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Home / 2017 / November / 23 / Returning scholar to speak about Victorian Jesus

Returning scholar to speak about Victorian Jesus

November 23, 2017

Debate about the Life and Work of Jesus Christ continues

What: Public talk about history, science and religion and how it changed 19th century Britain
Who: Ian Hesketh, Australian Research Council Future Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland
When: Tuesday, Nov. 28 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Where: Science building, room SCI 337 at UBC’s Okanagan campus

Ian Hesketh, an expert on the relationship between history, science and religion will discuss his research that examines the politics of publishing a sensational anonymous account of Christ’s life on November 28.

Hesketh is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. He is the author of three books: Of Apes and Ancestors: Evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford Debate (2009); The Science of History in Victorian Britain (2011); and, most recently, Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, Religion, and the Cultural Authority of Anonymity (2017).

“What gives this special interest is that Ian is one of our own,” says Assoc. Prof. of History James Hull. Hesketh is originally from Quesnel, BC, and completed a Bachelor of Arts in history at Okanagan University College in Kelowna before going on to earn a master’s degree and PhD at York University. “One of his earlier books is used as a text in a history course that he took from me as an undergraduate.”

When the book Ecce Homo: A Survey in the Life and Work of Jesus Christ was published in 1865 it created an absolute sensation, selling upwards of 20,000 copies in just over a year.

The subject of intense debate and analysis in the periodical and newspaper presses, Ecce Homo presented Christ not as a worker of miracles but rather as an enthusiast for humanity. While this was a provocative claim, the fact that the book was anonymously published added a further layer of intrigue to the book’s reception.

Hesketh’s talk will examine the varied reception of Ecce Homo as well as the politics of publishing a sensational anonymous account of Christ’s life.

“As in the mid-Victorian Britain described in Ian’s book and this talk, in an age of social media we are again in a time of controversial anonymous publishing of opinions,” says Hull. “Then as now, some found the cloak of anonymity liberating while others questioned the practice.”

Co-sponsored by the Department of History and Sociology in the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, the talk is open to the public. Refreshments will be served, and there will be an opportunity to meet Ian Hesketh following the talk.

Media Contact

Patty Wellborn
Media Relations Strategist
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250 317 0293
E-mail: patty.wellborn@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Advisory
More content from: History and Sociology, Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences (prior July 2020)

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About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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