BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:17902-48a2fade2481978a2db9b7c6221ea419@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260417T225539Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260225T173000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260225T190000 SUMMARY:Harshbarger Lecture DESCRIPTION:\nHarshbarger Lecture – Yii-Jan Lin (Yale Divinity School)\n \nThis annual lectureship is made possible by a generous donation in hon or of Luther H. Harshbarger\, former professor and head of the Religious Studies Department at Penn State. Past Harshbarger Lecturers include Me lissa Wilde (University of Pennsylvania)\, Khyati Joshi (Farleigh Dickin son)\, Tinu Ruparell (University of Calgary)\, Elaine Howard Ecklund (Ri ce University)\, Jon Butler (Yale University)\, and Carolyn Chen (Univer sity of California\, Berkeley).\n\n“Immigration and Apocalypse: Trapped within the Walls of the New Jerusalem”\n\nAmerica appeared on the Europe an horizon at a moment of apocalyptic expectation and ambition. Within t hat kind of beginning\, explorers\, colonizers\, and politicians have im agined the land to be paradise\, God’s country\, and the New Jerusalem o f the Bible’s Book of Revelation. But while the metaphor of the New Jeru salem has been useful in portraying a shining\, God-blessed refuge with walls and gates\, it has also been used to exclude\, attack\, and crimin alize unwanted peoples. This lecture demonstrates the influence of Revel ation's violent and extreme language on American immigration\, and how t he nation needs to break out of such apocalyptic thinking.\n\nYii-Jan Li n is associate professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School\, wher e she teaches the critical study of ancient texts and their interpretati on\, especially in relation to race and gender. She is the author of Imm igration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immi gration (Yale University Press\, 2024)\, which traces Christian apocalyp tic thinking from Columbus to the second Trump administration to show ho w the images\, vocabulary\, and ideas of Revelation have fueled anti-imm igrant movements throughout American history. Lin is also the author of The Erotic Life of Manuscripts (Oxford University Press\, 2016)\, which examines how metaphors of race\, family\, evolution\, and genetic inheri tance have shaped the goals and assumptions of New Testament textual cri ticism from the eighteenth century to the present.\n\nLin serves on the executive Council for the Society of Biblical Literature as well as the society’s committees on the Bible in America\, and Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Biblical Literature and Early Christianity\, as well as in The Conver sation and Religion Dispatches\, and she has been interviewed for AXIOS and Rolling Stone.\n\nHer current project continues her work on migratio n and religion in a book focused on the proliferation of militarized bor ders and walls globally\, and the use of sacred texts to understand them .\n\n \;\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/harshb arger-lecture/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Harshba rger Lecture – Yii-Jan Lin (Yale Divinity School)

This an nual lectureship is made possible by a generous donation in honor of Lut her H. Harshbarger, former professor and head of the Religious Studies D epartment at Penn State. Past Harshbarger Lecturers include Melissa Wild e (University of Pennsylvania), Khyati Joshi (Farleigh Dickinson), Tinu Ruparell (University of Calgary), Elaine Howard Ecklund (Rice University ), Jon Butler (Yale University), and Carolyn Chen (University of Califor nia, Berkeley).

“Immigration and Apocalypse: Trapped withi n the Walls of the New Jerusalem”

America appeared on the European horizon at a moment of apocalyptic expectation and ambition. W ithin that kind of beginning, explorers, colonizers, and politicians hav e imagined the land to be paradise, God’s country, and the New Jerusalem of the Bible’s Book of Revelation. But while the metaphor of the New Je rusalem has been useful in portraying a shining, God-blessed refuge with walls and gates, it has also been used to exclude, attack, and criminal ize unwanted peoples. This lecture demonstrates the influence of Revelat ion's violent and extreme language on American immigration, and how the nation needs to break out of such apocalyptic thinking.

Yii-Jan Li n is associate professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School, where she teaches the critical study of ancient texts and their interpretatio n, especially in relation to race and gender. She is the author of I mmigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Im migration (Yale University Press, 2024), which traces Christian apo calyptic thinking from Columbus to the second Trump administration to sh ow how the images, vocabulary, and ideas of Revelation have fueled anti- immigrant movements throughout American history. Lin is also the author of The Erotic Life of Manuscripts (Oxford University Press, 201 6), which examines how metaphors of race, family, evolution, and genetic inheritance have shaped the goals and assumptions of New Testament text ual criticism from the eighteenth century to the present.

Lin serv es on the executive Council for the Society of Biblical Literature as we ll as the society’s committees on the Bible in America, and Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Biblical Literature and Early Christianity, as well as in The Conversation and Religion Dispatches, and s he has been interviewed for AXIOS and Rolling Stone.

Her current project continues her work on migration and religion in a book f ocused on the proliferation of militarized borders and walls globally, a nd the use of sacred texts to understand them.

 

For mo re details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/harshbarger-lecture/

LOCATION:Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR