Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Public Theology Lecture

Sponsored by the Office of the President and in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience, the Public Theology Lecture series at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary engages the intersections of theological discourse and community action and challenges persons to perform service in the public arena for the well being of all persons and creation. The 2015-2016 series focuses on racial equity and diversity inclusion and provides education and support for persons committed to promoting understanding, dialogue, and justice in their communities.

On Tuesday, November 3rd at 11:00 a.m., Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey will be at The Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful located in the main builiding of Garrett-Evangelical to give her lecture, titled “Freedom in Blackness: Exploring Theology and Self-Identity in the Midst of Activism.”

Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey currently serves as the Associate Dean for Community Life and Lifelong Learning and Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology and Practice at Boston University School of Theology. A PhD alumna of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, she is a scholar, social justice activist, and military veteran whose academic and research interests include: classical and contemporary just war theory, Womanist theology, Queer theory and theology, and African American religious history and theologies. An ordained elder in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, Pamela pastored an urban church on the south side of Chicago, has done work for several UM general agencies and has strong connections within several mainline denominations. She has been a member of the Pan Methodist Commission for the last two quadrennials.

She currently co-chairs the American Academy of Religion’s Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Group. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the Soul Repair Project, which studies the role of moral injury in veterans. The project is funded by several sources including a Lilly Endowment grant and is directed by feminist scholar, Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock.

Pamela’s publications include “Reconciliation,” in Radical Evangelical (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) and “If There Should Come a Word” in Black United Methodists Preach! (Abingdon Press). Her latest book, Our Whole Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology (Wipf and Stock) was released on September 18, 2015.

For more information on this event, videos of past lecture series, and dates of future lecturers,

follow the link: www.garrett.edu/publictheology