Noted scholar to discuss ‘Billy Graham: America’s Pastor’ March 31

Posted Feb. 16, 2015 at 11:30 a.m.

BOONE—Dr. Grant Wacker, the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Christian History at Duke Divinity School, will present the talk “Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation,” March 31 at Appalachian State University.

Wacker’s talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Reich College of Education Building room 124 B and C. The talk is sponsored by the Department of History, the Department of Philosophy and Religion, and the College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Council. A question and answer session will follow Wacker’s talk.

Books will be available for sale and signing.

In addition, Wacker will be interviewed by Dr. Jim Goff, chair of Appalachian’s Department of History, on Boone radio stations WATA Wednesday, March 25, from 9:15 to 10 a.m.

Wacker joined the faculty of Duke Divinity School in 1992, following a 15-year career in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill.

He is the author, co-author or co-editor of seven books, including “Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture” (2001) and “America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation” (2014), both published by Harvard University Press.

From 1997 to 2004, Wacker was a senior editor of the quarterly journal, Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. He is past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and the American Society of Church History.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls more than 19,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.