Oen Fellowship
Oen Fellows and Guest Lecturers
The Oen Fellowship program enables the department to invite a distinguished guest lecturer to Luther College biannually to explore and discuss intersections between religion, science, politics, and the arts. Oen Fellows spend three to five days on campus meeting with both faculty and students to discuss issues in formal and informal settings. The Oen Fellowship endowed program was established in 1992 through a gift by Ordean and Carol Oen, friends of H. George Anderson, the seventh president of Luther College and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (1995-2001).
Students studying religion also benefit from many visiting lecturers. Some are hosted by the department and others are invited through various college-wide lecture series. Recent visiting lecturers in religion include Cornell West (Princeton University), Diana Eck (Harvard), Martin Marty (University of Chicago), Elaine Pagels (Princeton University), and Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (Harvard University).
Past Oen Lecturers
Winnifred Sullivan
"A Ministry of Presence: Chaplains Under Law"
March 2013
Robert Wright
"The Evolution of God"
October 2009
David Domke
"Religious Politics in America: Why the 2008 Presidential Election May Change Everything for Everyone"
September 2008
John F. Haught
"Evolution and Faith: What is at Stake?"
September 2006
Rita M. Gross
"Excuse Me, But What's the Question? Isn't Religious Pluralism Normal?"
April 2004
Marc Ellis
"What Does It Mean to Be Jewish? Religious Identity and the Search for Peace in the Middle East"
April 2003
Elizabeth Morgan
"Poetic Justice: The Love Affair Between Literature and Politics"
November 2001
Larry Rasmussen
"Three Defining Images, One Defining Earth"
April 1997
Freeman Dyson
"The Scientist As Rebel"
April 1995
Gordon Kaufman
"Modern Evolutionary Theory and the Reconception of God"
April 1994
