I have always been interested in and involved with Christian and religious studies.
Travelling to Huron from Yale University, where she is Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation and Professor of Religious Studies at the School of Divinity and Department of Religious Studies, Prof. Nasrallah will present a lecture entitled ‘Seeking Justice: The Letters of Paul and Operations of Power’.
Going back to the earliest Christ-followers in Roman Corinth, Prof. Nasrallah says her lecture “will be looking at historical evidence about justice with a text that is now considered Scripture and other texts that show how justice was adjudicated.” She promises to present examples of justice from “unexpected” sources including “so-called ‘magical texts’”.
“I’m really excited to be welcoming Prof. Nasrallah to Huron as this year’s Orr Lecturer. Her research helps us to see how Paul’s letters addressed the very real concerns and hopes of everyday folk in his world – concerns and hopes for justice,” says Dr. Dan Smith, Huron’s Dean of Theology.
Justice, or the lack thereof, has been a theme of Prof. Nasrallah’s life. The majority of the first six years of Prof. Laura Nasrallah’s childhood was spent in Beirut, Lebanon where she was surrounded by not only her immediate family, but also a loving extended family. That all changed when her immediate family was evacuated due to the Lebanese Civil War.
At the time, she didn’t understand why her family had to leave but she did know that religion played a part. “As a child, I knew people were divided over issues of politics and religion,” she says. “I knew that religion was the basis of some violence and this fuelled my curiosity in later years.”
Growing up in a conservative Protestant family “where the Bible was the basis of life”, Prof. Nasrallah says this natural curiosity drew her to Christian and religious studies which she combined with her interest in feminism and archaeology.
Her lecture, she says, will examine the idea of justice and how, in ancient times, justice was administered differently if one was low-income, a woman or a slave, ancient themes that still resonate today.
Prof. Nasrallah says she hopes people take away from the lecture a sense of wonder and surprise at the ancient world and that attendees will “question when, in their every day lives, they are adjudicating and making decisions about people who are ‘other’ from us.”
The 2021 R. T. Orr Lecture will be presented Monday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m. both in-person at Huron and virtually over Zoom. For more information and to register please visit The R. T. Orr Lecture webpage.
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Leigh Allen is the AVP, Global Strategic Research, Reinsurance Group of America Inc., one of the world’s largest global life and reinsurance companies.
Yola Ventresca is a Managing Partner, Lerners LLP, Secretary of Huron’s Board of Governors and a Huron Class of ’02 alumni. Selected as one of Canada’s “Best Lawyers,” she is passionate about the value of Liberal Arts in helping students succeed in their careers.
Susan Farrow is an Assistant Professor in The Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and a Founding Partner and Co-Director of The Toronto Institute of Group Studies, an organization offering certified training and education in group leadership. 
Frank Holmes is CEO and Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Global Investors, as well as a business commentator, philanthropist and Huron Class of ‘78 alumnus. Holmes also serves as the Executive Chairman of HIVE Blockchain Technologies, the first cryptocurrency mining company to go public in 2017.
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Caleb Hayhoe is the Founder & Chairman of Flowerdale Group and a Huron Class of ’85 Alumnus. Flowerdale Group is a Hong Kong based family office with a global investment outlook across public markets, real estate and private investment. Hayhoe previously spent over ten years building a global sourcing business together with an exceptional team, and remains committed to entrepreneurialism and helping great ideas become sustainable companies.
