The event, this year's Fall Convocation, is planned Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. in Christ Chapel on North Washington Street. The public is welcome at no charge.

Lerner plans to talk about spiritual and religious approaches to peace, both in the Middle East and the world generally, and in regard to the challenges facing the post-election United States.

In 1986 Lerner launched Tikkun Magazine. Lerner also founded the Tikkun Community, an interfaith organization - welcoming even agnostics and atheists - which is committed to nonviolence, global consciousness, and ecology. "Tikkun" is a Hebrew word that means "to transform, heal and repair."

Lerner is the author of "Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation." In a review of the book, Rabbi Michael Paley, director of outreach for UJA/Federation said "Michael Lerner is America's preeminent liberal Jewish intellectual ... this book a treasure."

In 1995, Lerner and Cornel West published "Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion and Culture in America." In 1996, Lerner published "The Politics of Meaning: Restoring Hope and Possibility in an Age of Cynicism." The late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone wrote: "Lerner's ideas ought to inform our contemporary political discussion." Author Jonathan Kozol called Lerner's work "morally important ... and exceptionally courageous."

In 2000, Lerner published "Spirit Matters," of which author Dean Ornish, M.D., wrote "The real epidemic in our culture is not only physical heart disease but also emotional and spiritual heart disease. ¿Spirit Matters' is an owner's manual for the kind of ¿open heart' surgery that can help us as individuals and as a society - medicine for the soul."

Lerner studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and was mentored by Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Lerner received a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley in 1972 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the Wright Institute in 1977.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With approximately 2,500 students, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park. The college was founded in 1832.

Issued 11/09/04