MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College’s “Darwinpalooza” lecture series will continue with a talk by associate professor of philosophy and religious studies Hannah Schell on Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Morgan Room in the college’s Poling Hall.

Titled “Then and Now: The Varieties of Religious Responses to Darwin,” the talk is free and open to the public.

“When Charles Darwin’s ideas on evolution began to appear in the 19th century, the responses from religious persons were multiple and did not constitute a wholesale rejection as we often imagine, looking backward from the Scopes Trial,” said Schell.

In her talk, she will consider the larger theological and cultural context of the reception of Darwin’s ideas by his religious contemporaries. She will also provide a brief overview of some of the religious responses in the contemporary discourse over Darwinism in order to highlight the continuities and discontinuities between then and now.

Schell received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees in religion from Princeton University. She is interested in virtue ethics and the problem of evil – how human beings make sense of tragic events – and is finishing up a book on the history of Christian thought in America.