Mark Noll to Examine Christian Learning

Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, examines the past and future of American evangelical scholarship in a lecture, “The Challenges for Christian Learning: Looking Back, Looking Ahead,” on Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 4-5:30 p.m., in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. This Erasmus Society Lecture, co-sponsored by the Westmont History Department and the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts, is free and open to the public.

In the talk, Noll, author of the landmark book “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” (1994), will concentrate on the history of American evangelicals and then assess contemporary currents. “I’ll explain where Christian learning has been advancing, where it is stalled and where it might be headed,” Noll says.

Before Notre Dame, Noll taught at Wheaton College for 27 years, co-founding and directing the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals. In 2005, Time Magazine named Noll as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America.

Noll, a graduate of Wheaton, earned a Master of Arts in comparative literature from the University of Iowa, a Master of Arts in history of Christianity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University.

He has authored or co-authored more than two dozen books, including “Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind” (2013), “The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith” (2009), “Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity” (2012) and “America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (2005).”

For more information, please call Alister Chapman, Westmont associate professor of history, at (805) 565-7087.