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Benne Center for Church & Society

Founded in 1982, the Benne Center for Church & Society aims at bringing Christian perspectives to contemporary challenges of church and world. The center sees that the most important human decisions, both public and private, are profoundly affected by religious commitments and therefore it seeks to encourage dialogue informed by that recognition. It encourages conversation between religion and society, church and world, sacred and secular.

Serious religious traditions in particular are comprehensive accounts of life and reality. While these accounts certainly apply to the private life, they do not stop there. Such religious accounts provide understandings and interpretations of the public world and affect individual and corporate action in that world. Religion as a person- and institution-forming enterprise vitally concerns the center.

Recent Speakers

  • Jonathan Reckford

    Mr. Jonathan Reckford

    Mr. Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, kicked off a series of community-centered events held on campus in a talk entitled: "Why Living In A House Built By Habitat For Humanity Is Different."

    Click below for a full recording of the event.

  • Walter Kim

    Dr. Walter Kim

    Dr. Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, headlined the 2022 Bishop Crumley Lecture Series with a lecture entitled: "Are Evangelicals a Political Movement?" 

    Click below for a full recording of the event.

  • John Walton

    Dr. John H. Walton

    Dr. Walton, a professor of Old Testament with Wheaton College, served as the keynote speaker for Roanoke College's Darwin Days in an address entitled: "The Lost World of Genesis One and Darwin."

    Click below for a full recording of the event.

CONTACT

  • Dr. Justin Garrison

    Executive Director, Director of Public Engagement

    Justin Garrison

    For information about Benne Center events, please contact Dr. Justin Garrison at garrison@roanoke.edu.

  • Dr. Kelly Anderson

    Associate Director, Director of Student Engagement

    Kelly Anderson

    For information about the Benne Center Fellows program, please contact Dr. Kelly Anderson at kanderson@roanoke.edu.

  • Dr. Gary Whitt

    Associate Director, Director of Faculty and Staff Engagement

    Gary Whitt

    For information about Benne Center programs for faculty and staff, please contact Dr. Gary Whitt at whitt@roanoke.edu.