LAKELAND, Fla. (March 30, 2005) - The Department of Religion and Philosophy at Florida Southern College is pleased to announce a lecture/seminar, "Human Sexuality and the Christian Tradition," led by Dr. John J. Carey on April 7 in the William M. Hollis Room on the FSC campus. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. for the morning and afternoon sessions. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Carey will discuss "New Directions in the Sexuality Debate: Challenges for the Churches" at 10 a.m. followed by audience discussion. In the afternoon session beginning at 1 p.m., Dr. Carey and members of the FSC religion and philosophy department will discuss "What Churches Do Not Talk About in Sexuality." The session concludes at 3 p.m.

Carey, originally from Fort Wayne, Ind., graduated in 1953 with a double major in history and philosophy from Duke University. He received his B.D. and S.T.M. degrees in 1956 and 1957 from Yale Divinity School and his Ph.D. from Duke in 1965. He has done post-doctoral work at Cambridge University, the University of Tubingen, The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Center for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. Carey served for three years as college chaplain and assistant professor of religion at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., and in 1960 he accepted a position as university chaplain and assistant professor of religion at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. In 1986, Carey left FSU to become the third president of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C. In 1988, he accepted an appointment as the Pendergrass Professor of Religion at Florida Southern College. The next year, he joined the faculty of Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Ga., as the Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and Religion and chair of the department of religion. He retired from Agnes Scott in 1999. 

In 2000 Carey accepted a post-retirement assignment as interim pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, Alaska, and taught for the philosophy department at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He has written or edited 12 books and over 60 scholarly articles. He is an 
ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and chaired the Presbyterian National Committee on Human Sexuality from 1988-91. 

Carey currently resides in Anchorage, where he is serving a second term as interim pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church. His last two books have been "The Sexuality Debate in North American Churches, 1988-1995: Controversies, Unresolved Issues, Future Prospects" (Edwin Mellen Press, 1996) and "Then and Now" (Mercer University Press, 2002), a study of the Protestant theologian Paul Tillich. Carey is married to Mary Charlotte McCall, a practicing attorney, and is the father of five grown daughters.

Lunch is available for $5 and will be served in the Hollis Room at noon. One CEU is available for the day's workshop. For reservations and further information, contact Beverly Johnson at 863-680-4180 or at bjohnson@flsouthern.edu. 


About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1885, Florida Southern College is a private, comprehensive, United Methodist college with a liberal arts core. The college maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 38 undergraduate majors and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, and nursing. Florida Southern has a 14:1 student/faculty ratio, provides strong student/faculty mentorship programs, boasts 24 NCAA Division II national championships, and is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top ten Southern Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelors. Located on scenic Lake Hollingsworth, Florida Southern is the home of the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.