The Covenant Presbyterian Church Foundation and the Discipleship Committee partnered in 2020 to present this annual lecture series that brings prominent Christian speakers and authors to our campus. The support from the Foundation gives Covenant members, friends and the broader community the opportunity to engage deeply on topics of faith, community and service during sessions presented over two days.
We are excited to welcome David Zahl as the 2023 Foundation Lecturer. Zahl is founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries, which is a ministry that seeks to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life in fresh and down-to-earth ways through publications, conferences, and online resources. Dave serves as editor in chief of the Mockingbird blog and cohost of the Mockingcast podcast. Zahl wrote the critically acclaimed book Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do About It and has written for Christianity Today, the Washington Post, and The Guardian. He lives with his wife and three boys in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church.
Dave will be sharing themes from his new book, Low Anthropology, which explores how our ideas about human nature influence our expectations in friendship, work, marriage, and politics. We all go through life with an “anthropology”—an idea about what humans are like, our potentials and our limitations. A high anthropology—thinking optimistically about human nature—can breed perfectionism, anxiety, burnout, loneliness, and resentment. By contrast, Zahl invites us into a biblically rooted and life-giving low anthropology, which fosters hope, deep connection with others, lasting love, vulnerability, compassion, and happiness.
Join us as David Zahl presents how embracing a more realistic view of human nature gives us lasting hope in God and a more gracious view of others—and ourselves.
