Adam Ericksen, education director of The Raven Foundation, will present the address "Islam and the Practice of Non-violence" as the 2010 A.J. Muste Memorial Lecture at Hope College on Monday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall.

The public is invited.  Admission is free.

The mission of The Raven Foundation is "making religion reasonable, violence unthinkable, and peace a possibility."  The foundation was established in 2007 by Keith and Suzanne Ross to increase awareness of the ideas of Rene Girard, who is internationally renowned for his work on the nexus between violence and religion as well as his "mimetic theory," which explores how culture is shaped by the imitative nature of desire and by patterns of violence organized around scapegoating.

Ericksen graduated from Linfield College with a bachelor's degree in religious studies and a minor in history, and from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary with a master's in theological studies, focusing on theology and ethics.  His master's thesis was titled "Love and Nonviolence in Christianity and Islam."

The Muste lecture series began in 1985 to commemorate the life and work of A.J. Muste, an alumnus of HopeCollege (1905) who became a tireless activist for the causes of peace and justice.

Jo Ann Ooiman Robinson, Muste's biographer, presented the inaugural lecture. Subsequent lectures have been given by theologians, peace activists, labor organizers and prison reformers.

Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets.