University News

Annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture Sept. 23

September 14, 2021

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MACOMB/MOLINE, IL -- Michael Rea, Rev. John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame and Professorial Fellow at the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology at the University of St. Andrews, will present the 34th annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23 in the University Union Grand Ballroom. His lecture is "Divine Hiddenness and Divine Love."

Rea has taught at the University of Notre Dame since 2001. He received his B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, with a dissertation supervised by Alvin Plantinga.

Professor Rea's research focuses primarily on topics in philosophy of religion, analytic theology, metaphysics and feminist philosophy. He has written or edited more than 15 books and over 50 articles, including "The Hiddenness of God" (Oxford University Press), "Arguing About Metaphysics" (Routledge), "World Without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism" (Oxford University Press), and the widely used text, "Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology," (with Louis P. Pojman, Wadsworth).

Professor Rea has given numerous lectures in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom, European Union, Russia, China and Iran, including the 2017 Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews, and numerous other named lectures. Professor Rea served as president of the Society of Christian Philosophers from 2013–2016. In the 2021-22 academic year, he will serve as an Internal Scholar in Residence, Notre Dame Gender Studies Program.

He has directed or co-directed 13 doctoral theses, and has been awarded more than $5 million in grants and fellowships, including the "Plantinga Explainer Video Project," developed with a $270,782 grant from the John Templeton Foundation, and a $4.2 million grant with Sam Newlands and Laurie Paul, for "The Experience Project."

The 34th annual lecture is sponsored by the Mary Olive Woods Foundation, the Department of Mathematics and Philosophy and the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The Mary Olive Woods Foundation also provides student scholarships in addition to the annual lecture presentation.

Participants are encouraged to be vaccinated and masks and social distancing are required.

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