Lecture Explores Religious Freedom in India
Susan Billington Harper, an historian of Christian missions and former lecturer in British imperial history at Harvard, will speak about 鈥淩eligious Freedom in India: A Reexamination鈥 Thursday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. The World Christianity Lecture will address the volatile issue of religious conversion in India in light of recent attacks on Christian converts and laws aimed at outlawing conversion. Her talk sets these events against early 20th century debates over conversion between Gandhi and prominent Evangelicals of his day.
Harper, who earned her doctorate in imperial history from Oxford University, is a Rhodes Scholar who has worked for the Pew Charitable Trusts and the New York Times. She has written 鈥淚n the Shadow of the Mahatma鈥 and numerous journalist and scholarly articles.
She is married to Charles L. Harper Jr., senior vice president of the John Templeton Foundation, and is the daughter of James Billington, who has served as the U.S. Librarian of Congress since 1987.