Karen V. Guth, associate professor of Religious Studies and is affiliated with the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and the Peace and Conflict Studies programs at the College of the Holy Cross, will be the featured speaker for Southwestern College’s Smith-Willson lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 5 p.m. in Messenger Recital Hall in the Darbeth Fine Arts Center. There is no admission charge and the public is invited to attend.

“We hear so much talk today of cancel culture and tainted legacies,” says Jacob Goodson, associate professor of philosophy at Southwestern College. “Dr. Karen Guth has actually written a book about how to make sense of what it means to get 'canceled' or not. She talks about people in the film industry as well as academics and scholars -- all of whom are known for their contributions to their field but also known for illegal or wrongful behaviors. Her lecture at SC will be based on the research she did for her book, ‘The Ethics of Tainted Legacies,’ which was published earlier this year. Please join us for this thoughtful and timely lecture.”

Guth is the author of “Christian Ethics at the Boundary: Feminism and Theologies of Public Life” (Fortress Press, 2015) and “The Ethics of Tainted Legacies: Human Flourishing after Traumatic Pasts” (Cambridge University Press, 2022). She holds a Ph. D in religious ethics from the University of Virginia, an M.T.S. in Religion and Society from Harvard, and a M.Th. in literature, theology, and the arts from the University of Glasgow. She received her B.A. in religion from Furman University. Before coming to Holy Cross, professor Guth was a postdoctoral fellow in religious practices and practical theology at Emory University (2011-2012) and an assistant professor at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., (2012-2016).

The Smith-Willson lectureship was established by Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Willson to call attention to the important moral and religious aspects of education. National leaders on various related topics are asked to speak at the annual lecture.