Truman G. Madsen Lecture on Eternal Man

Must we choose between the security of deep roots — a particular faith, culture, or community that knows its own — and the openness of hospitality toward those who differ from us? Anne Snyder, editor-in-chief of Comment magazine, argues this is a false choice. Drawing on some of America's most generative religious and civic traditions, she explores how our most rooted communities can become schools of hospitality — forming people capable of loving what is distinctly their own while still reaching beyond it. Her lecture, which represents the 2026 Truman G. Madsen Lecture on Eternal Man, will be held in the Assembly Hall at the Hinckley Center at Brigham Young University. BYU Professor Truman G. Madsen was a renowned philosopher, teacher, and biographer and is regarded as one of the great thinkers within the Latter-day Saint tradition. One of his goals as a founding senior fellow of Wheatley Institute was to bring academic experts and thought leaders “to the fire” at Brigham Young University. In honor of this goal, the Madsen Lecture brings leading scholars of faith from across the spectrum of religious traditions to BYU and provides them an opportunity to discuss their work on the foundational relationship between faith and reason.