Vanderbilt University Divinity School announces the 2012 Harrod Lecture

to be delivered by

Melissa Snarr                                                                                                             Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt Divinity School

Thursday, November 8, 2012

7:00 P.M.

Benton Chapel

 

Unions, Politics, and Inequality: Putting Christian Ethics to Work

Prayer vigils on picket lines, clergy occupying state capitals, pastors decrying the “thuggery” of unions – is collective bargaining really a religious issue? In multiple states, unions have become catalysts of controversy, sparking protests, strikes, and recall votes even as they strive to work constructively. Bringing religious tradition to bear on contemporary activist arguments, Prof. Snarr addresses how Christian ethicists might help to assess the role of unions in the complex efforts to define and seek economic justice in the midst of stagnant wages and growing income inequality.

The Vanderbilt Divinity School Howard L. Harrod Lecture was established to honor Harrod, the Oberlin Alumni Professor of Social Ethics and Sociology of Religion, who taught for more than 30 years at Vanderbilt. Harrod worked extensively in environmental ethics and activism and was an advocate for new ways of understanding the relationships of humans with the animal and natural worlds. This lecture is free and open to the public.

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