelve years as the President of the Board of Trustees of Macalester.
The Lowe Lectureship is made possible through an endowment fund provided by the Dayton family of Minneapolis. The endowment also sustains the Arnold Lowe Professorship in Ecumenical Studies. The purpose of the Lectureship is to further ecumenical understanding and discussion both within the Christian tradition and in relation to other religious traditions.
2023 – 2024 Lowe Lecture
Panel Discussion/Alumni Homecoming: Current Issues in Religious Studies– March 28, 2024
Weyerhaeuser Boardroom
2022 Lowe Lecture
Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest– April 19, 2022
Harmon Room, DeWitt Wallace Library
Dr. Edward E. Curtis IV
William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of Liberal Arts
Professor of Religious Studies
Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI
2021 Lowe Lecture
Debating the Afghan Secular: The Politics of Dissent, Diaspora, and Religious Pluralism– October 19, 2021
Olin Rice 150
Dr. Robert Crews
Professor of History
Stanford University
2020 Lowe Lecture
When Progressive Politics Goes Wrong: The Case of Solidarity Hijab– February 6, 2020
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Dr. Elizabeth Bucar
Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Dean’s Leadership Fellow
Northeastern University
2019 Lowe Lecture
State of Exception or Modus Operandi?
Religion, National Security, and the Racialization of Islam – February 24, 2019
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Dr. Sylvester A. Johnson
Assistant Vice Provost for the Humanities
Professor of Religion and Culture
Founding Director of the Center for Humanities
Virginia Tech
2018 Lowe Lecture
The (Prosperity) Gospel According to Donald Trump – November 9, 2017
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Kate Bowler ’02
Assistant Professor of American Christianity
Duke Divinity School
2017 Lowe Lecture
How the Bible Became Holy – April 2, 2017
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Michael Satlow
Professor of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies
Brown University
2016 Lowe Lecture
Secular/Postsecular in Question – April 6, 2016
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Tomoko Masuzawa
Professor of History and Comparative Literature
University of Michigan
2015 Lowe Lecture
Reflections of Liberalism, Policulturalism, and the Politics of Faith: Citizenship and Difference in South Africa– March 23, 2015
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Jean Comaroff
Alfred North Whitehead Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology
Oppenheimer Research Fellow
Harvard University
2014 Lowe Lecture
The Lives of Muhammad – March 9, 2014
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Kecia Ali
Associate Professor
Boston University
2013 Lowe Lecture
Armed and Not Dangerous: Jesus in Jerusalem – March 7, 2013
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Dale B. Martin
Woolsey Professor
Yale University
2012 Lowe Lecture
Secrets of the Confessional:
Children, the Sacrament of Penance, and the Making of 20th Century U.S. Catholicism – February 12, 2012
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Robert Orsi
Professor
Northwestern University
The Lowe Lecture will be followed this year by a series of lectures on American Religion, all on Sunday afternoon.
2010-2011 Lowe Lecture
Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach – October 10, 2010
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Professor Martha Nussbaum
University of Chicago
2009-2010 Lowe Lecture
Black and White and Read all Over:
Appropriations of the Ten Commandments in Two New Religions – April 22, 2010
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Professor Eugene V. Gallagher
Connecticut College
2007-2008 Lowe Lecture
Lessons from Bin Laden – September 27, 2007
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
Professor Bruce B. Lawrence
Duke University
Read an excerpt from Professor Lawrence’s book The Qur’an: A Biography.
Visit Professor Lawrence’s personal website.