TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama’s Religion in Culture/Aronov Speakers Series Lecture will host Dr. Mark McCormick, assistant professor of Old Testament from Stillman College, on Monday, March 31 at 7 p.m. in Smith Hall, room 205.

McCormick’s lecture is titled “Fifty Years of Fact and Fiction: The Culture of Biblical Studies and the Creation of History.” The event is free and open to the public. A reception in the second floor gallery will follow.

McCormick is the author of a book titled “Palace and Temple: A Study of Architectural and Verbal Icons” (deGruyter, 2002).

The Aronov Speakers Series is an occasional event organized and sponsored by the department of religious studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Aaron Aronov Endowment for Judaic Studies. The lecture series highlights significant scholars of religion doing innovative work that will be of interest to people from a variety of backgrounds in the University community.

The department of religious studies is housed in the College of Arts & Sciences at UA. By focusing on the cross-cultural and comparative study of religion, members of the department offer courses in the study of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and Native American religious traditions, as well as courses on the history of scholarship, on myths and rituals, the relations between science and religion and courses in such thematic areas as religion and literature and religion and film.

Members of the department examine the history of religions in a non-evaluative manner, describing and comparing the many ways in which systems of belief and behavior are put into practice throughout the world, both past and present.

For more information, call 205/348-5271 or go to www.as.ua.edu/rel/.