THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A University of Notre Dame professor of Old Testament will speak on the meaning of charity at California Lutheran University on Thursday, Nov. 17.

Gary A. Anderson, Hesburgh Professor of Theology at the Indiana university, will present “I Give Therefore I Am: The Meaning of Charity in Judaism and Christianity” at 7 p.m. in Lundring Events Center.

In his 2009 book, “Sin: A History,” Anderson investigated the way in which ancient metaphors for sin changed over time and how those changes decisively shaped the way Jews and Christians came to view the effect of sins and how they might be forgiven. His current work extends that line of thinking to explore the history of charity in Judaism and Christianity.

Anderson is the author or editor of many books and articles on the Bible and early Judaism and Christianity. His book “Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination” was published in 2001. He is currently working on a book on the Tabernacle narratives in Exodus and their influence on the rest of the Bible.

He has recently received grants from the American Philosophical Society, Lilly Endowment and the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University. He has taught at the University of Virginia and Harvard University and has been a Henry Luce Fellow, Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Starr Fellow in Jewish Studies at Harvard University and the joint Straus-Tikvah Fellow at New York University School of Law. He holds a master’s degree in divinity from Duke University and a doctorate from Harvard.

CLU’s Department of Religion, Campus Ministry and Office of Church Relations are sponsoring the free presentation.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus.

For information, contact Sam Thomas at 805-493-3693 or sthomas@callutheran.edu.