Craig Mattson Brings his ARCU Lecture Home

Dr. Craig Mattson, professor of communication arts, brought his lecture “The Rhetoric of TOMS” home to Trinity as a part of his Association of Reformed Colleges and University (ARCU) lecture tour. TOMS is a company known for its line of footwear, but also for its philosophy of giving. With every product a customer purchases, TOMS helps a person in need through its One for One® program.

Mattson, selected as the ARCU 2014-2015 lecturer, was excited to give his lecture to many of his colleagues and students.

“They’re my best audience and, in a way, my toughest, because they have my deep respect,” Mattson said. “The things I study as a rhetorician arise from conversations with my colleagues and students.

Approaching the halfway mark in his tour, Mattson reflected not only on his time speaking at Trinity but also on his first stops at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, Ontario and Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

“I’m enjoying it immensely,” Mattson said of his ARCU tour. “It’s a little like a pilgrimage and a little like a homegoing. I keep finding things in common between these places and Trinity.”

The tour has allowed Mattson to reflect on the importance of a liberal arts education.

“The more I talk to students and professors in places like Trinity, the more I see that these faith-based colleges are caring for things all too easy to forget: inquiry and curiosity,  text and context, pathos and perspective, meaning and wisdom, grace and truth,” Mattson said.

Mattson will continue his ARCU tour lecturing on the following titles: “Rhetoric and the Ethics of Attention, Attention, Shoppers!”; “Social Enterprise and Christian Faithfulness”, and “What Is Eloquence Good for?”.