The NSA Lectureship: The Aesthetics of Sin: Calvinism, Beauty, and Depravity in Early Modern English Literature

Every year, New Saint Andrews hosts an academic lectureship. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Cole Jeffrey will be our 2022-2023 Lectureship speaker.

Cole Jeffrey was born and raised in Denton, Texas in a conservative homeschooling family. He received his PhD from the University of North Texas in 2017, and he is an Assistant Professor of English at Charleston Southern University. His research explores the relationship between Renaissance literature and Reformed theology. His article, "'Here Is Beauty Changed to Ugly Whoredom': Calvinist Theology and Neoplatonic Aesthetics in The Changeling," was published in the Spring 2019 edition of Renaissance Drama. He is currently writing a book about Calvinism's impact on writers like William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, John Donne, George Herbert, and John Milton. The lectures he will deliver at NSA are based on this project. When Dr. Jeffrey is not teaching, researching, or writing, he loves spending time with his wife, Courtney, and his newborn son, Reid. He also loves watching classic movies, reading mystery novels, eating cheese, and traveling to new places. 

Previous holders of the lectureship:

2015/16: Rev Dr. Mark Jones
2016/17: Dr. Paul Helseth
2017/18: Rev Dr. Michael McClenahan
2018/19: Dr. Timothy Harmon
2019/20: No lectureship this year
2020/21: Rev Dr. Jonathan Gibson
2021/22: Dr. David Talcott