FARMINGTON - Through February and early March, the University of Maine at Farmington will host a series of public lectures on religion and politics by historian of religion Kees W. Bolle.

The first lecture, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, will be titled, "Politics and Religion in Ancient India"; the second, "The Lessons from Islam," is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16; and the final lecture, "The Religious Structure of Us, Moderns," will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 2. All three lectures will be held in North Dining Hall of UMF's Olsen Student Center and are free.

Bolle, professor emeritus of history at UCLA, is a senior scholar in the study of religion. During his career, Bolle also taught at Northern Illinois University and at Brown University. In his retirement, he is currently teaching at the University of New England Medical School. He is the author of "The Freedom of Man in Myth," "The Bhagavadgita, a New Translation," "Ben's Story: Holocaust Letters with Selections from the Dutch Underground Press," and "The Enticement of Religion."

The series is sponsored by UMF's offices of the provost and dean of arts and sciences, as well as the Religion and Philosophy Club.