Vincent Harding, a professor of religion and social transformation, will deliver the lecture “Thomas Merton and the Tragedy and the Hope of America,” at Bellarmine University on Thursday, February 22. The program will be held in Frazier Hall at 7 p.m. and is free to the public.
During the 1960s, Harding was an associate of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. He also met and corresponded with Thomas Merton. He now teaches at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado and serves as the co-chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project; A Center for the Study of Religion and Democratic Renewal at Illiff. He previously taught at Pendle Hill Study Center, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Spelman College.
Harding was involved in the southern Black freedom struggle, was the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta and was director and chairperson of The Institute of the Black World. He has written numerous publications, including Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero, There is a River, Vol. 1, Hope and History, and We Changed The World.
The presentation is being sponsored by: Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice, Bellarmine Activities Council, Bellarmine Campus Ministry, Cultivating Connections, Bellarmine Culturally Informative Agency, Bellarmine Ethics and Social Justice Center, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Interfaith Paths to Peace, and Bellarmine Student Government Association.