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The Inaugural Paulsell Lecture, established in honor of Drs. William and Sally Paulsell, will be held on November 7 at 4 p.m. in the sanctuary at Central Christian Church, with a reception to follow.The lecture of “The Shifting Religious Landscape: What’s Happening with Faith in America and How We Can Respond” will be offered by Dr. Ryan Burge, professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Prior to his appointment at Washington, Burge was an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, and was also the graduate coordinator. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, alongside six books about religion and politics in the United States. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He has also appeared in a number of other media outlets including, the CBS Evening News, as well as 60 Minutes which called him, “one of the country’s leading data analysts on religion and politics.” He served as a pastor in the American Baptist Church for more than 20 years, leading First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, Ill. for 17 and a half years until its closure in July 2024. He writes and crunches data regularly for his Substack, Graphs about Religion.
The Paulsell Lecture Series:
The late Rev. Dr. William O. Paulsell (1935 – 2024) was the former President and Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary. Rev. Paulsell was an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the author of eight books, including Taste and See: A Practical Guide to the Spiritual Life (Upper Room, 1976), Tough Minds, Tender Hearts: Six Prophets of Social Justice (Paulist, 1990), and, most recently, Longing for God: An Introduction to Christian Mysticism (Paulist, 2021).
Central Christian Church was an important community in the life of Dr. Rev. Paulsell and his wife, Dr. Sally Paulsell. They loved the people, the worship, and the music. He taught a course on Thomas Merton and other significant spiritual writers for over a decade at Central. Central Christian is honored to host this annual lecture series dedicated to the legacy of the Paulsells.
The inaugural Paulsell Lecture, featuring Dr. Ryan Burge, is free and open to the public. The lecture will also be livestreamed on Central Christian’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
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205 E Short St, Lexington, KY, United States, Kentucky 40507
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