FIRST MONDAYS SPEAKER SERIES
Upcoming Speakers
The First Mondays Speaker Series brings thinkers, writers, and opinion-leaders to campus to challenge students, faculty, and staff to stretch their imaginations, to grow in understanding, to act boldly, and to re-creatively serve God's kingdom.
2013-14 Academic Year
September 2, 2013
David I. Smith
Smith is the director of Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Smith is also an associate professor in the German and education departments at Calvin. He is the author of many books, including The Gift of a Stranger: Hospitality and foreign language learning; most recently, he co-authored a book with James K.A. Smith titled Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping faith and learning. Previously, Smith studied at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Christian Studies; he earned the Ph.D. at the University of London. He is interested in “foreign language pedagogy, particularly in relation to moral and spiritual development and Christian philosophy of education.”
October 7, 2013
James K.A. Smith
James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College. He also teaches in the Department of Congregational and Ministry Studies and is a research fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. He is the author of many books, including Letters to a Young Calvinist; Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Formation; and Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. He has written articles for Books and Culture, Perspectives, Relevant, and other magazines; he also speaks nationally and internationally. Smith lives with his wife and children in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
November 4, 2013
Calvin Seerveld
Seerveld is professor emeritus in philosophical aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. Highly influential in the reformational movement, Seerveld studied philosophy, literature, and classical languages at Calvin College and the University of Michigan. After several years of study in the Netherlands, Switzerland (Basel), and Italy (Rome), he received the Ph.D. from the Free University in Amsterdam. He taught at Belhaven College, Mississippi (1959-1972), and Trinity Christian College, Illinois (1972), before becoming a senior member at ICS (1972-1995). Seerveld is the author of many books and articles, including Rainbows for a Fallen World and How to Read the Bible to Hear God Speak; in addition, six volumes of collected lectures and articles are scheduled for release this fall from Dordt College Press. He lives in Toronto with his wife Inès. The titles of his two talks are: “How HOT is your Bible?” (please bring one) and “The Meaning of our Nakedness.”
