The religion department of Lycoming College will sponsor a lecture by Dr. Robert J. Miller, associate professor of religion at Juniata College .  The lecture, entitled “The Historical Jesus and the Kingdom of God ,” will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 27, 2004 .  The lecture will be held in the Barclay Lecture Hall (G-11) of the Heim Building and is free to the public..

Dr. Miller received his Ph.D in religion from Claremont Graduate School and has worked as instructor in Religious Studies, at Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles; Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Midway College, Kentucky; a Scholar in Residence at Westar Institute, California.  He is currently an associate Professor of Religious Studies at Juniata College in Huntingdon , Pennsylvania , where he teaches courses in Bible, World Religions, and the Philosophy of Religion   He is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Biblical Association, and The Jesus Seminar. 

Dr. Miller has received several summer study grants, including NEH Study Grant for College Teachers, the Wye Faculty Seminar: “Citizenship in the American Polity,” and The Lilly Workshop for Teaching Scholars in Religion.

In addition to teaching and continuing studies, Dr Miller has published numerous scholarly articles and essays, general audience articles, papers and addresses, and books, including Born Divine: The Births of Jesus and Other Sons of God  (Polebridge Press, 2003), and The Jesus Seminar and its Critics (Polebridge Press, 1992). 

Dr. Miller is a specialist in the Gospels and the Historical Jesus. In addition to his academic teaching and research, Dr. Miller is committed to adult education in the churches.  He has made over 200 appearances for various religious groups all across North America .  In his lecture, Miller will explore the historical aspect of Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God as a present, and the alternative reality for his fellow Jews living under the oppression of the Kingdom/Empire of Rome .