Eric Cohen Delivers Drummond Lecture in Christ Chapel
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Eric Cohen, executive director of the Tikvah Fund, presented the second Drummond Lecture of the 2023-24 academic year in Hillsdale College’s Christ Chapel on Jan. 30. His lecture, titled “The Jewish Spirit of the West,” addresses the crisis that western civilization faces.
“The modern crisis of the west is a metaphysical revolt against reality, a false belief that human beings are mere beasts or self-inventing gods rather than human persons created in the image of God,” explained Cohen.
Marriage, family and sexuality, he says, are at the center of this uprising. “The crisis of the family, as I already alluded to, is indeed very deep,” said Cohen. “The world’s most advanced nations in Europe, Asia, and now the United States have plummeting birth rates, which means entire people’s nations and cultures are failing to perpetuate their way of life into the future.”
The Tikvah Fund, which Cohen directs, is a Jewish educational foundation dedicated to cultivating Jewish citizens and strengthening Western Civilization. “The Jewish people remind us of the deepest truths of human existence that the world was created by a being more powerful than nature, that human beings were created male and female in the image of God, that human life is sacred,” said Cohen.
In addition to his work as director of the Tikvah Fund, Cohen founded and remains editor-at-large of the New Atlantis and has published in numerous journals, magazines, and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Commentary, the New Republic, and First Things. Cohen serves on the board of directors of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Witherspoon Institute, and National Affairs. He also serves on the editorial advisory board of First Things.
The Drummond Lecture Series in Christ Chapel presents faculty, staff, and students with lectures on faith, learning, and related issues of the day. Previous speakers include former vice president of the United States Mike Pence, former secretary of education Betsy DeVos, psychiatrist and founder of OptimalWork Kevin Majeres, C.S. Lewis scholar Michael Ward, and Woodson Center President Robert Woodson.