Join Us! Four Invitations from The Convocation Unscripted Team
We hope you'll jon us for some additional events in the coming months.
Dear Convocation readers,
We’re sending this special issue of the newsletter to invite you to join each of us in an upcoming event. Two of these, from Robby and Jemar, are this week. Kristin has one in May and Diana in June.
And if you missed our latest episode of The Convocation Unscripted, we’ve included it at the bottom of the email. The topic: As Trump Wrecks the Economy and the Government Bans Books, the Importance of Standing Up. Check it out.
We hope you’ll join us!
Robby, Jemar, Kristin, and Diana
From Robby: Join a Webinar to Support Recently Banned Religion Scholars on April 15th
As wrote last week, I was shocked to learn that my book, White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, along with six other prominent books in religious studies, were among the 381 books that were banned and removed from the shelves at the US Naval Academy. But I am proud to report that the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion, is placing itself among the courageous institutions taking a stand against these attacks on academic freedom and our civil liberties.
YOU’RE INVITED! The AAR is hosting a FREE webinar on April 15th at noon ET with prominent religion scholars impacted by the book ban.
PARTICIPANTS:
- , Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought, and chair of the department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America.
Michael Eric Dyson, University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies, Vanderbilt University; author of Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.
- , President and founder, Public Religion Research Institute; author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.
Bryan Massingale, Professor and James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics, Fordham University; author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church.
Jim Wallis, Chair in Faith and Justice and the founding Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice; author of America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America.
I hope you’ll join us on the webinar! Attendance is limited, so register early!
From Jemar: Join the Roadmap to Ruin Video Study! (Next meeting April 15th)
What’s happening to our country? Why aren’t the people in office doing more to stop this?
What can I do?
That’s exactly why I created Roadmap to Ruin: How the Church Can Resist the Dismantling of Democracy.
I invite you to take the next step by joining us for the live, online video study.
Here’s how it works:
We meet Tuesdays at 7 pm ET on Zoom, and our next meeting is 4/15.
Watch each session’s video BEFORE we meet so we can spend our time together in conversation and reflection. Here’s the first episode.
I’ll go deeper than the videos and share some behind-the-scenes insights and critical points.
You’ll get to interact with others who care about this work, building solidarity and community. More details HERE.
Registration is FREE. Be sure to invite someone to tune in with you!
From Kristin: Invitation to “Free to be Faithful” Event May 3rd
Things are looking dark right now… We’re seeing the hourly erosion of our cherished Constitutional rights. The daily onslaught feels overwhelming. In religious spaces, those who refuse to bend the knee can feel marginalized and silenced. Those who have left churches can feel alienated and isolated. Nevertheless, in the midst of a growing sense of foreboding, many are responding not with fear but with resolution. We can sense it’s time to do something.
But with powerful institutions bending the knee, with too many churches and religious organizations choosing safety and complicity over courage and prophetic witness, where do we turn?
What if we just decided to do something ourselves?
Let’s drop the defensive posture and cast a new vision. Let’s imagine what a new community, new networks, a new boldness might look like. Let’s cross denominational boundaries and national borders and invite those inside and outside faith traditions to participate. Let’s not just stand against the powers of Christian nationalism and oligarchy and the erosion of democracy and denigration of justice, empathy, and care. Let’s stand for truth and beauty and goodness. Let’s root ourselves in the strongest intellectual and spiritual traditions, let’s embrace humility and hold together across difference. Let’s create spaces for creative learning, and for genuine community.
If this sounds interesting to you, consider joining us on our livestream on May 3, 7pm ET. We’re holding an in-person gathering here in Grand Rapids (which quickly filled to capacity), and we’re already well over 3000 participants online largely through word-of-mouth. (If you tried to register over the weekend and couldn’t get in, have no fear—we raised the cap and now there should be plenty of room for everyone!)
Those of us hosting the conversation are rooted in the Reformed tradition (not the theobro version, but the justice-seeking, shalom-oriented one), but this event is for everyone—for Reformed and formerly Reformed, for evangelicals, exvangelicals, religious seekers, Canadians, Americans, none-of-the-above, and anyone else curious about what we might be able to do together.
There is strength in community, and courageous is contagious. Click below for details and registration:
From Diana: Would you like to join me in Chartres June 2-9?
Well, it isn’t online, but you can travel with me to Chartres this summer for RETRACING OUR PATH: THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OF REFLECTING ON HISTORY to strengthen your spirit and get some perspective from the other side of the ocean.
We met up in Chartres from June 2 - 6 at the Hotellerie St. Yves, a former medieval priory only steps from the Cathedral.
This pilgrimage is offered by Veriditas and is hosted by the Rev. Lauren Artress. There’s room for about 5 more attendees!
CLICK HERE for more information and registration. Or listen to the podcast below.
Criticism for the book bans included in "Trump's Tyranny Tracker," https://trumptyrannytracker.substack.com/i/161269170/military-academies-criticized-for-removing-dei-related-books-from-libraries