By Norah McLaughlin | FāVS News Reporter
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of New York Times best selling book “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation,” will be the first speaker of the 2025-26 Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith & Learning Speaker Series on Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. in the Cowles Auditorium at Whitworth University.
She will be presenting “Live Laugh Love: White Christian Women & the World They Made.”
Kobes Du Mez is a professor at Calvin University whose research is on the intersection of gender, religion and politics. Her follow-up book “Live Laugh Love” is set to be published in September 2026. This book is a “cultural study of white Chrsitian womanhood,” according to the Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith & Learning.
The speaker series will continue Nov. 13 with Curt Thompson, a psychiatrist and founder of Being Known who explores connections between neuroscience and Christian spirituality. Thompson is the author of “Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections Between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices that Can Transform Your Life and Relationships.”
On March 5, 2026, Sabrina Little will speak. Little is an assistant professor at Ohio State University who studies virtue ethics and moral psychology. She is the author of “The Examined Run” and a former professional distance runner who holds two American records and was a World Championships silver medalist.
The series will conclude April 8, 2026, with Christine Emba, a staff writer at The Atlantic and former opinion columnist for The Washington Post. She is the author of “Rethinking Sex: A Provocation,” which addresses the failures and potential of the sexual revolution in a post-#MeToo world.
“Each of these speakers embodies both intellectual courage and spiritual conviction. Their voices will not only challenge our assumptions, but heighten our community’s pursuit of a deeper faith, greater empathy, and more thoughtful engagement in our world. I believe their insights will spark many conversations that will stretch across disciplines and generations,” said David Henreckson, director of Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith & Learning in a press release.
All presentations from the speaker series are free and open to the public.
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