Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be honored on the 50th anniversary of his death, Feb. 1, at Westminster College with the sixth annual C.S. Lewis Legacy Lecture.
The Rev. Marvin A. McMickle, president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York, will deliver the lecture, "The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., 50 Years after his Death" beginning at 11 a.m. in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury.
"I am delighted that President McMickle will be coming to Westminster and reflecting on Dr. King's legacy regarding contemporary issues such as poverty, racism and militarism," said Cliff Cain, Harrod-C.S. Lewis Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. "Dr. King graduated from Crozer Theological Seminary, now a part of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, so that connection is quite appropriate. Beyond this, Dr. McMickle is an excellent scholar, a visionary leader and an engaging speaker."
In addition to serving as the Divinity School's 12th president, McMickle is also director of the doctor of ministry program and professor of African-American religious studies at the school.
He was pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1987-2011 and a board of trustees member at Cleveland State University. He was also professor of Homiletics at Ashland Theological Seminary from 1996-2011 in Ashland, Ohio. Upon his retirement from the seminary, he was honored as professor emeritus.
McMickle has authored 15 books and dozens of articles in professional journals. He is a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.
McMickle holds a doctor of ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctor of philosophy from Case Western Reserve University, as well as honorary doctorates in divinity from Aurora College and humane letters from Payne Theological Seminary.
The Harrod-C.S. Lewis Legacy Lecture and Professorship of Religious Studies were endowed in the fall of 2012 by James W. "Jim" Harrod (Westminster Class of 1957) and his wife Sharon from Horseshoe Bay, Texas. The Harrod-C.S. Lewis Professor of Religious Studies researches, writes and teaches on the history, current condition and future of religion.
The lectures are intended to honor the legacy of the late British theologian by engaging the campus community and the surrounding community in topics and issues important to him and that stimulated his writing.