Grove City College will welcome acclaimed Christian commentator David French to campus next week to present a Faith for Life Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21 in Harbison Chapel on campus.
French is an attorney, Iraq war veteran and author who currently serves as senior editor of The Dispatch, columnist for Time magazine and cohosts the “Advisory Opinions” podcast. He is also a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, which promotes Christian thought leadership. He’ll speak on “Wisdom in the Whirl” for the lecture series presented by the Office of Christian Formation.
The Faith for Life Lecture was launched to help students to explore the implications of their faith for life and society, according to Chaplain and Senior Director of Christian Formation Donald D. Opitz. “Speakers in the series are not only earnest about their Christian beliefs, but they’re also striving to live according to those beliefs and seeking to reform various institutions with the wisdom of that perspective,” he said.
“David French’s social and political analysis draws deeply from his Christian faith. He is a Harvard trained lawyer who has defended religious liberty, particularly on college campuses, for many years. While he is a conservative, he is committed to pluralism, he listens well and his arguments are generally gracious and compelling. In a world so full of hype, spin and whirl, we need that, and our students need to hear it,” Opitz said.
Before delivering his lecture, French will spend the day on campus, getting to know more about the Grove City College community. He’ll speak in Chapel on Thursday morning, meet with students and faculty throughout the day, visit a political science class and share a meal with students from the College’s chapter of the American Enterprise Institute. French will sign copies of his latest book “Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation” during a post-lecture reception.
The Faith for Life Lecture is a new initiative of the Office of Christian Formation and part of an effort to bring Christian thought leaders to campus to share their wisdom and experience with students. “We hope that the lectures will help students develop a Christian vision of life and for life, and that this vision will shape their various callings and roles everywhere and in every year beyond college,” Opitz said.
The next speaker in the series will be Andy Crouch, noted author and a partner for theology and culture at Praxis, at 7 p.m. Oct. 28.
The Faith for Life Lecture is free and open to the public. It will be livestreamed at gcc.edu/livestream.