Endowed Lectures

The Department of Religion has been endowed with two funds, the Abbie Ziffren Fund and the David and Sherry Berz Fund, that support annual lecture events. Past speakers have covered wide-ranging and current topics including Muslim life in America in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, religious views on life on other planets, Jewish and Christian views on the biblical commandment to love one’s neighbor, Christian Nationalism, and much more!

AY24-25 Lectures

Ziffren Lecture:

April 9, 2025

Jimmy Yu

"Chan (Zen) Path to Freedom"

Lecture from 5:30-7PM

Funger Hall 108

"What lies at the heart of Chan (Zen) is our intrinsic nature of freedom, expressed in terms of wisdom and compassion. Freedom in Chan Buddhism refers to the direct personal awakening to the interconnectedness and freshness of life, beyond concepts and self. In this talk, Dr. Jimmy Yu (aka Guo Gu) will discuss two interrelated approaches to awakening: the meditation methods of silent illumination and critical phrase."

Berz Lecture:

October 8, 2024

Amanda Tyler

"Christian Nationalism & the Threat to Democracy and Faith"

Lecture from 5:30-6:30PM

Uni Student Center, 3rd Floor

"Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise and protecting against its establishment by government. The author of How to End Christian Nationalism (October 2024), Tyler is also the co-host of BJC's Respecting Religion podcast. Tyler's constitutional law analysis and advocacy for faith freedom for all have been featured by major news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC, and she has testified before Congress on religious liberty and Christian nationalism. A graduate of Georgetown University and The University of Texas School of Law, she lives in Dallas with her husband and son."

Abbie Ziffren Annual Lecture

Rabbi Shai Held delivered the 2019 Abbie Ziffren Lecture at the GW Religion Department.

Abbie Ziffren was a professor in the Religion Department in the 1980s and 1990s, and she was a committed Jew as well as a devoted activist in progressive social causes. The annual lecture is named in her honor.

Past Ziffren Lectures

2023: Ruth Ozeki
2022: Rebecca Todd Peters
2021: Eman Quotah
Fall 2019: Jill Hicks-Keeton and Cavan Concannon
Spring 2019: Shai Held
2018: Elizabeth Bucar
2017: Thupten Jinpa
2016: Film screening, Rosenwald
2015: Amy Eilberg and Aziz Abu Sarah

David and Sherry Berz Lecture

Ken Knoespel delivered the 2019 Berz Lecture at the GW Religion Department.

The David and Sherry Berz Endowed Lecture is made possible by a gift from David Berz, BA ’70, JD ’73, and Sherry Berz, BA ’72, MA ’73

Past Berz Lectures

2024: Amanda Tyler
2024: William Waldron
2022: Eman Quotah
2021: Dan Wildcat
2020: Shankar Nair
2019: Ken Knoespel
2018: Ayaz Virji
2017: David and Sherry Berz graciously allowed the Religion Department to use the endowment for the annual lectureship in their name to support a one-day conference on the subject of religion and environment.
2016: Conference, “Sunnis and Shi’ites in Historical Perspective: Differences and Commonalities”
2015: Panel event co-sponsored with the GW Confucius Institute, “Religion in Contemporary China”

Faculty Gather after Berz Lecture for Conviviality Dinner

GW Faculty gather for conviviality dinner with Professor William Waldron (3rd from left) and his partner Ananda Tamang (1st on the left) after his Berz Lecture, "Shaping Our Collective Worlds: Lessons from Yogacara Buddhism" (Spring 2024).