The D.R. Sharpe Lectures
The D.R. Sharpe Lectureship on Social Ethics of the University of Chicago Divinity School was established to bring scholars of world renown in the field of social ethics to the University as visiting lecturers -- to provide the opportunity for the best and most creative minds to explore society's social needs and present an ethical standard of modern life.
The inaugural D.R. Sharpe lecture was presented by Bernard Loomer in Bond Chapel in 1975. This lecture, titled "Two Conceptions of Power," may be read online at Religion Online.
D.R. Sharpe Lectures are scheduled irregularly. In 2003 the lectures were presented as “Humanity before God: Contemporary Faces of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Ethics.”
In Spring 2009, they will be presented as "Culturing Theologies, Theologizing Cultures: Exploring the Worlds of Religion."
D. R. Sharpe was born in Pembroke, New Brunswick, and educated at the University of New Brunswick. He continued his studies at Rochester Theological Seminary and pursued post-graduate work at the University of Chicago. Ordained by the United Baptist Convention on the Maritimes in 1908, his career was marked by a commitment to social reform both within his denomination and in the wider world as well.
