Lecture program - Fall 2020
All lectures are online this quarter.

Sunday, September 27
2:00 pm
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Strange Views of Space and Time: From Einstein to String Theory
youtu.be/9T_q40KqjJU
Professor Gary Horowitz, Physics Department, UCSB
A hundred years ago, Einstein's discovery of his special and general theories of relativity revolutionized our understanding of space and time. We have recently undergone another dramatic change in our understanding of these fundamental concepts due to advances in string theory. Professor Horowitz will describe these major developments in a nontechnical manner, and explain the strange view of space and time that we are presented with today.
Sunday, October 25
2:00 pm
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Digging Up the Bible: What Archaeology Can Tell Us About the Bible
Sandra Richter, Professor of Old Testament, Biblical Studies, Westmont College
Every year at Christmas, Passover and Easter we are flooded with documentaries that claim to have “unearthed never before seen evidence that the Bible is true!” Or equally so, “new scientific data demonstrates that the Jews were never in Egypt and Jesus never existed!” This of course leaves the lay person wondering about the reliability of the data … and their Bibles. So what exactly can archaeology tell us about the Bible? And what would be a reasonable posture regarding all this “never before seen evidence”? Sandra Richter, professor of Religious Studies at Westmont College is an expert in the intersection between Bible and archaeology. Her own degree comes from the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department of Harvard University, her specialty is the pre-exilic history of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, she’s spent more than one summer in dirt directing students in the unearthing of Israelite material culture. Come hear her discuss what ancient historiography looks like, what sort of evidence we can expect, and what we should expect of that evidence. There will be pictures!
Sunday, November 22 
2:00 pm
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Chocolate
Magda Campo, Lecturer, Department of Religious Studies, UCSB
Right in time for the holidays, our culinary expert Magda Campo will talk about the history of chocolate and demonstrate a delicious dessert. Sorry, no samples this year!