The Arnold H. Lowe Lectureship at Macalester College was established in 1984 in honor of Arnold H. Lowe (1889-1977), pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis from 1941 to 1965. He also served for twelve years as the President of the Board of Trustees of Macalester.

The Lowe Lectureship is made possible through an endowment fund provided by the Dayton family of Minneapolis. The endowment also sustains the Arnold Lowe Professorship in Ecumenical Studies. The purpose of the Lectureship is to further ecumenical understanding and discussion both within the Christian tradition and in relation to other religious traditions.

2022 Lowe Lecture

Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American MidwestApril 19, 2022
Harmon Room, DeWitt Wallace Library

Dr. Edward E. Curtis IV
William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of Liberal Arts
Professor of Religious Studies
Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI

2021 Lowe Lecture

Debating the Afghan Secular: The Politics of Dissent, Diaspora, and Religious PluralismOctober 19, 2021
Olin Rice 150

Dr. Robert Crews
Professor of History
Stanford University

2020 Lowe Lecture

When Progressive Politics Goes Wrong: The Case of Solidarity HijabFebruary 6, 2020
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Dr. Elizabeth Bucar
Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Dean’s Leadership Fellow
Northeastern University

2019 Lowe Lecture

State of Exception or Modus Operandi?
Religion, National Security, and the Racialization of Islam February 24, 2019
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Dr. Sylvester A. Johnson
Assistant Vice Provost for the Humanities
Professor of Religion and Culture
Founding Director of the Center for Humanities
Virginia Tech

2017-2018 Lowe Lectures

The (Prosperity) Gospel According to Donald Trump November 9, 2017
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Kate Bowler ’02
Assistant Professor of American Christianity
Duke Divinity School

 

How the Bible Became HolyApril 2, 2017
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Michael Satlow
Professor of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies
Brown University

2016 Lowe Lecture

Secular/Postsecular in Question April 6, 2016M Photo.png
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Tomoko Masuzawa
Professor of History and Comparative Literature
University of Michigan

2015 Lowe Lecture

Reflections of Liberalism, Policulturalism, and the Politics of Faith:
Citizenship and Difference in South Africa
March 23, 2015
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

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Jean Comaroff
Alfred North Whitehead Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology
Oppenheimer Research Fellow
Harvard University

 

2014 Lowe Lecture

The Lives of Muhammad March 9, 2014
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Associate Professor Kecia Ali
Boston University

 

2013 Lowe Lecture

Dale Martin

Armed and Not Dangerous: Jesus in Jerusalem March 7, 2013
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Professor Dale B. Martin
Woolsey Professor
Yale University

 

2012 Lowe Lecture

Secrets of the Confessional:
Children, the Sacrament of Penance, and the Making of 20th Century U.S. Catholicism
February 12, 2012
Robert OrsiWeyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Professor Robert Orsi
Northwestern University

The Lowe Lecture will be followed this year by a series of lectures on American Religion, all on Sunday afternoon.

2010-2011 Lowe Lectures

Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach October 10, 2010
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Professor Martha Nussbaum
University of Chicago

Black and White and Read all Over:
Appropriations of the Ten Commandments in Two New Religions
April 22, 2010
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Professor Eugene V. Gallagher
Connecticut College

2007-2008 Lowe Lecture

Lessons from Bin Laden September 27, 2007
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel

Professor Bruce B. Lawrence
Duke University

Read an excerpt from Professor Lawrence’s book The Qur’an: A Biography.

Visit Professor Lawrence’s personal website.