The James Vardaman Lecture ft. Dr. Kristen Kobes Du Mez

The James Vardaman Chair presents Dr. Kristen Kobes Du Mez, who will provide a lecture titled Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made.  

The lecture will be held on September 14th, 2026, at the Fudge Family Auditorium, Mark & Paula Hurd Welcome Center, 901 S University Parks Dr., 5:30 - 7:00 pm. 

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is a New York Times bestselling author and Professor of History at Calvin University, as well as a Senior Democracy Fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service and Christianity Today, and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS and the BBC, among other outlets. Kristin holds the William Spoelhof Teacher-Scholar-in-Residence Chair at Calvin University, where she also served as Department Chair. She is a Distinguished Associate at the Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto) and served as a Fellow at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Philosophy of Religion from 2024 to 2025.