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Click here for all 2023-2024 lectures 

An Invitation from �Ļ�ӰԺ President Gayle Beebe

I hope you will join us for some meaningful “Conversations that Matter.” At �Ļ�ӰԺ, we believe in engaging the great issues of society and the vexing dilemmas of our global community as we prepare our students to take their place in the world.

This discussion series gives the larger Santa Barbara community more opportunities to hear from �Ļ�ӰԺ faculty. During these sessions, sponsored by the �Ļ�ӰԺ Foundation Board, professors from a variety of fields will address current issues facing our society from the perspective of their disciplines.

I’m proud to serve an institution with such outstanding faculty, and I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to hear them speak and engage in conversation with them.

Goals of �Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown:

1. To provide an opportunity for �Ļ�ӰԺ faculty to speak in their area of expertise.
2. To engage the community in meaningful, substantive and lively conversation.
3. To demonstrate the value of constructive dialogue with people of differing opinions.
4. To demonstrate the commitment of �Ļ�ӰԺ to the life of the mind and to invite the larger community to join that conversation.

Upcoming �Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown Lecture:

Fall 2024: 

Jesse Covington, whose research explores the interrelation of religion and government, takes a step away from the current electoral matchup to look at enduring challenges Christians face in a context like the United States. He discusses “Hopeful Realism: Faith-Based Principles for Pluralist Democracy” at a �Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden St., in downtown Santa Barbara. The talk is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. Free parking is available on the streets surrounding CAW or in nearby city parking lots. For more information, please call (805) 565-6051.

“Christian citizens can experience tension in their political activity, particularly when their moral commitments seem at odds with the tenets of a pluralist democracy — at times to such an extent that they feel they have to choose between the two,” says Covington, professor of political science and director of �Ļ�ӰԺ’s Augustinian Scholars Program. “But this need not be the case,” he contends.

The talk will draw on a forthcoming book by Covington, Bryan McGraw and Micah Watson that explores how the Christian intellectual tradition can help with this tension. “Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics,” which will be available for purchase in January, shows how the insights of St. Augustine of Hippo, in concert with the Christian natural law tradition, can provide vital guidance for Christians in politics today.

Covington earned a master’s and doctorate in political science from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in religion from Westminster Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University.

He contributed to the book “Concepts of Nature: Ancient and Modern” and co-edited “Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought.”

�Ļ�ӰԺ Downtown: Conversations �Ļ�ӰԺ Things That Matter is a free lecture series sponsored by the �Ļ�ӰԺ Foundation, which also sponsors the annual �Ļ�ӰԺ President’s Breakfast in late February.