Author and scholar Amina Wadud, Ph.D., will deliver the annual Thompson Lecture in Religion at Kalamazoo College, Thursday, March 6, 7:00 p.m. in the Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall, 1153 Academy Street.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Her lecture, “We are One and We are Diverse: Muslim Women’s Responses to Gender Reform,” will focus on the changing dynamics of traditional Islamic gender justice and inclusiveness.

Dr. Wadud is an internationally known scholar on Islam and gender. She is professor emerita of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and a visiting scholar at Starr King School for Ministry in Berkley, Calif. She is also the author of several books, including Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam (Oneworld Publisher, 2006), and Qur’an and Women (Oxford University Press, 1999).

“Since the turn of the new millennium, the emergence of Islamic feminism has challenged the traditional conflict between secular Muslim feminists and Islamists,” said Dr. Wadud. “Islamic feminism uses anti-oppression theology to articulate the necessity for greater inclusion in the policy, spirituality and identity of the Muslim community. My lecture will focus on the interaction between major perspectives on gender justice in Islam today, highlighting the trend toward greater inclusiveness.”

The Paul Lamont Memorial Lecture at K was established by a gift from the sons and daughters-in-law of Paul Lamont and Ruth Peel Thompson. Paul Lamont Thompson was president of Kalamazoo College from 1938 to 1949.