Borgmann, professor of philosophy at the University of Montana since 1973, is the author of numerous works on technology and philosophy including Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry, (1984) and Crossing the Postmodern Divide, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Borgmann’s critique of technology calls for its reform and restraint as the path to recovering “the promise of technology.”

The annual lecture honors the late Rayborn L. Zerby of Lewiston, professor emeritus of religion and dean of the faculty at Bates.

Each year, the program brings to campus leading commentators on contemporary religious thought. Previous Zerby lecturers have included Holocaust chronicler Elie Wiesel and the Rev. Peter Gomes, a Bates alumnus and minister of Memorial Church at Harvard University.