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Noisy Believing

Allison Hall

Allison Hall. Photo by Carl Socolow '77.

Wesley lecture to explore ethical and spiritual responses to sexualized violence

The ways in which faith informs responses to sexualized violence will be the focus of the Wesley Lecture at Dickinson College. The lecture, “Noisy Believing: Ethical and Spiritual Responses to Sexualized Violence,” will be presented by Kristen Leslie—a feminist pastoral theologian—on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in Allison Great Hall. 

Leslie will discuss how an early Methodist ethic connects faith to public action by examining transformative responses to sexualized violence. She also will explore how holding communities accountable to a public ethic and enabling the silenced to speak relate to changing the nature of sexualized violence on college campuses.

Leslie is the author of When Violence Is No Stranger: Pastoral Counseling with Survivors of Acquaintance Rape. She also has written numerous articles on the healing role of religious professionals in relation to sexualized violence. Leslie is an ordained United Methodist minister who has served as a parish pastor, college chaplain, pastoral counselor, rape counselor and divinity school professor. She is currently the professor of pastoral theology and care at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. In addition to her work with colleges and the church, Leslie is a regular lecturer at Operation: Tohidu, a therapeutic retreat center serving the needs of veterans and active-duty service members who have experienced sexual assault and other forms of deployment-related trauma.

The Wesley Lecture grows out of the historical relationship between Dickinson College and the United Methodist Church, a relationship that has its roots in the 19th century. The lecture highlights contemporary conversations and controversies in faith communities and in higher education about the importance and role of community, commitment and service for the education of the citizen-scholar.

It is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, the Office of the President, and the Center for Service, Spirituality & Social Justice with special thanks to the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. It is co-sponsored by the Prevention, Education & Advocacy Center, the Department of Religion, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, Dickinson Christian Fellowship and the Churchill Fund. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

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Published October 28, 2016

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