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Influence, Faith, and Reason: People of Faith in the Liberal Arts, as Public Intellectuals

Lee University, 7-8 October 2022

We are excited to invite you to join the return to our annual meeting this fall. This year's conversations will consider the involvement of Christians as public intellectuals, as always from the perspective of church-related Liberal Arts education.

Intellectuals contribute much to our society through activities like research and teaching, but there has long been a sense that we should be contributing our expertise directly to the larger public. Indeed, there is a long tradition of "public intellectuals," respected thinkers whose public writing and speech shares their expertise with a larger audience. By contrast, a combination of increasing specialization among academics, a strong anti-intellectual strain in the modern United States, and the role of the internet have complicated the role of public intellectuals in the twenty-first century. In this year's Lee Symposium, we hope to foster a discussion of the ways in which we currently engage with the public as intellectuals, and how that intersects with our larger concerns of combining traditions of faith and the Liberal Arts.

We have an excellent group of presenters and responders to help us discuss that topic. The main speakers are currently listed on the "program" page; more details will be added as we get closer to the fall event. In the tradition of this event, we will include four plenary sessions, which will include both prepared responses and also time for thorough discussion.

Please register via the "Registration" page on this website. The registration fee is $75, which covers attendance as well as dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday.

We look forward to the Symposium this year, and hope that you will be able to join us for conversations across academic disciplines, Christian traditions, and kinds of educational institutions about this year's topic of public intellectuals.