Jeff Kosky to Headline Final Beyond the Page Event The professor of religion will discuss his book, “From the Heart: A Memoir and a Meditation — On a Vital Organ.”

By Lily Caldwell
March 11, 2026

Jeff Kosky, professor of religion at Washington and Lee University, will discuss his book, “From the Heart: A Memoir and a Meditation — On a Vital Organ,” as part of the final installment of the Beyond the Page: Milestone Works by Faculty series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, in the Lemon Room located in Tucker Hall.

The series, open exclusively to the university community, celebrates significant scholarly and creative achievements by faculty members across disciplines. Kosky will be introduced by Paul Youngman ’87, P’27, dean of the College and the Harry E. and Mary Jayne W. Redenbaugh Professor of German.

Kosky’s lecture will be followed by a reception and book exhibit organized by the W&L University Store, and copies of his book will be available for purchase.

“Beyond the Page is a great series,” said Kosky. “There are many people here at W&L who have written works, made things or created performances that should form the culture of our university. Beyond the Page not only celebrates these but dedicates a time and space to making a place where we gather around them. My hope is that the talks or works presented in the Beyond the Page series will give something to the discussion we share with each other after each event has ended, a discussion whose words exchanged make for the bonds that hold us together in a university, a living community.”

Published by Columbia University Press, Kosky’s book adopts a philosophical and medical perspective to explore what it feels like to have a heart. His reflections are guided by an awareness that the vital organ can — and will — fail. Weaving together research, philosophy, artwork and personal narratives, Kosky shares his own story with heart failure, including his recovery. In it, Kosky reflects on the “big questions” of existence, sharing his hard-earned perspectives on what matters most.

“The book began the month before a hastily scheduled surgery to repair a congenital defect in my aortic valve,” said Kosky. “It would be nice to think that the story ended with the success of the surgery, but the return to daily life wasn’t easy. Cardiac surgery repaired my heart, but I still had to find the heart to get on with living in the world that was still there. The book is my struggle to do that. It grows from my effort to make sense of the experience: heart failure, cardiac surgery and the subsequent return to the chronic condition of living on with my heart. That effort, sense-making, takes shape in reckonings with diverse materials, ranging from science and the history of medicine to philosophy and theology, as well as the arts.”

Kosky has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2003. He previously worked at Redmoon Theater, a visual spectacle production company, in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School.