Kendra Weddle Irons, associate professor of religion and humanities at Texas Wesleyan University, will present the Parkhurst Lecture at Southwestern College on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m., in Wroten Hall on the SC campus.  There is no admission charge and the public is invited to attend.   Additionally, at 7 p.m., inside Grace United Methodist Church, Southwestern will host a panel on women in ministry featuring Irons and several area women clergy.

The title of the lecture is “M. Madeline Southard: From the Plains to the Pulpit and Beyond.”

“Dr. Irons is the foremost scholar on Madeline Southard, a Southwestern alumna who was a pioneer for women clergy,” says Jackson Lashier, assistant professor of religion at Southwestern College.  “Her speeches and writings in the early twentieth century were instrumental to the struggle for the full ordination rights of women finally recognized by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1956. Dr. Irons presence on our campus offers our Builder community the chance to remember and honor the significant work and contributions of one of our own.”

Irons holds a Ph.D in religion from Baylor University and a master of arts degree in theological studies from Asbury Theological Seminary. She is the author of numerous monographs, including most recently, “If Eve Only Knew: Freeing Yourself from Biblical Womanhood and Becoming All You are Meant to Be” (Chalice Press, 2015). Her first book—“Preaching on the Plains: Methodist Women Preachers in Kansas, 1920-1956” (University Press of American, 2007)—examines United Methodist women who preached in Kansas prior to 1956 and includes two chapters dedicated to M. Madeline Southard, a Southwestern alumna.

The Parkhurst Lecture is one of three annual endowed lectures hosted by the philosophy and religion department of the social sciences division at Southwestern College. This lecture focuses on Biblical studies. 

For more information contact Lashier at (620) 229-6066.