On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19, Lee University’s Center for Responsible Citizenship (CRC) will host its 6th Annual Symposium on Civic Virtue and Thought.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “Persons and Place: Wendell Berry and the Weight of Love,” which will explore the importance of human connection and locality through Berry’s writings.  This intercollegiate symposium brings together students, faculty, and alumni from Lee and several regional colleges for a two-day conversation on how ties to family and community can offer direction to the modern world.

The symposium will include discussion seminars and a keynote by David Kern.  Kern is the owner of Goldberry Books in Concord, North Carolina, and the director of Goldberry Studios, which produces several popular literary podcasts, including Close Reads and The Daily Poem.  He has also served as multimedia director for the CiRCE Institute, which provides training and resources in classical education throughout North America.  Discussion seminars will cover Berry’s novel “Hannah Coulter,” along with several of his poems and essays.

Kern’s keynote lecture is free and open to the public and will take place Friday, Feb. 18, at 5:30 p.m. in Lee University’s Johnson Lecture Hall, located in the Humanities Building, Room 104.

The CRC promotes interdisciplinary conversation on the elements of a flourishing political community. In a time fraught with conflict and confusion about Christian engagement in the world, it hopes to highlight the need for moral and civic virtue as the foundation for political life.

The Persons and Place Symposium is just one of the many opportunities the CRC is offering this semester.  For more information, please contact [email protected].