The Keller Keynote in Theology and Oratory

Our Founder

The Rev. Dr. Christoph Keller, III founded SUMMA and directed its first camp beginning in 2012. He served as the principal lecturer in both theology and debate for camp until his retirement at Camp 2023. Rev. Dr. Keller is an Episcopal priest and theologian, most recently serving as Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock. He graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College and earned his master's of divinity from Episcopal Divinity School. He holds a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) in Anglican Studies (2009) from General Theological Seminary. His field was systemic theology, with a focus on theology and science. His dissertation, "Darwin's Science in Chalcedonian Imagination," explores, affirms, and explains the deep compatibility between Christian faith and evolution. He is an Episcopal Church Foundation Fellow and an honorary Canon of the Diocese of Arkansas. Read more about Rev. Dr. Keller's extraordinary life and career here.

The Keller Keynote

At the 2023 SUMMA Camp, Program Director Melody Lehn and Associate Director Warren Swenson read a Resolution honoring SUMMA founder, the Rev. Dr. Christoph Keller, III. The Resolution announced that in honor of Rev. Dr. Keller's devotion to forming young people in the exploration of life's biggest questions, in recognition for his founding of the Program, and in honor of his love for our Lord Jesus Christ, SUMMA's annual Keynote Lecture will from this point forward be named the "Keller Keynote in Theology and Oratory." Accordingly, the Keller Lecturers will be invited each year to amplify the virtue of faith seeking understanding. The Keller Keynote is open to all SUMMA program participants, alumni, members of the Sewanee community, and other guests. Upcoming and past Keynote lecturers include:

  • 2025: Dr. Susan Emel, Professor of Communication Studies, Ernestine Susannah Buckley Chair at Baker University.
  • 2024: Dr. Andrew Thompson, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics and Director of the Center for Religion and Environment, the School of Theology at The University of the South.
  • 2023: Dr. Robert MacSwain, Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics, the School of Theology at The University of the South.
  • 2022: Dr. Terry Papillon, Professor of Classics and Rhetoric at The University of the South.

A full copy of the Resolution can be found here.

"I loved being able to talk with my fellow young people of faith. having discussions helped me realize that i am not alone and god is accepting of all of us no matter how different we are."
–Sarah from sewanee, Tennessee

 

2026 Keller Keynote Speaker: Dr. Paul Stob

“What America’s Most Eloquent Agnostic Can Teach Us About Faith: Lessons from the Oratory of Robert Ingersoll"

We are thrilled to announce that the 2026 SUMMA Debate Camp Keller Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Paul Stob. Dr. Stob is Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Program in Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership at Vanderbilt University. His research and teaching focus on the intersection of rhetoric and intellectual culture, with particular emphasis on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era in the United States. He is the author of William James & the Art of Popular Statement (Michigan State University Press, 2013) and Intellectual Populism: Democracy, Inquiry, and the People (Michigan State University Press, 2020). He is co-editor (with Angela Ray) of Thinking Together: Lecturing, Learning, and Difference in the Long Nineteenth Century (Penn State University Press, 2018). Dr. Stob's current book manuscript, which will be published in 2025 by Counterpoint Press, is titled Empire of Skulls: A Story of Phrenology, the Fowlers, and the Secrets of the Human Mind. The book explores the rise of practical phrenology in the United States via the work of one family, the Fowlers, who not only built a cultural empire around the science but made it central to various reform movements.