Distinguished Religious Studies Scholar Martin E. Marty Speaks at Memorial Lecture

Martin E. Marty, one of the nation's most renown scholars of American religious history, will speak at the inaugural lecture of UC Santa Barbara's

Robert S. Michaelsen Endowed Visititing Scholar Program on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 4 p.m. in UCSB's Corwin Pavilion. The lecture will be preceded by a memorial to the late Professor Michaelsen, one of the founding scholars of the Department of Religious Studies.

Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he has taught American religious studies for 35 years and where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote public religion endeavors. He has written over 50 books, including a three-volume Modern American Religion, and currently lives with his wife, Harriet, in Riverside, Ill.

In Marty's lecture, "Awash in a Sea of Pluralism," he will discuss pluralism on the American religious scene, including how differing understandings of pluralism matter in the context of current world affairs. He will be visiting UCSB on Nov. 26-28.

After

Professor Michaelsen's death on Nov. 6, 2000, an endowment was established to invite visiting scholars to expose students, faculty and the community to a wide range of religious ideas and scholarship.

During their visits, Michaelsen Scholars will make public presentations to the Santa Barbara community, meet with faculty both formally and informally to discuss their works in religious studies, give presentations in UCSB religious studies classes, and be available for appointments with graduate and undergraduate students.