UK Happenings

Mars Hill Forum to welcome Jeffrey Bilbro and Matthew Milliner

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 1, 2022) University Christian Fellowship (UCF), a Christian student organization at the University of Kentucky, welcomes the campus community and public to the sixth annual Mars Hill Forum. The conference will take place 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, Nov. 5, in the Worsham Cinema of the Bill Gatton Student Center. Anyone can attend free of charge and refreshments will be served.

This year’s Mars Hill Forum speakers include Jeffrey Bilbro from Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and Matthew Milliner from Wheaton College near Chicago, Illinois. Bilbro will be lecturing on his 2021 book, "Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News." Milliner will be lecturing on the content in his new book, "Mother of the Lamb: The Story of a Global Icon." Question-and-answer sessions will follow each presentation.

“We want to present Christianity to our community in a way that unites faith and reason, revelation and wisdom, just as the Apostle Paul did in Athens,” Chad Grissom, pastor of Trinity Christian Fellowship in Lexington and advisor to UCF, said. “Lexington, at its founding, was styled as the ‘Athens of the West.’ We offer the Mars Hill Forum to Lexington in the hopes that it can build a bridge through ideas and language that our culture can understand.”

In previous years, the Mars Hill Forum has welcomed renowned speakers to campus, such as Peter Kreeft, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Louis Markos, Joseph Peace, David C. Downing, Devin Brown and Bradley Birzer. You can view the 2020 Mars Hill Forum here.

About Jeffrey Bilbro

Jeffrey Bilbro is an associate professor of English at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor's degree in writing and literature from George Fox University in Oregon and his doctoral degree in English from Baylor University. He is the editor-in-chief of The Front Porch Republic, which is a blog that “publishes works about place, localism, community, decentralism and conservation.” Bilbro has published several books, the most recent of which is titled "Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News." This book examines how the modern news cycle impact on people.

About Matthew Milliner

Matthew Milliner is an associate professor of art history at Wheaton College. Milliner earned his master's and doctoral degrees in art history at Princeton University and his Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written for publications such as The New York Times and First Things and has published several books. His most recent publication is "Mother of the Lamb: The Story of a Global Icon," which describes the history, theology and meaning of a Byzantine icon of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Please contact Kel Hahn, UK faculty/staff advisor to UCF, with any questions at kelly.hahn@uky.edu.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

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