Biblical Scholar John Dominic Crossan to Speak at Lebanon Valley College

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John Dominic Crossan will lecture March 14 and 15 at Lebanon Valley College.

• John Dominic Crossan, leading expert on the historical Jesus.

ANNVILLE, PA (02/17/2012)(readMedia)-- The Lord's Prayer is Christianity's greatest prayer. It is also Christianity's strangest prayer, according to John Dominic Crossan. Residents of central Pennsylvania will have an opportunity to learn exactly why over a series of three lectures on March 14 and 15 at Miller Chapel on the Lebanon Valley College campus.

The lecture series begins on March 14 at 7 p.m. with "The Meaning of 'The Abba-Prayer,'" and continues with "The Divinity of 'The Abba-Prayer'" on March 15 at 9 a.m. and "The Humanity of 'The Abba-Prayer;" at 11 a.m. Crossan's lecture are based on his most recent book, "The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer."

This book on the Lord's Prayer is just the most recent of dozens. Over the last 40 years, the accomplished Biblical scholar has written 25 books on the historical Jesus, earliest Christianity, and the historical Paul, five of which were national religious bestsellers. Crossan is most well known for his work on researching the historical Jesus. Notably, Crossan was the co-chair of the Jesus Seminar from 1985 to 1996, which met in twice-annual meetings to debate the historical accuracy of the life of Jesus in the gospels. Most recently he was elected president of the Society of Biblical Literature for 2011–2012.

Besides authoring books, Crossan has lectured to hundreds of audiences across the United States as well as in Ireland and England, Scandinavia and Finland, Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa. He has been interviewed on radio stations, prime time television networks, and cable television documentaries.

Crossan's résumé is extensive, consisting of scholarship which spans more than 60 years. He was a member of a 13th century Roman Catholic monastic order, the Servites, from 1950 to 1969 and an ordained priest from 1957 to 1969. During that time he received a Doctor of Divinity from St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, Ireland in 1959 and did post-doctoral research at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1959 to 1961 and at the École Biblique in Jerusalem from 1965 to 1967. Crossan resigned from the priesthood in 1969 and became an emeritus professor of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago. He remained there until 1995.

Crossan has received many awards, including awards for scholarly excellence from the American Academy of Religion in 1989, DePaul University in 1991 and 1995, and an honorary doctorate from Stetson University, DeLand, Fla, in 2003.

He brings a new perspective to this age-old prayer; his lecture series is something you do not want to miss. In the prologue to his book, Crossan writes, "What if the Lord's Prayer is neither a Jewish prayer for Jews nor yet a Christian prayer for Christians? What if it is – as this book suggests – a prayer from the heart of Judaism on the Matthew Christianity for the conscience of the world? What if it is – as this book suggests – a radical manifesto and a hymn of hope for all humanity in language addressed to all the earth?"

For the answers to these questions, come and hear Crossan speak at Lebanon Valley College. The lectures are free and open to the public, but require ticket reservations, as there is limited space. For free ticket reservations contact Chaplain Paul Fullmer in LVC's Office of Spiritual Life at 717-867-6135 or email Natalia Smith at nsmith@lvc.edu.

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Contact John Dominic Crossan directly for interviews at 352-394-6085 or jdcrosn@earthlink.net.