October 15, 2010

Noted ‘Bowling Alone’ author to discuss religion in America at Marquette

Event Information:
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010
Time: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Place: Weasler Auditorium
          1442 W. Wisconsin Ave.    

Public policy professor Robert Putnam examines religion and politics in new book

MILWAUKEE – Robert Putnam, professor of public policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and the author of the 2000 best seller Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, will deliver the annual Marburg Lecture in economics at Marquette University. Titled “American Grace” after his newly released book, Putnam will discuss the interplay between religion and politics in America Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. in the Weasler Auditorium, 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Putnam’s lecture coincides with the national tour for his newest book with co-author David Campbell of Notre Dame, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. Copies of American Grace will be available for purchase.

“American Grace is, we think, the most comprehensive and most in-depth examination of the role of religion in American life in the last half century,” Putnam said. “We try to look at the civic consequences of religion in America. And religion both unites and divides us.”

Called “the most influential academic in the world today” by the Sunday Times of London, Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard. He is also visiting professor and director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester (UK). Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the British Academy and past president of the American Political Science Association. In 2006, Putnam received the Skytte Prize, one of the world's highest accolades for a political scientist.

The Marburg Lecture is named in honor of the late Theodore F. Marburg, a long-time member of the economics department at Marquette. This lecture provides a forum for the discussion of moral, philosophical and social dimensions of economic issues, as well as continues Marburg's commitment to the economic aspects of peace and justice.

Registration for this free, public lecture is required and available online.

Media interested in attending the lecture or who wish to request an interview with Putnam should call Christopher Stolarski in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-1988 or christopher.stolarski@marquette.edu.