Department of Religious Studies

K. Brooke Anderson Lecture

Lectures for the University and community with a focus on areas of interfaith relations (especially Christian, Muslim, and Jewish relations), race relations, and world peace; topics have included hunger, poverty, refugees, disarmament, and the religious and moral grounds for pacifism.

Breadcrumb

K. Brooke Anderson was Executive Secretary of the Brown Christian Association from 1928 until 1957, a position in which he had a profound impact on the lives of many in the Brown community, students, faculty and staff alike. Mr. Anderson had served for two years in World War I with the French Army Ambulance Service, receiving the Silver Star citation from General Pershing and decorated by France for his work. Still, the experience left him deeply disillusioned, and a lifelong commitment to pacifism began. He worked with prisoners of war in Syria, Egypt, and Jerusalem from 1919-1921, and later, after World War II, with Arab refugees in the Gaza Strip. He remained an active advocate for peace for the rest of his life. 

After his death in 1975 at the age of 83, his family established the K. Brooke Anderson Memorial Fund, shared by the Department of Religious Studies and the Office of the Chaplains of Brown University, to support annual lectures for the University and community with a focus on areas of interfaith relations (especially Christian, Muslim, and Jewish relations), race relations, and world peace; topics have included hunger, poverty, refugees, disarmament, and the religious and moral grounds for pacifism. Past presenters have included poet Amir Sulaiman (2018), Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne, Robinson '66 (2017), David Carrasco, Harvard Divinity School (2014); Eddie S. Glaude, Princeton University (2013); Dr. Rami Nashashibia, Director of the Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN) in Chicago (2012); and Amy Hollywood, Harvard University (2011). We are deeply indebted to the Anderson family who have made this lecture series possible.

2026 Lecture

April 24, 2026 at 4:00pm
Smith-Buonanno Hall, Room 106
Reception with small bites in the lobby following the lecture

Zena Hitz, Tutor, St. John’s College

LOST IN THOUGHT: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life
On philosophy, religion, and the value of learning for its own sake

Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John’s College and the author of Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life. Her book explores the meaning and the value of learning for its own sake, through images and stories of bookworms, philosophers, scientists, and other learners, both fictional and historical. She writes and speaks on the human need to learn for its own sake and what it means for educational institutions to take that need seriously.

She studied at St. John’s College, Cambridge University, the University of Chicago and Princeton before teaching philosophy at McGill University, Auburn University, and UMBC. She spent three years living and working in the Madonna House Apostolate and has taught in prison programs and to other non-traditional students. When she is not teaching or speaking, she spends time thinking about topics like the moral decline and fall of individuals and communities, as depicted in stories from Genesis to The Godfather.

The 2026 K. Brooke Anderson Lecture is co-sponsored by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and the Department of Religious Studies.

K. Brooke Anderson Lecture - Zena Hitz