Religion and Conflict: Alternative Visions/Beyond Belief

A Lecture by Elaine Pagels

Wednesday, Feb. 29, 4:30-6 p.m.

College of LIberal Arts and Sciences
Location: Armstrong Hall Great Hall
Campus: Tempe
Cost: Free and open to the public but due to limited seating, tickets are required.

Elaine Pagels (Ph.D., Harvard) is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. In bestselling works ranging from the "Gnostic Gospels" to "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas," Pagels has taken up some of the most controversial questions concerning the founding and early history of Christianity. Whether in her writings or on shows such as "The Colbert Report," Pagels is known as an engaging speaker who discusses sensitive topics with expertise, tact and humor. She seeks to help the public better understand the implications of the development of Christianity for the modern world.

The author or co-author of six major works on the history of Christianity, Pagels has garnered numerous recognitions and awards throughout her career, including the MacArthur Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award. "The Gnostic Gospels" was named as one of the 100 best books of the 20th Century, and she has been profiled in such national publications as TIME, The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, Mirabella, and The New York Times Magazine.

Pagels's teaching and research interests include the Christianity of late antiquity, the inclusion and exclusion of Biblical texts in early Christianity, and the historical influences that have shaped Christian belief as we know it. Her current project is a book entitled "Revelations," which will explore the New Testament Book of Revelation and other Jewish, Christian, and pagan books of revelation written around the same time.

In her lecture Beyond Belief, Pagels will take up the question of how religions come to claim possession of the “ultimate truth” and the implications of such claims for the modern world.

This lecture is supported by a grant from John and Dee Whiteman and is part of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict's Alternative Visions lecture series.

Elaine Pagels, one of the world's leading scholars on the history of Christianity, will deliver a free public lecture as part of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict's Alternative Visions lecture series.