Melton to Lecture at Moore Center

J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D.

The fifth Urbana University Swedenborg Lecture will be given by J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D., a scholar of international reputation in religion studies with a specialization in new or alternative religious movements.

The public is invited to attend the lecture, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Honda Lecture Hall of the Lewis and Jean Moore Center for Mathematics and Science on the main campus of Urbana University. Admission is free and open to the public.

Dr. Melton’s lecture is titled “Approaches to Biblical Truth: Emanuel Swedenborg, Biblical Allegory, and the New Thought Movement at the End of the Nineteenth Century.”

The speaker is currently the author of more than 40 scholarly works, including several authoritative encyclopedias, handbooks, and almanacs, who also enjoys the distinction of being the second most prolific contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Dr Melton identifies himself as an evangelical Christian with a deep commitment to conservative Protestantism who has devoted himself to providing the church with a genuine understanding of alternative religions so that the church might live at peace with its new neighbors and maintain a level of integrity in its relations with them. This commitment has sometimes stirred controversy with conservative theologians and anti-cult activists.

Dr. Melton has spent nearly four decades compiling data, generally from direct personal contact with the leaders and groups themselves. His reputation for dealing even handedly with these minority groups has occasionally meant that he has been sought out as an intermediary when frictions arise with the surrounding society. In this regard he has appeared in a variety of court cases, including those involving controversial groups such as The Family International (Children of God) and the International Churches of Christ.

The Urbana University Swedenborg Lectures program is honored to have Dr. Melton deliver the fifth lecture in the series. The series invites prominent scholars to campus for a week as scholar in residence. During this time the scholar conducts research in the university’s special collections, meets informally with students, and gives a formal public lecture on some subject in American Swedenborgianism. Past lectures have looked at Conan Doyle, Johnny Appleseed, William James, and Ohio history.

Urbana University was founded in 1850 by followers of the 18th Century Swedish philosopher and scientist, Emanuel Swedenborg. The Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem has played an influential role in American life and culture, even if it is sometimes forgotten today. Dr. Melton’s lecture will look at how Emmanuel Swedenborg championed what is generally called the allegorical interpretation of scripture, which had been common in the Middle Ages, and brought it to a new level of importance that would influence a number of new religious movements to the present day.

For more information about the speaker and the lecture, call Urbana University’s College of Arts and Science at 484-1318.