We are beyond thrilled to announce two new teaching fellows will be joining the Faith and Justice Network! For many years, Kristin Kobes Du Mez and Lisa Sharon Harper have been wonderful friends and encouragers of our work. It is an honor now to have these amazing leaders join our team at this critical juncture. Their official start is in the fall, but you will feel their impact well before then.
Kristin is a keynote speaker at our conference this month (happening tomorrow!). And we will be reading her widely acclaimed book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, again next year. A New York Times bestseller, one of the book’s great virtues is its ability to illuminate so many toxic elements brushed under the rug in evangelical faith, the full scope of which often gets lost. This truth-telling book has become a crucial resource for many people on their journey to freedom and healing.
Lisa will be our special guest speaker at the fireside chat for February, when our monthly focus is on “Race and Justice.” She will also be co-teaching our summer class on Christianity and race with Helen Jin Kim and me (more details soon). Her new book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World––and How to Repair It All, coming out next month is groundbreaking not only for the ways it reconstitutes hope but also for how it charts new healing paths forward.
If you’ve been around the network a while (or even if you haven’t), you likely know both of them to be gifted teachers. They know how to have challenging conversations in the most gracious ways. And their words and ideas linger long after you’ve heard them. These leaders will greatly enrich our work towards a more just Christian faith!
I can’t imagine a better way to begin a new chapter in the life of our community. And I’m delighted to give Kristin the last word, sharing why she’s excited to join the Faith and Justice Network:
“At a time of such disruption, and when so many of us feel isolated or alienated in so many different ways, I’m looking forward to a time to connect with grace-filled, thinking Christians, to forge new connections and new communities, to ask difficult questions, to look for new ways forward, and to learn from each other.”
––Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Learn More:
- Kristin Kobes Du Mez: Washington Post Article, Book: Jesus and John Wayne
- Lisa Sharon Harper: New Yorker Article, Book: Fortune