Jim Wallis, bestselling author, public theologian, national preacher, social activist and international commentator on ethics and public life, will be speaking at Stetson University on Fri., Apr. 8, at 10:30 a.m., in the Stetson Room, second floor of the Carlton Union Building, 131 E. Minnesota Ave., on Stetson’s DeLand Campus.

His lecture is titled, “The Bridge to a New America.” The event is being sponsored by The Civitas Project, which is a newly formed non-profit organization, dedicated to learning and practicing the great founding ideas of the American democratic-republic. Stetson’s T. Wayne Bailey, Ph.D., professor of political science, is the current board chair of The Civitas Project.

Jim Wallis’s latest book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, was released in January. He is president and founder of Sojourners in Washington, D.C. a non-profit, faith-based organization, network, and movement whose mission statement calls for “putting faith into action for social justice.” Sojourners magazine and website has a combined print and electronic media readership of more than a quarter million unique visitors to the website, sojo.net, each year.

Wallis has written ten previous books, including The (Un)Common Good, and the New York Times bestsellers Gods Politics and The Great Awakening. He is a frequent speaker in the United States and abroad, has written for major newspapers, does regular columns for Huffington Post and TIME.com, and appears frequently on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR; on shows from the former Daily Show with Jon Stewart to the O’Reilly Factor and weekly Sunday shows like This Week and Meet the Press. Wallis also teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard University. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and as the chair of the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum.

“Jim Wallis is described as a man of prophetic vision, incisive analysis and moral grounding,” says Larry Arrington, president and founder of The Civitas Project. “He speaks with gravitas and justice, goodness and sustainability at a time when our political life is in disorder and decay. We are pleased that Mr. Wallis accepted our invitation to visit Stetson and to help introduce The Civitas Project to the community. There is no one better suited to the task.”

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is a cultural credit event for Stetson students. For further information, contact Savannah-Jane Griffin, Stetson’s director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Excellence, at [email protected], or call 386-822-8706.