We are thrilled to announce that this year's Landon Saunders' lecturer on "the Human Being: the Nexus of World and Faith" will be James K. A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin University.

Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.

He has authored a number of influential books, including Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? (2006), Desiring the Kingdom (2009), How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014), You Are What You Love (2016), Awaiting the King (2017), On the Road with Saint Augustine (2019) and The Nicene Option: An Incarnational Phenology (2021). His latest book is How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now (2022).

Smith's writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Century, and Christianity Today. He currently serves as editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal at the intersection of art, faith, and mystery.

Previous Saunders' lectures have included Miroslav Volf, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, and Landon himself.

Director's Note

On April 19, 2023, the Brown Library at Abilene Christian University will honor Landon Saunders' work at its annual Friends of the Library Dinner. Last year, Landon and the trustees of Heartbeat donated the vast archive of Landon's papers and Heartbeat's corporate records to Abilene Christian University, where they will be preserved and permanently housed in the Brown Library's Center for Restoration Studies. At this event, ACU will share its collaborative plans to bring this archive to life and provide an academic context in which themes of joy, human flourishing, and priesthood can be explored through interdisciplinary approaches.

We celebrate this collaborative effort and see it as a substantive complement to the annual Saunders' CSC lecture.

David F