Mary McCampbell: The Sacred Function of Stories – How Imagination Discloses the Imago Dei

Regent’s Evening Public Lecture series is back for another summer! Join us in person or online to explore Scripture, theology, culture, and much more with Summer Programs faculty and other exciting speakers.

To livestream this and other Evening Public Lectures, visit us at rgnt.net/live.

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Loving our enemies has never been easy, but in these troubled times, perhaps it feels even easier to ignore this central part of Christ’s teaching. To truly love and welcome the other, we need to exercise our imaginations, to see our neighbors—even those we dislike—more as God sees them. We need stories that can convict us about our own sins of omission or commission, enabling us to see the beautiful, complex world of our neighbors as we look beyond ourselves. In this lecture, we will look at the ways in which narrative art—literature, film, television, and popular music—can shape our imaginations, helping us have eyes to see the shared humanity of our enemies.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Mary McCampbell is Associate Professor of Humanities at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, where she teaches courses on postmodern theory and fiction, film and philosophy, and popular culture. A native Tennessean, she completed a doctorate in literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne focusing on the relationship between contemporary fiction, late capitalist culture, and the religious impulse. Her publications span the worlds of literature, film, and popular music.

Mary is author of the forthcoming book Imagining Our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy. Her writing has been featured in Image Journal, Christ and Pop Culture, The Curator, The Other Journal, Relevant, and Christianity Today.  Mary’s primary research has been on the themes of epiphany and apocalypse in the work of Canadian author and artist, Douglas Coupland. She was a Scholar-in-Residence at Regent for the winter term of 2018, where she also spent time working in Coupland’s archives (more than 200 boxes) which are housed in UBC’s special collections.

FORMAT AND ATTENDANCE

Regent intends to offer this lecture as a live event in the College’s chapel. Under current provincial policies, this event will not require attendees to show proof of vaccination. Please be aware, however, that Regent’s event protocols will follow the guidelines in place on the event date.

This lecture will also be streamed live online, and we look forward to being joined by friends from around the world. A recording will be available for a limited time after the event.