Dr. Hector Avalos is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University, where he was named Professor of the Year in 1996 and a 2003-04 Master Teacher. He also is the founder and Director of the U.S. Latino Studies Program at ISU, and the Executive Director of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, a part of the Council for Secular Humanism based in Amherst, New York.
A former fundamentalist preacher born in Mexico, he has a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona, and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. In 1991, he became the first Mexican American to obtain a Ph.D. in Biblical and Near Eastern Studies from the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where he studied under F.M. Cross, a pioneer in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
He is the author of three books, including Illness and Health Care in the Ancient Near East: The Role of the Temple in Greece, Mesopotamia, and Israel (Harvard Semitic Monographs 54: Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), Health Care and the Rise of Christianity (1999) and one in Spanish titled (in translation): ¿Se puede saber si Dios existe? (2003), a systematic critique of Christian apologetics, and a defense of atheism. He is also the author of numerous scholarly articles on the history of health care, science and religion, and biblical law. Dr. Avalos has spoken in various places around the world, including Israel, Rome, Oslo, Norway, and London.
Sponsored by: ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society, Campus Crusade for Christ, Bridgeway Church, The Salt Company, the Rock, University Impact, Truth bucket, and ISU Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB). For more information, please email the Campus Crusade for Christ WebTeam at webteam@isucru.com