Summer Internship in Lived Theology Celebrates 10 Years!

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Summer 2019 interns begin work in Charlottesville and New York City

The tenth year of the Summer Internship in Lived Theology has begun. This internship sends UVA students into immersive service experiences with the unique opportunity to think and write theologically. Kate Parker (Col ‘20) will be working in Charlottesville at The Haven, a multi-resource day shelter where she will volunteer with daily operations and create a series of free, movement-based, community workshops. Nan Marsh (Col ’21) will be coordinating programming in New York City at Arts and Minds, a nonprofit which provides museum experiences for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. Zoe Larmey (Col ‘21) will also be in New York City where she will be working at City Seminary, a seminary that seeks to develop leaders in ministry through experiential learning and applied theology. There Zoe will work with the gallery team to produce, install, and design programs around an exhibition titled “Planting for Peace.”

Kate, Nan, and Zoe mark the tenth consecutive class of the Summer Internship in Lived Theology. During the previous nine summers, students have worked domestically in Washington, DC; Richmond, Virginia; Durham, North Carolina; Oakland, San Francisco, and Charlottesville; and internationally in the countries of England, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Nicaragua, and Kenya. We have coordinated with dozens of community organizations and involved more than a half dozen UVA faculty in mentorship roles. Internship alumni have gone on to graduate studies, seminary, Teach for America, and to professions in areas of ministry, nonprofit work, nursing, community organizing, global health, finance, media, and social justice.

For updates about the PLT Summer Internship, click here. We also post updates online using #PLTinterns. To get these updates please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

 

Disrupt the Narrative

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Centering African American Perspectives on Religious Freedom

On Friday, June 7, the Religious Freedom Center presents a public conversation exploring the ethics and complex politics of race and religious freedom by centering the issues, narratives, and experiences of African Americans in the United States. Disrupt the Narrative: Centering African American Perspectives on Religious Freedom is part of the Religious Freedom Center’s continuing exploration of the intersection of race and religion in the United States.

During this program, participants will hear from scholars, practitioners and community leaders who are making invaluable contributions to this critical discussion. This program is also designed to encourage participants to think through practical ways to take action around religious freedom issues in their community. Participants will engage in small group discussions, a community talkback session and explore opportunities to think through next steps together.

Speakers include Teresa Smallwood, J.D., Ph.D., director of the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative at Vanderbilt University; Iva Carruthers, Ph.D., general secretary for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Mandisa Thomas, president of Black Nonbelievers; Rahmah Abdulaleem, executive director of KARAMAH: Women Muslim Lawyers for Human Rights and more. The keynote speaker is Dr. Tisa Joy Wenger, author of “Religious Freedom: The Contested History of an American Ideal.”

Friday, June 7, 2019
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Knight Conference Center at the Newseum
555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.   Washington, D.C. 20001

Registration is required and open now through May 31, 2019 for the June 7 symposium. This program is free and open to the public. Seats are limited.

This program is possible due to the generous support of The Henry Luce Foundation.

David Dark Publishes Timely Book

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The Possibility of America: How the Gospel Can Mend our God-Blessed, God-Forsaken Land

David Dark’s book expands on the analysis of his 2005 book The Gospel according to America. With a brilliant mix of theological, cultural, and political analysis, he assesses the current American landscape. He highlights the problems of the Trump era and the expanding political divide that has gripped American churches. Through the use of creative resources, Dark’s book is a light that shines through the darkness of our times.

David Dark is also an author on our newest book, Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith and Justice. In the book, he writes on the life and theology of Daniel Berrigan. His chapter is titled: “I See What I See: Daniel Berrigan’s Witness to Christ, Gospel, and Sanity Itself.” He is also featured in our podcast, which is an audio companion to the book.

Praise for The Possibility of America:

“If I prayed, I would pray for all the David Darks—all the smart, funny, thoughtful, quirky, tough-minded, well-read, culturally-engaged Christians in America—to arise and speak up. Because I know that the crabbed, mean, unthinking forms of political Christianity that I see portrayed in the media are not the whole story.”
—Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland

“A teacher in prisons, a believer in music, an entangler of religion and politics, a student of mundane poetry, a proponent of a new seriousness, a garroter of despair, a champion of the Beloved Community—In The Possibility of America, David Dark samples Thomas Pynchon, R.E.M., radical Baptist preacher Will Campbell, and many others, to speak truth and hope to our contemporary barnyard.”
—John T. Edge, author of The Potlikker Papers

“This revised edition of The Gospel according to America makes this prescient tome that much more salient. Dark regards America—real and imagined, secular and abidingly faithful, horrible and glorious—with a holistic gaze that holds these truths and contradictions together and examines the culture that comes from it in order to better understand just how we got here.”
—Jessica Hopper, author of Night Moves and The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic 

“The Possibility of America is sharp and merciful in that it doesn’t shy away from the type of rigorous honesty and nuanced care that I have come to love and learn from every time David Dark shares his work. It is an honor to watch his conflicts and curiosities bear themselves out on the page.”
—Hanif Aburraquib, author of Go Ahead in the Rain and They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us

“This is a book built on the understanding that there is a civic imagination that imagines us into a better way of being human together. Taking Twitter, literature, poetry, music lyrics, film, television, cartoons and conversations as sacred texts, David Dark looks at the things that are held up by language: power, fear, and hatred. Dark’s work holds the hope that love is a muscle we can exercise in public—and he holds us to account for how we practice.”
—Pádraig Ó Tuama, poet and theologian

For more information on the book, click here.

David Dark is the critically acclaimed author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, Everyday Apocalypse, and The Gospel According to America. He teaches at the Tennessee Prison for Women and Belmont University. He has had articles published in Pitchfork, Killing the Buddha, Books and Culture, and Christian Century, among others. A frequent speaker, Dark has also appeared on C-SPAN’s Book-TV and in the award-winning documentaries, Marketing the Message and American Jesus. He lives with his singer-songwriter wife, Sarah Masen, and their three children in Nashville. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidDark.

Fellow travelers are scholars, activists, and practitioners that embody the ideals and commitments of the Project on Lived Theology. We admire their work and are grateful to be walking alongside them in the development and dissemination of Lived Theology.

For more news from PLT fellow travelers, click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #PLTfellowTravelers. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Can I Get a Witness? The Podcast

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Can I Get a Witness? The PodcastThis podcast is an audio companion to the book, Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice. In each episode of this podcast, host Shea Tuttle talks with one of our authors about the person they profiled for the book and about their writing process. These twelve podcasts are a great companion to the book, illuminating new insights and untold stories. Journey with the authors as they explain their personal connection with these witnesses and how these stories transformed their lives.

We Who Believe in Freedom: Ella Baker’s Creed

Nichole M. Flores shares her research and reflections on Ella Baker, a civil rights activist and organizer whose work in the civil rights movement focused on empowering the poor and the young.

The podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Media Spotlight: Can I Get a Witness?

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Can I Get a Witness? The PodcastCan I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice is our newest publication. There are many ways you can access the prophetic witness of this book. Discover the compelling stories of thirteen pioneers for social justice who engaged in peaceful protest and gave voice to the marginalized, working courageously out of their religious convictions to transform American culture.

On Friday, March 22, Charles Marsh presented a lecture and discussion on the book as part of the Rebels With a Cause symposium at the Virginia Festival of the Book. Along with Hal Crowther, author of Freedom Fighters and Hell Raisers: A Gallery of Memorable Southerners, they discussed their collections of biographical essays on unexpected and underappreciated leaders in struggles for justice and equality.

BookTV will present coverage of the Rebels With a Cause symposium:

  • Mar 30, 2019 | 1:00pm EDT | C-SPAN 2
  • Mar 31, 2019 | 2:00am EDT | C-SPAN 2

Book Reviews

Lenten Journey

Join us on a journey through Lent with Howard Thurman, Dorothy Day, Mahalia Jackson, Cesar Chavez, and more witnesses to faith and justice. We are reading our new book throughout the Lenten season, and we’d love for you to join the conversation. For each chapter, we’ll post reading guides here on this page as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Those guides will include scripture passages, questions for reflection, and suggestions for other resources, including our companion podcast (links to come). You can also join our Facebook group to participate directly in the conversation.

Podcast

Can I Get a Witness? The Podcast is an audio companion to the book. In each episode of this podcast, we talk with one of our authors about the person they profiled for the book and about their writing process. The podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Can I Get a Witness? Charles Marsh to speak at the Virginia Festival of the Book

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VA Fest of Book 2019

On Friday, March 22, Charles Marsh will present a lecture on Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice as the part of the Rebels With a Cause symposium. Along with Hal Crowther, author of Freedom Fighters and Hell Raisers: A Gallery of Memorable Southerners, they will discuss discuss their collections of biographical essays on unexpected and underappreciated leaders in struggles for justice and equality. Book sales and signing will follow.

The presentation will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

To go to the Virginia Festival of the Book’s website, click here.

Call for Applications: Summer Internship in Lived Theology 2019

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Summer Internship 2019Now Accepting Applications for Summer 2019

The Project on Lived Theology is now accepting applications for the 2019 Summer Internship in Lived Theology, an immersion program designed to complement the numerous existing urban and rural service immersion programs flourishing nationally and globally by offering a unique opportunity to think and write theologically about service. To download an application, click here.

The internship is open to U.Va. undergraduate students in any field of study. Selected participants spend the summer interning with the partnering institution of their choice. Each intern works directly with a U.Va. faculty member who acts as a theological mentor, offering guidance in reading, discussing, and writing about selected texts. Each intern also has a site mentor who shapes his/her work experience and may act as a conversation partner in the intern’s academic and theological exploration. Throughout the summer, interns blog for the Project on Lived Theology website; at the end of the internship, interns complete a final project and present their work at a public event.

The deadline for application submission is February 11, 2019.

For more information on the internship and to read blog posts and biographies from past interns, click here.

For online updates about the PLT Summer Internship, please use #PLTinterns, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LivedTheology.

Something Is Happening in Memphis: Greg Thompson Delivers Guest Lecture

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On Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Campaign

On Tuesday, October 30, Greg Thompson delivered a guest lecture entitled “Something Is Happening in Memphis: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Campaign.”

Detailing the vision of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Thompson reflects on King’s work in Memphis with the Sanitation Workers’ Strike. King believed the rich, poor, white, black, gentile, Protestant, and Catholic needed to be united in collaboration. When all people are unified, beloved community will truly exist. King anchored his movement in love and he was inspired by the movement in Memphis. Thompson traces the history of civil rights in Memphis to the city’s continuing evolution today. This includes the restoration of Clayborn Temple and the surrounding community.

Excerpt: “It was love that propelled him forward, and love that held him back from places that other people would go. And lots of people thought King’s insistence on love was naive. And it’s hard to blame them. Faced with hate, love can seem impossible. Faced with violence, love can seem irresponsible and immoral. And so, lots of people tried to root the Civil Rights Movement in an ethic not of Christian love, but of a generalized democratic vision of equity. In his commitment to nonviolence, King believed that nonviolent direct action was the highest expression of civic love.”

Listen to the entire lecture through its resource page here.

Greg Thompson serves as Director for Research and Creative Strategy for Clayborn Temple, a historic civil rights site in Memphis, Tennessee. In this capacity he is responsible for the creative storytelling at the heart of Clayborn’s programming and the creative strategy at the heart of Clayborn’s art-based community redevelopment. He is also the co-writer of a new musical production called “Union: A Musical” that tells the story of the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s strike of 1968, Martin Luther King Junior’s last campaign. He holds an MA and PhD from the University of Virginia.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

A Catholic Looking In: Reporting from CCDA’s 30th Annual Conference

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On November 1-2, 2018, PLT graduate research student Tim Shriver attended his first CCDA National Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The conference encourages participants to “gain a fresh perspective on how to encourage wholistic restoration in our communities.” The 2018 conference theme was ROOTED. The conference is a place for Christians to meet to discuss their faith and commitment to community. The CCDA movement started in Chicago 30 years ago, and is rooted in establishing relationship and reconciliation.

Shriver writes a reflection paper on his experience at the CCDA conference. Shriver has worked extensively in the Catholic social justice movement, but he was unfamiliar with the evangelical community. His paper details the kinship he found, as well as the unfamiliarity of the whole ecosystem. Read his paper here.

Excerpt: “The importance of deep rootedness—in place, scripture, memory, community and God—echoed through our two days together. The theme played most powerfully for me in the back-to-back talks of Dr. Ray Bakke and Pastor Enid Almanzar. Dr. Bakke called on the crowd to remember the various taproots of faith from Luther, John Edwards, and John Wesley but also from the Catholic, Orthodox and various Coptic Christian churches of early Christianity. These interwoven tap roots, often forgotten, shape the church today.”

Fellow travelers are scholars, activists, and practitioners that embody the ideals and commitments of the Project on Lived Theology. We admire their work and are grateful to be walking alongside them in the development and dissemination of Lived Theology.

For more news from PLT fellow travelers, click here. To engage in the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, @LivedTheology, please use #PLTfellowTravelers. For more recommended resources from our fellow travelers, click here, #PLTfellowtravelers. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Charles Marsh Delivers DuBose Lectures at Sewanee University

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Can I Get a Witness? Explorations in an Amen

On September 26 and 27 Charles Marsh delivered three lectures at the School of Theology at Sewanee University as the 2018 DuBose Lecturer. Marsh built upon the theme of witness by presenting three different lectures.

The first lecture “Aristocrats of Responsiblity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Quest for a New Nobility” details the theology and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Marsh collects Bonhoeffer’s theological journey from gatherings in the dissident Church in Germany, his spiritual awakening during his trip through the Jim Crow south, and his late writings from Gestapo prison. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer came to a heightened and expansive sense of God’s presence and of what he called the ‘polyphony,’ the great richness and depth and textures of Christian faith.” Watch the first lecture here.

The second lecture”‘Better than Church’: The Civil Rights Movement and Religionless Christianity” explores the theology of the Civil Rights Movement, drawing on stories of Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King, SNCC, and other pivotal figures. Marsh highlighted Hamer’s role in the movement: “She gave voice to an exuberant love of Jesus of Nazareth, an immersive intensive incarnational spirituality. I would say evangelical in the most important and robust sense of the word. A parable of God’s resounding yes and Amen spoken in Jesus and to be shared with everyone. And a love of the whole miraculous story, of the death and burial and resurrection of Christ. And her love, because of that particular conviction, was a great big open love, open to anyone who cared for the weak and the poor.” Watch the second lecture here.

The third lecture “Visions of Amen: On the Judgment of God and the Splendor of the World” draws on Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and delves into the complicity of the white churches’ response to the Civil Rights Movement. “Wandering in wastelands of our own design, we wonder, has not the judging, righteous God traveled to save us as well? Isn’t this the message of the gospel? There is a place beyond judgment and wrath? This place of course, cannot be reached without repentance, metanoia, beyond judgment and wrath is the forgiveness of sin. Attention to the sacrifices of Jesus and the excellences of Christ. Attention to the christological incognito, to the distressed and excluded. And the hope for the return of splendor in the world.” Watch the third lecture here.

Find more information on Marsh’s DuBose Lectures on Sewanee University’s website here. For a full listing of our spring speaking engagements with Charles Marsh and others, visit our events calendar here.

Charles Marsh is the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and the director of the Project on Lived Theology. His research interests include modern Christian thought, religion and civil rights, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and lived theology. His publications include Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2014) and God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (1997), which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.