Mary McCampbell: Prophetic ‘Deconstruction’? Literary Critiques of Cultural Christianity

You’re invited to Regent’s 2023 Evening Public Lecture series! Join us in the chapel or tune in online to explore theology, culture, and much more with this year’s summer faculty.

To watch this and other Evening Public Lectures online, visit rgnt.net/live.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

The recent trend to “deconstruct” one’s faith is both elucidating and alarming. It is especially concerning if “deconstruction” leads to cynicism rather than healthy reconstruction. But are there cases when the act of “deconstructing” can be prophetic? In this Evening Public Lecture, literary scholar Mary McCampbell will discuss the relationship between the popularized understanding of “deconstruction” and literature that critiques cultural Christianity through the lens of Walter Brueggemann’s understanding of the “prophetic.” Authors discussed will include Frederick Douglass, Charlotte Bronte, Flannery O’Connor, Margaret Atwood, Craig Thompson, and Chimamande Ngozi Adichie.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Mary McCampbell is an associate professor of humanities at Lee University, where she regularly teaches courses on contemporary fiction, film, popular culture, and modernism. A native Tennessean, she completed her doctorate at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK); her research focused on the relationship between contemporary fiction, late capitalist culture, and the religious impulse. Her publications span the worlds of literature, film, and popular music, and this interdisciplinary focus is also present in her recent book, Imagining Our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy (Fortress Press: April, 2022). You can find her writing in many public-facing faith and culture publications, including Image Journal, The Other Journal, Relevant Magazine, Christ and Pop Culture, and The Curator.

Dr. McCampbell is teaching The Arts, Empathy, and Spiritual Formation from July 24 to 28 as part of Regent’s 2023 Summer Programs.

HOW TO ATTEND

Join us in Regent’s chapel, or tune in via livestream. A video recording will be available online for a limited time after the event.