Pruit Symposium To Explore Augustine's Confessions

Scholars from throughout the United States will examine the defining work of early church father Augustine of Hippo during Baylor University's Pruit Memorial Symposium Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 4-6. "Celebrating Augustine's Confessions: Reading Augustine for the New Millennium" will commemorate this monumental text and its influence on Western theology.
"Written 1,600 years ago, the impact of this work on subsequent Christian theology, literature, history and philosophy, in both Protestant and Catholic traditions, is unparalleled," said symposium co-director Carl G. Vaught, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy.
Plenary and keynote speakers at the conference include Dr. Scott MacDonald, professor of philosophy and Norma K. Regan Professor in Christian Studies at Cornell University; Dr. John E. Smith, Clark Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Yale University; and Dr. Colin John Starnes, professor in the classics department of Dalhousie University.
Additionally, three Baylor faculty members -- Vaught; Dr. Anne-Marie Bowery, symposium co-director and associate professor of philosophy; and Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature -- will give plenary lectures. Also participating will be scholars from the University of Virginia, Brown University, Notre Dame and Boston College, among others.
Smith will deliver the keynote address, titled "God, Truth and the Divided Self," at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in room 510 at the Cashion Academic Building. A full schedule of plenary sessions and conference activities can be found at https://www.baylor.edu/IFL/events.htm. Registration runs from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Bill Daniel Student Center.
The Pruit Memorial Symposium is sponsored by the Institute for Faith and Learning and was created with support from Mr. and Mrs. Lev. H. Prichard of Corpus Christi and his mother, the late Mrs. Helen Pruit Matthews. All symposium sessions are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Institute for Faith and Learning at (254) 710-4805.