Events

The Houston Centre invites you to join us at 7 pm on Thursday, February 13 to the presentation of a new book, The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture, followed by a panel discussion with the editors. You are also welcome to attend a reception at 6 pm prior to the event.

About the Event

Religion is arguably the most powerful shaper of cultures. In The Routledge Handbook of Christianity and Culture, editors Yaakov Ariel, Gregor Thuswaldner, and Jens Zimmermann have gathered the most recent perspectives on the relation of Christianity and culture. What is the relation of Christianity to art, to science, to literature, to architecture or to music? How has Christianity wrestled with questions of human identity, education, sexuality, and racial tensions? 

Meet the editors and learn how authors have addressed these and other topics. A presentation of the book's content will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the editors.

About the Speakers

Dr. Jens Zimmermann is J.I. Packer Professor of Theology at Regent College. He has published widely in continental philosophy and theology. He held the Canada Research Chair for Interpretation, Religion, and Culture from 2006 to 2016, was Visiting Research Fellow at Cambridge (Trinity Hall, 2017–2018), and a British Academy Visiting Fellow at Oxford (Christ Church College, 2018–2019). He is currently Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Theology and Modern European Thought at Oxford and Research Fellow in Historical and Constructive Theology at the University of the Free State, South Africa. His publications include Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2015), and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christian Humanism (OUP, 2029).

Dr. Yaakov Ariel is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Yaakov’s research has focused on interfaith relations and dialogue; Christian attitudes towards Jews, Judaism, the Holy Land, Zionism, and Israel; history of missions to the Jews; Jewish responses to Christianity; Jewish conversions to other faiths; Jewish-Christian groups; conversions of non-Jews to Judaism; Jewish movements of reform, renewal and outreach; and Jewish and Christian new religious movements.

Yaakov has published several books and booklets, as well as 150 articles and reviews on these topics. His book, Evangelizing the Chosen People: Missions to the Jews (UNC Press, 2000), won the Outler Prize of the American Society of Church History. He received several other prizes and fellowships, including from the Leibniz Institute at the University of Leipzig and the Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford University. Detailed information on Yaakov’s publications, lectures, courses, and prizes can be found in: https://independent.academia.edu/YaakovAriel and https://religion.unc.edu/_people/full-time-faculty/ariel/

Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner is a distinguished academic leader, scholar, and author with over two decades of experience in higher education. Most recently, he served as Provost and Executive Vice President at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, from 2020 to 2024. Prior to Whitworth, he was Acting Provost and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Park University in Chicago. He has earned prestigious accolades, including being named a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Currently on sabbatical, Gregor is editing The Chief Academic Officer’s Handbook: A Provost’s Guide to Visionary Leadership, which will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2025. He also hosts the EdUp Provost podcast, a platform for engaging academic thought leaders.

Gregor remains committed to lifelong learning, having earned an additional master’s in higher education administration and several certificates, including certificates in fundraising and mediation. A recognized thought leader, he serves on the boards of the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO) and the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA). Among his nine book publications are the co-edited volumes The Hermeneutics of Hell: Visions and Representations of the Devil in World Literature (Palgrave, 2017) and Thomas Bernhard’s Afterlives (Bloomsbury, 2020).