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Whitworth hosts Daniel Taylor for Nov. 1 lecture on faith and skepticism

October 21, 2013

Prolific author and world traveler Daniel Taylor will present “Telling Stories to your Inner Atheist: Faith and Skepticism in a Postmodern World” at Whitworth on Friday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. in the Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

Taylor’s most recent book, The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories to Your Inner Atheist, is about the inner skepticism that often accompanies faith, and working out useful responses to questions that have no definitive answers. The book steers a middle course between the modernist conviction that faith is an agreement with a set of statements about God and the postmodernist assertion that religious faith is just one story among many, no more or less true than any other.

“Daniel Taylor writes and speaks with wit and candor about the questions most of us ask at some point on our faith journey,” Beth Davis, Whitworth institutional advancement program coordinator, says of Taylor, who was her faculty mentor when she was a student at Bethel College (now university). “No matter where you are on the spectrum of believer, skeptic or atheist, listening to Daniel will give you a new perspective on how to live a meaningful life of faith by seeing oneself as a character within an ancient story. What I love about Daniel’s writing is his focus on living in the story of faith.”

In addition to teaching at Bethel for more than 30 years, Taylor is the author of 10 books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children and Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories, Creating a Spiritual Legacy. He has also published essays, articles and short stories, has worked on a number of Bible translations, and speaks frequently on a variety of topics at conferences, colleges, retreats and churches.

Taylor is the co-founder of The Legacy Center, an organization devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and preserve the values and stories that have shaped their lives. He and his wife, Jayne, lead annual student and adult tours abroad, ranging from Britain, Western and Eastern Europe, and Australia to Cuba, Guatemala and Brazil. More information on Taylor’s publications and travels can be found here.

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of 3,000 students, offers 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts:

Beth Davis, institutional advancement department program coordinator, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4268 or bdavis@whitworth.edu.

Lucas Beechinor, media relations manager, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or lbeechinor@whitworth.edu.