Guest Lecturer to Relate Religious Violence of 16th Century France to Today's Global World in Feb. 8 Program

February 4, 2005

Mack Holt, associate professor of history at George Mason University, will speak on “Wine, Religious Violence and Politics in 16th-Century France: Lessons for the Contemporary World” on Feb. 8, 5 p.m., at the University of Richmond.

Holt, a leading historian of religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, will explain how those wars shed light on today’s world, where violence is still waged in the name of the deity by fundamentalists of many faiths.

The lecture takes place in Jepson Hall 118, followed by a reception. Admission is free, and the public is invited.

“I plan to discuss the religious violence in France in the 16th century, specifically in the region of Burgundy, where those involved in the local wine industry were especially opposed to Protestantism and led the campaign to root out and expel all Protestants from the region,” Holt said.

“I plan to show how Catholics’ understanding of religion-particularly their belief that God was on their side and condoned their efforts to eliminate Protestants by force-can shed light on the contemporary world,” he explained. “A chapter in our own past in Western civilization still has much to teach us about religious violence in a globalized world today.”

For more information, call (804) 289-8332.