Rhee to Probe Giving in Early Christianity

Helen Rhee, associate professor of religious studies at Westmont, lectures about “Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Almsgiving and Salvation in Early Christianity” on Monday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Hieronymus Lounge in Kerrwood Hall. The Paul C. Wilt Phi Kappa Phi Lecture is free and open to the public.
Rhee, who grew up in Seoul, South Korea, and then Southern California, graduated from UC Berkeley and earned a master of divinity degree and doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. She has taught at Westmont since 2004, receiving the award Teacher of the Year in Humanities in 2010. Her research specializes in early Christian history, and her most recent book, “Early Christian Literature: Christ and Culture in the Second and Third Centuries,” explores the diverging Christian self-identities in relation to Greco-Roman culture and society.

Respondents to Rhee’s talk are Telford Work, associate professor of religious studies at Westmont, and Edd Noell, professor of economics and business.

Work, who is serving as chair of the religious studies department, authored “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg: Living through the Lord’s Prayer” and “Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of Salvation.” He is a contributor and signatory of “In One Body through the Cross: the Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity.”

Noell earned a master’s of business administration from the University of Texas, Austin, and a doctorate in economics from Louisiana State University. He earned the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award (Social Sciences) in 1998 and is currently involved in writing a book project on the history of moral reflections in economics.