Theologian and author Diana Butler Bass, whose book Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks was recognized this year as the top non-fiction book in national secular media by the esteemed 70-year-old Wilbur Awards, will speak at Washington College on “Politics of Gratitude: The Subversive Vision of the New Testament in the Age of Trump.”
Sponsored by the College’s Institute of Religion Politics and Culture and Political Science Department, the talk on April 10 in Hynson Lounge begins at 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the award-winning author of ten books, including Grounded: Finding God in the World —A Spiritual Revolution (HarperOne, 2015), Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (HarperOne, 2012) and Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (HarperOne, 2006).
Her latest book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks (HarperOne, 2018), won the 2019 Religion Communicators Council’s Wilbur Award for the best book in non-fiction secular media (the fiction award was won by Mitch Albom for The Next Person You Meet in Heaven). Conferred since 1949, the Wilbur Awards honor excellence in secular media—print and online journalism, book publishing, broadcasting, and motion pictures—for communicating religious issues, values, and themes. Previous winners include Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, and films like “Chocolat” and “Hidden Figures.”
Along with her books, Bass’s bylines include The Washington Post, The New York Times Syndicate, and The Huffington Post. She has commented widely on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, CBS, CNN, FOX, PBS, NPR, Sirius XM, and CBC. In addition to the Wilbur, she has won other numerous grants and awards including the Nautilus Gold Medal, the Book of the Year from Religion News Service, and the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History.
About Washington College Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 39 states and territories and 25 nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.
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