Vanderbilt University Divinity School announces the 2025 Bogitsh Lecture
to be delivered by
David A. Michelson
Associate Professor of the History of Christianity
Vanderbilt University
Drunk with the Love of God: A Mesopotamian Chapter in the History of Wonder
Registration link: bit.ly/vdsbogitshlecture2025
Monday, February 24, 2025
6:00 P.M.
Vanderbilt Divinity School
The Space
Drunk with the Love of God: A Mesopotamian Chapter in the History of Wonder
“Wonder” is much sought-after in our world. From Steve Job’s desire to “make something wonderful” to the superfans of “Wonder Woman,” wonder can hav
e diverse meanings. Technology notwithstanding, the twenty-first century does not have a monopoly on wonder. Wonder was also prized in antiquity. Christian monks in the medieval Middle East referred to their contemplative practices as prayerfully seeking wonder. In this lecture, Professor Michelson will examine the rich vocabulary which developed
in the Syriac language to describe the wonder of human encounter with God—an experience which one seventh-century author, Isaac of Nineveh, called being “drunk with the love of God”.
About the Bogitsh Lecture
The Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh Memorial Lecture was established by a gift from Professor Emeritus Burton Bogitsh and his family in honor of Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh. Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh grew up as a Baptist in a small farming community in west Texas, where her mother Una Hooper Carlisle, taught her the principleof religious tolerance. Mafoi studied comparative religion at Baylor University and cultivated a profound interest invarious world religions and the cultures from which they arose. This interest grew when she married Burton, a man of Jewish heritage, and both involved themselves with the Unitarian tradition. It was within the religious philosophy of Unitarianism that Mafoi cultivated a deep understanding of the effect that cultural diversity has on religious beliefs. Through travel and exploration, Mafoi and Burton were privileged to learn about Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam intheir native environs. The Mafoi Carlisle Bogitsh Memorial Lecture honors Mafoi's lifelong interest in the interplay between culture and religious expression.