Grace Farms Lectures | Dr. Miroslav Volf

What is a life worth living?

Join one of the most significant theologians of our time, Dr. Miroslav Volf, Founding Director of Yale Center for Faith & Culture, as he explores the global need for grace, forgiveness and true generosity. For Volf, this is a step toward a world in which every person can wrestle with life’s most important questions and take hold of a life worthy of our humanity. Volf is the author of more than 20 books, including Exclusion & Embrace — which was named one of the best 100 religious books of the twentieth century.

His talk will be followed by a moving chamber music concert featuring some of today’s most celebrated musicians: Adrian Anantawan & Lun Li, violins; Celia Hatton, viola; and Arlen Hlusko, cello. This string quartet will perform a musical program responding to Volf’s body of work, with pieces deeply rooted in spirituality. The program is curated by Grace Farms Artist-in-Residence, Arlen Hlusko. 

Schedule:

3 – 3:45 pm
Dr. Miroslav Volf delivers Grace Farms Lecture

3:45 – 4 pm
Tea & Coffee Break

4 – 5 pm
Chamber Music Performance

Begin your Grace Farms Lecture experience with a Life Worth Living Workshop, led by Drew Collins, Associate Research Scholar from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, from 1 – 2:30 pm on Saturday, February 7th. Register separately.

About Dr. Miroslav Volf

Professor Volf is the founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. His books include Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996; revised edition, 2019), winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion and named one of Christianity Today’s 100 most important religious books of the 20th Century; Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World (2016); The Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything (2022), co-authored with Ryan McAnnally-Linz; and, most recently, co-authored with Matthew Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (2023).

A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (including the Muslim and Christian “A Common Word” initiative), as well as a participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and across North America. Amongst his many invited lectureships, he has given the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard University; the Chavasse Lectures at Oxford University; the Waldenstroem Lectures at Stockholm School of Theology; the Gray Lectures at Duke University; the Stob Lectures at Calvin University; and the Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham. In May 2025, he will deliver the Gifford Lectures in Aberdeen, UK.