Denison University will host Fawaz Gerges to discuss "Islamic Militancy and Armed Resistance in Iraq" at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Oct. 29) in Slayter Auditorium. Gerges is the Christian A. Johnson Chair of International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College and also serves as a regular commentator and consultant for ABC News. He has appeared on worldwide TV and radio networks, including CNN, CBS, NPR and the BBC.

This is the second in a continuing series of Goodspeed lectures at Denison this fall that will address Islam and politics. Michael Sells, Haverford College, is slated for the final lecture on Nov. 18 in Slayter Auditorium. He will be speaking on "Love, War, and Islam."

The recipient of a two-year MacArthur fellowship, Gerges has spent the past two years conducting field research on relations between the Islamists and the West in six Arab countries, and has published essays and articles in periodicals such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Oxford International Review and The Middle East Journal. He also has authored four books on the subject -America and Political Islam: Clash of Interests or Clash of Cultures?;The Islamists and the West: Ideology vs. Pragmatism;The Superpowers and the Middle East: Regional and International Politics, 1955-1967; andThe Clinton Administration's Approach Toward Islamic Movements.

Gerges's lecture is funded by the Goodspeed Lecture Series, which features scholars whose work is in the field of religion or is related to religious issues. The fund is named in honor of the late Edgar J. Goodspeed, a 1890 Denison graduate, who was one of nine biblical scholars who worked on the Revised Standard Version of the Scriptures, published in 1946, which has superceded the King James Version in official usage in many American denominations.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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