Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

Alfred the Great in his life and writings shows the confluence of the great traditions of western civilization.  Firmly grounded in the Judaic traditions of the Old Testament through the work of David as a singer of psalms and Solomon as a teacher of wisdom, he tempers the legal teachings of Moses with the golden rule of the New Testament.  The rule of law has a firm Christian foundation.  The golden age of Christian culture in Britain and Ireland in the 6th and 7th Centuries inspired him to reach out to foreign teachers from the Franks, Saxons, and Welsh Celtic sources.  The influence of Rome can be seen in his travels to the city and in his translations of Gregory the Great and the influence that he had on the mission of St. Augustine to Canterbury.  Alfred appropriated the Anglo-Saxon poetry of Caedmon and Beowulf by joining Christianity and the heroic ethics in his defense of what became England from the Vikings.  In his person and in his rule, Alfred exemplified revelation, reason, rule of law, liberty and personal responsibility.

In the first of the Portrait of Liberty Lecture Series, Professor Campbell will examine the way in which the legacy of Alfred the Great ties together the five crucial cities of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and even Philadelphia.  The Portrait of Liberty Series aims to deepen the understanding of the roots of Anglo-American political and economic relationships, from the legacy of Alfred the Great to Magna Carta.  The lectures will use art slides and music to integrate these themes.

Dr. William F. Campbell taught economics for 32 years at Louisiana State University.  He became a Professor Emeritus of Economics in 1998.  He has served as the Secretary of The Philadelphia Society since 1995.  President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the National Graduate Fellowship Board from 1985-1990.  In 1988 Professor Campbell was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation.  In that same year, he joined the Board of Trustees of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.  From 1991-1995 Professor Campbell served as President of the Association of Christian Economists.  He is also a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.   Professor Campbell has published numerous scholarly articles in publications ranging from the American Economic Review, History of Political Economy, to Modern Age and The Intercollegiate Review.  He has contributed scholarly introductions to two books by Wilhelm Roepke, The Social Crisis of Our Time and The Moral Foundations of Civil Society, both published by Transactions Press.