Life is about constant discovery. Never staying static in your understanding. Always looking for new sources of insight and inspiration. And that’s why the January Series was created. The January Series is a lecture series that takes place each year at Calvin University that nurtures curiosity and knowledge, creates lifelong learners, and builds conversations that create better global citizens in God’s world. An educational outreach on behalf of Calvin University, containing brilliant speakers, fascinating topics, enlightened conversation, and surprising discoveries. By promoting education, civic engagement, and open inquiry, we’re growing a community of lifelong learners who don’t want to be passive observers but active participants in creating a better, more inspired, more inclusive world.
More recent recordings are available with closed-captioning on YouTube.
Submissions from 2009
Powerful Faith: Evangelicals in American Culture (video), D. Michael Lindsay
The Continuing Witness and The Future of The Church in The Middle East (video), Victor E. Makari
Faith and Doubt (video), John Ortberg
A Witness To Change: Profiling Microfinance and The Empowerment of Poor Families (video), Robert Rooy
Lincoln At 200: The Measure of a President (video), Richard Norton Smith
Beloved Community and Restorative Justice: Toward a Recovery of An Ethic of Restoration in The Churches' Response To Crime and Criminal Behavior (video), Harold Dean Trulear
Separation of Church and State--Calvin Style: a 500th Anniversary Celebration (video), John Witte Jr.
The Pursuit of Justice: Finding Courage Amidst The Chaos of Human Rights Abuses (video), Sharon Cohn Wu
Submissions from 2008
100 Years of Black Gospel Music in An Hour (video), James Abbington
Energy: Our Responsibility (video), Sigval Berg
Love, Justice, and Humility: a Bioethicist Meets The Pillow Angel (video), Douglas Diekema
U.S. Leadership in Responding To The World's Humanitarian Crises (video), William Garvelink
Theology For An Age of Terror (video), Timothy George
American Competitiveness: NASA's Role & Everyone's Responsibility (video), Michael D. Griffin
It's a Jungle Up There: Exploration of The Treetops (video), Margaret Lowman
Deep Economy (video), Bill McKibben
Words Wear Out How Writers Help Us Renew Religious Language (video), Debra Rienstra
Stewarding American Power: Recommendations for the Next President (video), Chris Seiple
Submissions from 2007
My Story Twenty Years of The January Series (video), June Hamersma
Sports Heroes Off The Field Making This a Better World (video), Richard Lapchick
Health and Hope For a Hurting World (video), Peter Okaalet
The Heart of Racial Justice (video), Brenda Salter McNeil
The Rising Tide a Storyteller's View of The Second World War (video), Jeff Shaara
Reclaiming The Value of Beauty (video), Laura Smit
What's Happening At The Heart of Eurasia? (video), S. Frederick Starr
Poverty and Prayer and The Power of Film (video), Gerard Thomas Straub
Free of Charge Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (video), Miroslav Volf
The Truth About Married Sex (video), Lauren Winner
Simply Christian (video), N. T. Wright
Submissions from 2006
Globalization of The Media: Who Is Really in Control? (video), Tim Dean
Gender & Competition: Part 2 (video), Kathleen J. DeBoer
CSI: Eyewitness Memory (video), James M. Doyle
Public Health & Social Justice (video), Paul Farmer
People, Pipes and Players (video), John E. Hamersma
African Americans in The Furniture City (video), Randal Maurice Jelks
Reading The Bible in The Global South (video), Philip Jenkins
Eat This Book (video), Eugene H. Peterson
The Minstrel & The Storyteller (video), Peninnah Schram and Gerard Edery
Upside-Down Brilliance (video), Linda Silverman
You're Almost On Your Own: The State of Computer Security (video), Eugene Spafford
Revolutionary Papacies: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and The Future of The Catholic Church (video), George Weigel
Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity (video), Lauren F. Winner
Submissions from 2005
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction? (audio), Tom Ackerman
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction? (video), Tom Ackerman
Gender and Competition: How Men and Women Apporach Work and Play Differently (audio), Kathleen De Boer
Gender & Competition: How Men & Women Approach Work & Play Differently (video), Kathleen J. De Boer
A Conversation with Frank Deford: Writing, Sports, and Frolics (audio), Frank Deford
A Conversation with Frank Deford: Writing, Sports, & Frolic (video), Frank Deford
Pathologies of Power: Rethinking Health and Human Rights in the Global Era (audio), Paul Farmer
Pathologies of Power: Rethinking Health & Human Rights in The Global Era (video), Paul Farmer
A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa (audio), Howard French
A Continent For The Taking The Tragedy and Hope of Africa (video), Howard French
Russia in Search of Democracy (audio), Vsevolod A. Marinov
Russia in Search of Democracy (video), Vsevolod A. Marinov
When Every Day is Casual Friday: Anxiety Hangs Over a Culture When Adults Act Like Children (audio), Frederica Mathewes-Green
When Every Day Is Casual Friday: Anxiety Hangs Over a Culture When Adults Act Like Children (video), Frederica Mathewes-Green
My Story (audio), Barbara Omolade
My Story (video), Barbara Omolade
Our New Post Civil Rights Reality: A Christian Perspective (audio), Eugene Rivers
Our New Post Civil Rights Reality: a Christian Perspective (video), Eugene Rivers
Christian Right, Christian Left: The Polarized American Religious Scene (audio), Fleming Rutledge
Christian Right, Christian Left: The Polarized American Religious Scene (video), Fleming Rutledge
One Fourth of the Nation: Catholicism and Politics in 2005 (audio), Peter Steinfels
One Fourth of the Nation: Catholicism & Politics in 2005 (video), Peter Steinfels
American Greatness (audio), Alan Wolfe
American Greatness (video), Alan Wolfe
Submissions from 2004
After Billy Graham: The Future of American Protestantism (audio), Randall Balmer
Music, Emotion, and Worship: Is There Anything to Fear? (audio), Jeremy Begbie
Hope for Africa (audio), Joel Carpenter
China in the World Ahead: Avoiding Cold War II (audio), Harm De Blij
The Moral Crisis of the Telecosm (audio), George Gilder
Islamic Reformation: An Overdue Quest (audio), Saad Eddin Ibrahim
'Genetic' Predestination? (audio), Bartha Knoppers
Leaders Breaking Down Barriers: Sport as a Model to Bridge the Racial Divide (audio), Richard Lapchick
The Heart of Black Preaching (audio), Cleophus La Rue
How the Middle Class Remade Music (audio), Leon B. Plantinga
On Christian Plilosophy in an Age of Terror (audio), Eugene Rivers
Throw Away your Computer and Get an Education (audio), Clifford Stoll
Spiritual Pilgrimage in an Age of World Religions (audio), Kenneth Woodward
The Future of Freedom (audio), Fareed Zakaria
Submissions from 2003
Whatever Happened to Geographic Literacy? (audio), H.J. de Blij
Crime Scenes: How We Can Tell What Isn't So (audio), Rod Englert
Dietrich Bonhoeffer On Lying - Reflections on America (audio), Stanley Hauerwas
Human Stem-Cell Research: Where Do We Go From Here? (audio), Mark Hughes
The Axis of History: The Middle East After September 11 (audio), Charles Krauthammer
Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age (audio), Quentin Schultze
In Celebration of Martin Luther King Day, Creative Justice (audio), James Skillen
The Biographer on His Desert Island (audio), Richard N. Smith
What's Really Going On in Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan, etc.? (audio), S. Frederick Starr
The Preaching Life (audio), Barbara Taylor
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible (audio), James Vander Kam
What St. Paul Really Said (audio), N.T. Wright
Submissions from 2002
The Palestinian Question and New Global Realities (audio), Hanan Ashrawi
Justice That Restores: How Christian Worldview Impacts the Justice System (audio), Charles Colson
Corrupted Words Reclaimed (audio), Marva Dawn
W.E.B. DuBois and the Encyclopedia Africana (audio), Henry Louis Gates
Does Morality Need God? (audio), John Hare
Short Attention Span Culture (audio), Robert J. Hughes
Is America Crazy? (audio), John Leo
Should We Change Our Genes? (audio), James Peterson