HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2012 Program - Alumni Association ...

Gregory E. Sterling
Dean, Graduate School; Professor, Theology
Biography
Gregory Sterling was appointed dean of the Graduate School in June 2008. A professor of
theology, specifically New Testament and Christian origins, Sterling joined the University
of Notre Dame faculty in 1989. He earned his doctorate in New Testament studies from the
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.; two master’s degrees in classics and religion
from the University of California, Davis and Pepperdine University, respectively; and a
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bachelor’s degree in Christianity and history from Houston Baptist University.
At Notre Dame, Sterling has served in several important administrative roles. He was the Church, Education, Notre
director of graduate studies in the Department of Theology for four years. Then, immediately Dame
preceding his appointment as dean of the Graduate School, he was associate dean, then senior
associate dean, and beginning in 2006, executive associate dean in the College of Arts and Letters.
Lectures
Has the United States Lost its Edge in Innovation?
The United States has moved from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. We need to prepare
individuals to produce ideas more than things. Graduate education has become more and more important in this world. Other
countries and regions are making substantial progress. The European Union has produced more Ph.D.s in engineering and science
than the U.S. since 2000. China has increased the number of Ph.D.s it produces in engineering and science from 5,000 in 1997 to
13,000 in 2004. The challenges to the U.S. and its role as an international leader of innovation are real. This lecture addresses the
role of the Graduate School in advancing Notre Dame and in helping to prepare students to address the issues in the 21st century.
Hero or Anti-Hero: the Judas of History
The recently discovered Gospel of Judas has forced a number of people to rethink the place of Judas in early Christianity. Which
group of Christians considered Judas a hero rather than an anti-hero? On what basis did they form this judgment? Does this tell
us anything about the Judas of history, or only about a second century group of Christians? Sterling explores the Gospel of Judas
and other traditions about Judas in early Christianity in an effort to understand the betrayer’s relationship to the Jesus of history.
The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2012 Program 105