by Damien Alarcon
Staff Writer
Dr. Karen Torjesen, a religion professor at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), will be the guest speaker next Thursday, Oct. 8, as she presents two separate lectures to the University of La Verne community.
“Sex, Sin and Women: Why is this a set?” and “Creating Good and Bad, and Female and Male,” are the lecture titles.
The speech is presented by the Fasnacht Lecture Series in Religion and Society of ULV. The Fasnacht Lecture committee hosts two speakers to the University every year to discuss important topics and issues relevant to the students and community.
Dr. Torjesen, author of “When Women Were Priests,” is the Margo L. Goldsmith professor of religion, chair of the women’s studies in religion program and co-director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at CGU.
She holds a doctorate in religion from CGU; a master’s in religion from the School of Theology at Claremont; and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Wheaton College, Ill.
The first of the two lectures, “Sex, Sin and Women: Why is this a set?” is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in Founders Hall Auditorium.
“Here I will discuss how the three are connected to each other through time and the early thoughts of Christianity,” said Dr. Torjesen.
“I want to answer, ‘Why do these ideas and beliefs, that were formed 2,000 years ago, still have a strong influence in our culture and society?'”
The second, “Creating Good and Bad, and Female and Male,” will be in the President’s Dining Room at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“Concerning the second talk,” Dr. Torjesen said, “I want people to think about masculinity and femininity and how we have shaped them to be, from the early history of our western culture to our modern times.”
Both lectures are free and open to the University community and the public.
