Well-Known Author to Discuss Relationship Between Enlightenment and Religion

WORCESTER, Mass. – David Sorkin, author of The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews and Catholics from London to Vienna (Princeton University Press, 2008), will give a free public lecture on Monday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is part of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Sorkin, a professor of history and the Frances and Laurence Weinstein Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, challenges the conventional view of the Enlightenment as the source of modern secular culture in opposition to religion and faith. In his book, he argues that religious belief is at the heart of the Enlightenment and that divided populations of 17th-century Europe drew upon ideas such as “natural religion”—an accessible morality based in common foundations of belief—to create tolerance and collaboration across religious, cultural and political boundaries.

His findings resonate with contemporary issues.

“The prevalent dichotomy in politics between supposedly 'believing' conservatives and 'secular' or 'godless' liberals is based on the presumption that the Enlightenment was a secular phenomenon and dividing point” says Sorkin. “That's a historical mistake that we need to correct.”

The Religious Enlightenment also provides a comparative intellectual history of Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sorkin served as director of the Institute for Research in the Humanities from 2003-07 and was a former director of the Center for Jewish Studies. He is also the author of The Berlin Haskalah and German Religious Thought (Mitchell Vallentine & Company, 1999) and Moses Mendelssohn and the Religious Enlightenment (University of California Press, 1996). Sorkin received an M.A. in comparative literature and a Ph.D. in history from the University of California-Berkeley.

To learn more about this program and other Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events, visit www.holycross.edu/crec. About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.