Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, one of America’s foremost Christian public intellectuals, visits Grove City College Thursday to talk about faith and literature at the College’s annual Christian Writers Conference.
Prior will offer reflections on the relationship between the Bible and literature in a talk titled “Good Books and the Good Book” in Harbison Chapel in the morning and deliver an address titled “The Good Life in Great Books” at 7 p.m. in Crawford Hall Auditorium. Prior’s talk will be followed by a book signing in Crawford lobby. Both events are free and open to the public.
“Since 2001 the Christian Writers Conference at Grove City College has provided a forum for exploring the relationship between literature and the Christian faith,” said Dr. H. Collin Messer, professor and chair of the English Department at Grove City College. “We in the English department have found tremendous joy in hosting writers, poets and playwrights, as well as the occasional painter or musician, who have helped our students and the broader Grove City community consider truth and beauty as we stir up our imaginations for God’s glory and the common good. We are thrilled to host Dr. Karen Swallow Prior for this year’s gathering.”
Prior is currently a professor of English at Liberty University and outspoken thought leader who has been profiled by the New Yorker, Christianity Today and other leading media outlets. She is routinely quoted in mainstream and Christian media about her work, religion and evangelical culture.
Prior teaches British literature, specializing in works from the eighteenth century. Her published works include “Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More - Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist,” “On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books” and a spiritual memoir “Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me.” Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Gospel Coalition, Break Point, Think Christian, Comment, Relevant and Books and Culture.
She earned her B.A. from Daemen College and her Ph.D. and M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior is a research fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, a senior fellow with Liberty University's Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement and a member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States.