Sorensen Lecture - In Praise of Shadows, Elizabeth Bruenig

Elizabeth Bruenig, a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine who works at the intersection of politics, religion, and culture, gave Yale Divinity School’s Sorensen Lecture on “In Praise of Shadows.”
The context for Bruenig’s Sorensen Lecture is the unprecedented abundance and accessibility of information today. One of the paramount political challenges of our era, she observes, is determining how best to respond to the falsehoods and misrepresentations that readily circulate in channels for information-sharing. “Despite our many public conversations about the moral ramifications of true-versus-false information,” she says, “we seem to take for granted that if information is true, then, all else being equal, it’s perfectly good to learn it. But on that point, I’m torn: As a journalist, I certainly like the sound of it; as an observer of our society, I have my doubts. In this talk, I will sketch a tentative case for declining particular knowledge, for leaving some things shrouded in shadow-not for immediate and strictly contemporary political reasons, but in hopes for a much broader socio-political renewal.”
The Margaret Lindquist Sorensen Lectureship was established in 1978 by a gift from her son, Dr. Andrew A. Sorensen ’62 B.D., to provide an annual lecture on politics and ethics.
November 10, 2021