Messiah College expert David Weaver-Zercher to lecture on Amish culture
March 5th, 2013
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GRANTHAM, Pa. (March 5, 2013) — The Sider Institute for Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan Studies will host David Weaver-Zercher, an expert on Amish culture and professor of American religious history at Messiah College, to lecture on March 26 at 4 p.m. in Boyer 131. Weaver-Zercher, a consultant to federal prosecutors who brought hate-crime charges against the beard-cutters in Ohio, plans to explore the forcible beard-cutting incidents and answer questions about Amish reality from misunderstandings created by the media. The lecture, titled “Amish Behaving Badly? Amish Realities and Amish Reality Shows,” is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Richard Hughes at 717-766-2511, ext. 5079 or rhughes@messiah.edu.
About David Weaver-Zercher
Weaver-Zercher is a professor of American religious history at Messiah College. He has written extensively on mainstream Americans’ interest in and perceptions of the Amish. His books include “The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World” (Jossey-Bass, 2010), “Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy” (Jossey-Bass, 2007), “The Amish in the American Imagination” (John Hopkins University Press, 2001), and two edited volumes, “The Amish and the Media” (with Diane Zimmerman Umble, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), and “Writing the Amish: The Worlds of John A. Hostetler” (Penn State University Press, 2005).
About the Sider Institute for Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan Studies
The Sider Institute was named in honor of E. Morris Sider, professor emeritus, and his wife Leone. Through lectures such as these, the Institute encourages scholarly research and interpretive study that enhance the understanding of the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions. Together, these traditions make up the three theological roots of Messiah College, as well as those of its founding denomination, the Brethren in Christ Church.
About Messiah College
Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.
