What kind of life do you want to live? When we answer this question, we consider those lives who we desire to emulate — our great grandfather, the geniuses and victors of the past, or the heroes of the stories we read and watch. We are made to model, to live our own story in imitation of others. By God’s design, this ideal is Jesus. We are to “follow Him.” The stories that we inhabit either aid or hinder our characters in their transformation towards this end. While the world uplifts the story of the hero — such as Achilles or Captain America — the better story is that of the saint’s life. Although these stories are not always in conflict, the tales of the saint supersede those of the hero because they better prepare us for imitatio Christi.

The Redeemer Centre for Christian Scholarship is proud to announce that Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson (PhD, Baylor University), associate professor of creative writing at Arkansas’s John Brown University, is the winner of the 2017 Emerging Public Intellectual Award. The $5,000 award recognizes emerging talent rooted in the Christian academy and making a public impact. Redeemer will have the chance to hear directly from Wilson on April 4, 2018 in the Executive Dining Room as she offers the prestigious The World and Our Calling lecture, the latest in a lecture series exploring the facets of the Christian calling to be engaged with our culture.

There will also be a morning chapel address from Dr. Wilson, entitled “The Necessary Failure of Easter” at 11:00 a.m. in the Auditorium, as well as a panel discussion entitled “Giving the Devil his Due” in Room 213 between 2:00-3:15 p.m. The panel will be chaired by Doug Sikkema (Comment Magazine) and Rebekah Lamb (St. Michael’s College). You can view the schedule here.

Admission is free.