Authors Dr. James C. Kennedy and Dr. Caroline J. Simon will present the address "How Steadfast an Anchor?: The Effect of American Culture on Hope's Christian Mission" at Hope College on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Maas Center conference room.

The public is invited. Admission is free. A reception will follow the lecture.

Kennedy, who is a professor of contemporary history at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Simon, who is a professor of philosophy at Hope, will address topics they examined in their recently published book "Can Hope Endure? A Historical Case Study in Christian Higher Education."

In the book, they focus on Hope College's struggle to avoid losing its religious moorings as many church-founded colleges have done and to find a middle way between secularization and withdrawal from mainstream academic and American culture. The early chapters examine the effect of Dutch immigrant culture on the founding and early history of Hope College. Enriched by the dual vision provided by a professional historian and a professional philosopher, the book participates in the current debate about the nature of higher education in America and the place of religion in the academy.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the A.C. Van Raalte Institute, a historical research center at Hope College, and the CrossRoads Project, a program at Hope that helps students explore how their work can be of service to the wider world.

Kennedy was associate professor of history at Hope and a research fellow with the Van Raalte Institute from 1997 through the 2004-05 academic year. Simon has been a member of the Hope philosophy faculty at Hope since 1988, and is also director of general education and interdisciplinary studies at the college.

The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., at 11th Street. 

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