Dr. J. Denny Weaver, a professor emeritus of religion at Bluffton University, will return to campus to deliver the commencement address on Sunday, May 5. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in Salzman Stadium or, in the event of inclement weather, in the Sommer Center for Health and Fitness Education.

In his speech, Weaver is expected to encourage graduates to apply their investment in education to help “bend the arc” that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said is long but bends toward justice.

Weaver joined the Bluffton faculty in 1974 and served for 31 years in the Department of History and Religion, including nine years as department chair. He was also Bluffton’s longtime NCAA faculty athletics representative. Since retiring from the university in May 2006, he has lived in Madison, Wis., where he belongs to Madison Mennonite Church and chairs its Christian Education Committee. He was recently named a member of the Peace and Justice Commission of the Wisconsin Council of Churches.

He also remains editor of the C. Henry Smith book series and active in publishing and speaking. His most recent books include a second, revised and expanded edition of “The Nonviolent Atonement,” and “Defenseless Christianity: Anabaptism for a Nonviolent Church,” which he co-authored with Dr. Gerald Mast, a Bluffton professor of communication. His new book, “The Nonviolent God,” is forthcoming.

Weaver’s many articles and chapters in other books, as well as speaking engagements, address a variety of topics related to atonement theology, the character of God, nonviolence, violence in traditional theology, violence in society and Anabaptist history and theology. He has lectured on atonement theology in the United Kingdom, the Congo and in Germany.