Rev. Dr. Lora Walsh will present a lecture entitled "The Promiscuous Church" based on her book Lady Church in the Christian Imagination: From Early Christianity to Early Modernity. The feminine qualities most commonly ascribed to the Church in Christian tradition are maternal care, wifely submission, and virginal purity. However, some Christians more boldly imagined the Church as a sexually promiscuous woman. We'll explore a few examples from premodern writers who compare the Church to a promiscuous woman to show how God's scandalous grace surpasses rigid institutions.