Community Calendar

Please come hear PhD student Zach Selby present his paper, entitled, “The Violent Herem: Spatial Transformations of Class Status in the Book of Joshua.”

The historiography of conquest is not often thought of as a meditation on class struggle. However, there are significant exceptions to the violence of the Israelite’s conquest of the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan that suggest class antagonisms lurk just below the surface of the texts. Using a model of interpretation developed by Fredric Jameson, we can interrogate these traditions and their spatial concepts as aesthetic objects exploring social contradictions in post-monarchic Israelite Yehud.

Join us on Zoom: https://ctschicago-edu.zoom.us/j/98949536650

With Special Guest Syda Segovia Taylor

Syda Segovia Taylor has 25 years of experience connecting opportunities with Black and Latino youth and families in Chicago. She prides herself of being a social justice advocate by promoting the oneness of humankind, environmental justice and physical/spiritual health. Syda is the new founder and executive director of a nonprofit called Organic Oneness established in 2020. Together with her 9 board members, countless volunteers and multitude of community partners, they promote the interconnectedness of all people and the Earth through community trainings, programs, and events. Organic Oneness is also building structures to help social activist prevent illness, burn-out, and compassion fatigue.

WEDNESDAY REFLECTIONS continue at CTS through the academic year. Invited speakers, community partners, and members of our community will gather with the intention of putting our faiths into action. Engaged discussion will give space for many voices to share. We come together to inspire, encourage, and challenge one another to use our voices, bodies, and spirits to build the world we believe is possible. Join us.

Zoom link: https://qoo.ly/35cj3m

Moral Reckoning: Geographies of Goodness and Evil

Virtually with Elmhurst University

The Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray Jr. is president of Chicago Theological Seminary and of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. Seeking to understand the evil that is racism, Ray became a student of the Holocaust, focusing on the systematic murder of Jews by ordinary individuals in villages across Europe. A comparative analysis of lynchings in the U.S. led to his insight about a “moral geography” creating spaces of atrocity or, alternatively, goodness.

The Holocaust Service of Remembrance and Lecture
Sunday, April 11, 7:00 p.m.
Admission is free

With guest speaker: Reverend Alan B. Conley

Join us as Rev. Conley discusses religious and cultural diversity in Chicago Public Schools and how Covid-19 has affected that.

Reverend Alan B. Conley is a 21st century communicator of the Gospel who happens to know that 90% of ministry is fulfilled outside of the pulpit. Being raised in the Baptist tradition in his youth and the Pentecostal tradition in his teenage years, has enabled Reverend Conley to have a greater respect for all denominational distinctions. He believes that we are all a part of God’s Kingdom regardless of race, denomination, or creed.

Reverend Conley presently serves in the third largest school district in the U.S. as the Director of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives. As the Director of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, Reverend Conley has been influential in cultivating faith-based partnerships across various faith distinctions city-wide. Through these partnerships, the Office of Faith Based Initiatives have supported over 10,000 students. Under Reverend Conley’s leadership, the Office of Faith Based Initiatives continue to help promote the success of parents, schools, and students.

Reverend Conley is also the founder and CEO of Beyond the Brick Ministries who works diligently to inspire people around the world through unconventional acts of kindness and media production. On the eve of Thanksgiving 2020, Beyond the Brick launched the pilot for their inspirational digital series titled, Unconventional.

Reverend Conley believes that, “It takes a healthy village to raise a healthy child,” and ultimately his purpose is to help sustain the relevancy of faith and community with all of the gifts and talents that he has been granted.

WEDNESDAY REFLECTIONS continue at CTS through the academic year. Invited speakers, community partners, and members of our community will gather with the intention of putting our faiths into action. Engaged discussion will give space for many voices to share. We come together to inspire, encourage, and challenge one another to use our voices, bodies, and spirits to build the world we believe is possible. Join us.

Zoom link: https://qoo.ly/35cj3m