The Reverend Barbara Rossing is professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and has written from a theological perspective on such topics as apocalypse, church and society, ecology, homosexuality, peace and justice, the book of Revelation and the Middle East.

Her book The Rapture Exposed: the Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation is a trenchant critique of fundamentalist “Left Behind” theology.

She will present Apocalypse Now: Revelation So No One Is “Left Behind” on Thursday, October 18, as the keynote speaker for the annual Niebuhr Lecture at Elmhurst College.

Rossing has taught at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago since 1994. She was ordained in 1982, then served as pastor and chaplain at Harvard University Divinity School. Rossing has lectured and preached widely, has served on the executive committee of the Lutheran World Federation (2003-2010) and chaired the Lutheran World Federation’s theology and studies committee.

Her other publications include The Choice Between Two Cities: Whore, Bride and Empire in the Apocalypse (1999); two volumes of the New Proclamation commentary for preachers (2000 and 2004); and articles and book chapters on the Apocalypse and ecology.

Apocalypse Now: Revelation So No One Is “Left Behind” will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 18, in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center. Admission is $10 for the general public and free for Elmhurst College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets are available at the door or online. For more information, call (630) 617-3390.

Established more than 50 years ago, the Niebuhr Lecture is held in honor of two of Elmhurst College’s most esteemed alumni, theologians Reinhold Niebuhr, Class of 1910, and his brother, H. Richard Niebuhr, who graduated from Elmhurst in 1912 and served as the College’s sixth president (1924-1927). The Niebuhrs are widely acknowledged to be among the foremost American theologians of the 20th century.