The UF Department of Religion is excited to announce the first three speakers in its 2019-2020 Scudder Lecture series.
The speakers, each leading scholars in their respective fields, will bring relevant and deep insight to a range of topics including “Donald Trump and the Death of Evangelical Christianity” with Dr. Randall Balmer, “Religion and Identity Among Second Generation New Immigrant College Students” with Haroon Moghul, and “Welcoming the Stranger: Immigration and American Values” with Dr. Marie Griffith.
The series is funded by the Dr. Delton L. Scudder Endowment in Religious Studies. This fund was established in 1983 to honor Professor Delton L. Scudder with a lectureship in the Department of Religion.
Delton L. Scudder was the founding chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He was born November 11, 1906, in East Hartford, CT. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan College in 1927 and was appointed by the Presbyterian Mission Board to teach English at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. He returned to the U.S. in 1931 and enrolled in the Yale Divinity School, then returned to Wesleyan University to teach after his course work was completed. Scudder earned his doctorate from Yale in 1939. In 1946, Scudder was hired by the University of Florida to create the Department of Religion. He was succeeded in the 1970s by Samuel S. Hill.
You are invited to contribute to the fund here.