The annual Landon Saunders’ Lecture at the 2022 Christian Scholars’ Conference will feature Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne.

Du Mez is a writer and scholar who explores the intersection of religion, gender, and politics. With a style described as “equal parts winsome and hardhitting,” her unflinching examination of the American church is ultimately a call to confession, lament, and greater faithfulness.

The Saunders’ lecture, “The Human Being: the Nexus of the World and Faith” continues the trajectory of Landon’s four decades of work which stresses the importance of “reading the world” with the same vigor we bring to “reading the text” of faith. His work situates itself in the space between “church” and “those outside religious institutions.” His aim is to find language and concepts that are true to the heart of the Gospel but resonate with those outside, those unfamiliar with the grammar and beliefs of church.

Kristin Du Mez teaches at Calvin University and is also author of A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (Oxford, 2015). Her bylines include The New York Times, Washington Post, Religion & Politics, Christian Century, and Christianity Today and her work has garnered extensive national and international attention, on the BBC and in national outlets in China, Japan, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, and the Netherlands. She is a frequent commenter on religion and politics in the national media at outlets such as the Washington Post, Religion News Service, NPR, CBS, Newsweek and CNN.

The annual Saunders lecturer is selected by the Saunders’ section committee, which is ably led by John Barton and works closely with Landon himself.

The Christian Scholars’ Conference is honored to annually host this critical event, and welcomes Kristin Du Mez to this year's conference.