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This is an online event.The Presler Lectureship
The Henry H. and Marion A. Presler Lectureship was established to honor the couple’s missionary service and to inspire the Louisville Seminary community and its wider community about issues of global mission and the role of American denominations in their historical and present witness to mission. The topics of the lectures vary, but the overall theme is Jesus Christ’s commission to the church in Matthew 28:19-20, to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” Dr. Henry Presler studied for two years at Louisville Seminary and then transferred to Boston University School of Theology. In his later years he remembered his formative time at Louisville Seminary and left a bequest for this lectureship.
Louisville Seminary Presler Lecture 2020
Dr. Gerardo Marti will review some of the sociological grounds for the enthusiasm for the Trump presidency and its nostalgia for an ideal past America and particular “home.” He suggests that we were never intended to go back home. Instead, we are all in Exile and no one can go home. The racialized sense of home, bolstered by religion, is seen in the conservative white Christian support for Trump and his policies, a restoration movement for a “true” America. To contrast this framework, he will explore examples of scripture that move us to actualize ourselves instead as wanderers. When disciples are put on mission, the assumption is not bringing people back to a specific home, but that we become a people who can foster a sense of “home” wherever we are.
About Dr. Gerardo Marti
The focus of Gerardo Marti's research and teaching is race-ethnicity, religion, identity, inequality, and social change. He is most interested in uncovering the dynamics of contemporary issues like diversity, religious innovation, and political power.
At Davidson College, Marti was honored in 2009 for his teaching and scholarship with the L. Richardson King Professorship. He remains active in scholarship through a broad range of research projects which have been generously funded, especially by the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment.
His leadership experience in professional associations includes: President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion (2021-2024), Editor of Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review (2012-2021), Chair of the Religion Section of the American Sociological Association (2019-2021), Co-Chair the Religion and Social Science Program Unit of the American Academy of Religion (2009-2016), and Executive Council of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (2007-2010). Marti is also serving a third term on the Board of Directors of the Louisville Institute (2014-2023), providing millions of dollars in research grants to those who lead and study American religious institutions. These academic activities build on his formative experience as a Congregational Studies Team Fellow (2005-2007) and Core Member (2011-2015).