Thomas H. Lake Lecture
Annual Lecture on Faith & Giving
Named in honor of philanthropic leader Thomas H. Lake, this annual lecture invites a noted scholar or practitioner to speak on a topic related to faith and giving, and includes opportunities for audience conversation and interaction with speakers.
Generosity of Spirit: Exploring Jewish Traditions and Relational Philanthropy
Join us for the 19th Annual Thomas H. Lake Lecture with Dr. Susannah Heschel
Thursday, April 18, 2024 | 6:00 pm
Indiana Historical Society (450 W Ohio St)
In person and online | Reception to follow
At its core, philanthropy is about relationships, but in our increasingly polarized and disconnected world, how do we form these relationships and develop a generosity of spirit? Our religious traditions have often demonstrated the essential nature of relationship between one another, within communities, as well as between the human and divine. As a renowned scholar of Jewish studies and a present-day leading voice for modeling dialogue across difference, Dr. Susannah Heschel will discuss the ways in which religion broadly and Jewish tradition specifically can help us better practice philanthropy as the love of humanity.
Susannah Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on the history of Jewish and Protestant religious thought in Germany during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and she has brought post-colonial theory and feminist theory to her analyses. She is the author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus; The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany; and Jüdischer Islam: Islam und jüdisch-deutsche Selbstbestimmung, as well as several edited volumes, including Insider/Outsider: American Jews and Multiculturalism and Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust. Forthcoming this year are a monograph written with Sarah Imhoff, Jewish Studies and the Woman Question, and a co-edited volume, New Paths: Essays in Honor of Professor Elliot Wolfson, with Glenn Dynner and Shaul Magid. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of five honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, she has held fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, and fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the Maimonides Institute in Hamburg, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
Past Lake Lectures
2023 – Mona Siddiqui
Title: “Art, Philanthropy, and Belonging: The Disruptive Nature of Giving
Speaker: Mona Siddiqui
Date: March 2, 2023
Watch video
2022 – David Brooks & Anne Snyder
Title: “Revival or Decline? American Faith and Philanthropy Face the Future”
Speakers: David Brooks & Anne Snyder
Date: March 31, 2022
Read transcripts: David and Anne
Watch video
2019 – Lynne Twist
Title: “The Soul of Money: Shifting from Scarcity to Abundance”
Speaker: Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money
Date: April 11, 2019
Watch video
2018 – Scott Harrison
Title: “Reinventing Charity”
Speaker: Scott Harrison, founder and CEO of charity:water
Date: March 8, 2018
Watch video
2017 – Eboo Patel
Title: “Building a Diverse Democracy: Exploring the Theologies and Practice of Interfaith Cooperation.”
Speaker: Eboo Patel, Ph.D., Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core
Date: March 30, 2017
Watch video
2016 – Jonathan Walton
Title: “Jesus, Chief Executive: The Gospel of Health and Wealth at the Core of American Religion.”
Speaker: Jonathan Walton, Ph.D., Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church and Professor of Religion and Society at Harvard Divinity School
Date: March 31, 2016
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2015 – Christian Smith
Title: “The Generosity Equation: Donors, Faith, & Avenues to Giving”
Speaker: Christian Smith, Ph.D., William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame
Date: March 12, 2015
Watch video
2014 – Craig Dykstra
Title: “Cultivating Thriving Communities of Faith: The Promise of Strategic Religious Philanthropy”
Speaker: Craig Dykstra, Ph.D., Research Professor of Practical Theology and Senior Fellow in Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School
Date: March 27, 2014
Watch video | Read lecture
2013 – Ann Braude
Title: “Walking the Second Mile: Women, Religion, and Philanthropy”
Speaker: Ann Braude, Ph.D., director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and Senior Lecturer on American Religious History at Harvard Divinity School
Date: April 11, 2013
Watch video | Read lecture
2012 – James Hodge
Title: “If Philanthropy Is All About Relationships, Then Why Do Metrics Only Measure Money?”
Speaker: James M. Hodge III, Vice Chair and Director of Principal Gifts at the Mayo Clinic
Date: March 22, 2012
Watch video | Read lecture
2011 – Richard Gunderman
Title: “The Undiminished Flame: Education, Giving and the Quest for Faith”
Speaker: Richard Gunderman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy at Indiana University
Date: March 24, 2011
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“Lake Institute is a rare place because people are invited to reflect on stewardship, faith, and giving in a rich environment where both a scientific and theological component are valued.”
2010 – Ingrid Mattson
Title: “Zakat in America: The Evolving Role of Islamic Charity in Community Cohesion”
Speaker: Ingrid Mattson, Ph.D., Professor of Islamic Studies and founder of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program and director of the Macdonald Center for the Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations
Date: March 25, 2010
Watch video | Read lecture
2009 – Elliot Dorff
Title: “Donations of Ill-Gotten Gain: A Jewish Legal Perspective”
Speaker: Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, Ph.D., Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles
Date: March 26, 2009
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2008 – Paul Schervish
Title: “Receiving & Giving as Spiritual Exercise: The Spirituality of Care in Soul, Relationship, and Community”
Speaker: Paul Schervish, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy (CWP) at Boston College, and National Research Fellow at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy
Date: April 10, 2008
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2007 – Mark Noll
Title: “The Logic of Evangelicalism & The Challenges of Philanthropy”
Speaker: Mark Noll, Ph.D., the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and co-founder of The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism
Date: March 29, 2007
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2006 – Luke Timothy Johnson
Title: “The Life of Faith & the Faithful Use of Possessions”
Speaker: Luke Timothy Johnson, Ph.D., the R.W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University
Date: April 6, 2006
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2005 – Martin Marty
Title: “The Market & the Donor: Creative Destruction and Creative Construction”
Speaker: Martin Marty, Ph.D., the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago
Date: March 10, 2005
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2003 – Robert Wuthnow
Title: “Faith & Giving: From Christian Charity to Spiritual Practice”
Speaker: Robert Wuthnow, Ph.D., Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University
Date: September 25, 2003
Read lecture
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Insights, a bi-weekly e-newsletter, is a resource for the religious community and fundraisers of faith-based organizations that provides:
- Reflections on important developments in the field of faith and giving
- Recommended books, studies and articles
- Upcoming Lake Institute events