Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/12/2026
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
4010 JFSB
Category(ies)
On Wednesday, November 12 at 3:30 PM, the Humanities Center’s Faith & Imagination Lecture will feature Jeffrey Vogel, Hampden-Sydney College, will explore how the sense of touch offers a compelling way to understand encounters with the divine. Drawing on post-resurrection stories from the Gospel of John, the lecture examines how embodied experience can deepen religious imagination while honoring the limits of theological language. Refreshments will be served.
Title: A Sense for Divine Things: The Place of Touch in the Life of Faith
Whereas sight and hearing have traditionally been given priority in theological accounts of the imagination, one could make the case that, in an incarnational religion, touch offers a more dynamic metaphor for describing our approach to the divine. In this talk, I will attempt to make this case by looking at two of Jesus’ post-resurrection encounters in the Gospel of John. By considering the sense of touch, we gain some insight into how it is possible to insist on strict limits to theological speech at the same time that we remain open to sensing God in all things.
About our presenter:
Jeff Vogel is a professor of Christian theology and ethics at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He is the author of All Manner of Things: Meditations on Suffering, Death, and Eternal Life (Cascade, 2022).
