The 25th annual Faith in Life lecture series, entitled Morality Shrugged, featured guest speaker Dr. Jason Peters and was held on March 22 and 23. Influenced by Wendell Berry, Peters spoke on the challenges of living a moral life in academia given the hyper-technological age in which we live.
Peters is the Parkander Chair in Literature at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. His primary focus in the lectures was his belief that modern academia has the tendency to be held as more important, in his opinion, than it should be.
He elaborated on this idea in an article he wrote for the Orion magazine.
“We professors are the confessors of an educational creed that dismisses the value of the domestic arts and sends graduates out into a world of surrendered skills and purchased necessities,” the article stated. “We are the diploma retailers who have allowed students to assume that the machines and the ungraduated will supply all their real needs.”
Despite the series’ title of Faith in Life, the content of Peters’ lectures was not limited to a strictly Christian audience.
“I thought he presented his case with sufficient examples outside Christian doctrine while suggesting to the audience that to live well is to live according to God’s will,” said Matt Sauer, one of the attending students. “This simple but not simplistic Christian message was at the heart of his talks, even though they were not sermons, nor were they intended to be.”
The Faith in Life lecture series started in 1990 with the same purpose it has today — to teach students how to live faith-driven lives in academia.
“Our goal is to connect Athens to Jerusalem, so to speak,” Assistant Professor of Religion Don Westblade, an organizer of the Faith in Life series, said. “We want to teach how faith can be lived out within an academic career, be that in English, mathematics or psychology.”
Peters’ lectures were filled with information useful to any Hillsdale student, according to Sauer.
“Jason Peters is an important voice for Hillsdale students to become familiar with while learning how to inherit, defend, and promote liberal education,” he said.
According to Sauer, Peters is not only a credible authority in his field, but is also enjoyable to listen to.
“Peters is known for his wit and his dry humor and his honesty in writing,” Sauer said. “I think all of those came across in his talks.”
Jason Peters is only the most recent guest speaker to present at the Faith in Life lecture series; some of the most notable past speakers have included R. Albert Mohler Jr., Ray Ortlund Jr., and John Piper. Each of these speakers has brought something unique to the conversation of faith in academia.
Peters’ assertions regarding the domestic arts and academia testifies to this. More can be found regarding Peters and his work on the Front Porch Republic blog, to which he actively contributes as a senior editor.
