Dr. Monika Ardelt
Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida
The Fondren Lecture in Christian Mission & Community Engagement
November 10, 2025
How Is Wisdom Related to Religiosity and Spirituality, and How Do They Affect Individual Well-Being?
After attending this presentation, participants will be able to understand how wisdom, religiosity, and spirituality are defined and measured and how wisdom is related to religiosity and spirituality. Participants will also be able to describe how wisdom, religiosity, and spirituality affect psychological and subjective well-being and attitudes toward death. Moreover, participants will learn how relatively low and high wisdom and religious spirituality manifest in four older individuals’ lives.
Dr. M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas)
Scripture Press Ministries Professor of Biblical Studies & Pedagogy at Wheaton College
The Barton Lecture in Hispanic Theology
November 10, 2025
Light unto My Path? Discerning Prophetic Words for the Latino/a Church Today
We find ourselves once again in complicated times. Can the Old Testament offer a relevant word from God today for the Latino/a church and from the Latino/a church to the broader society? How and where might this be found? This lecture seeks to identify and explore passages that might shed light on possible ways forward en esta coyuntura desafiante.
Rev. Dr. Almeda M. Wright
Associate Professor of Religious Education at Yale Divinity School
The Tate-Wilson Lecture in Faith and Public Life
November 10, 2025
Improvising a Better World: Black Religion, Activist Education and Radical Social Change
This lecture explores the improvisational pedagogy and leadership of 20th-century educators as a means of exploring the interconnections of faith, education, and social change. We will explore underacknowledged exemplars of faith and social change: community leaders and teachers. For example, the lecture makes connections between the type of leadership development that was essential to the Citizenship Education program of the Civil Rights movement, alongside earlier movements that empowered youth and young adults to faithfully respond to the calls to work for change. Figures like Anna Julia Cooper and Septima Clark initially seem to be an unlikely inspiration for ministry leaders; however, like many other 20th-century African American women teachers, they embodied an unwavering faith in God, in their cause, and in themselves that pushed them to continue working for justice despite efforts to thwart them.
Dr. Lisa L. Thompson
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Black Homiletics and Liturgics at Vanderbilt University
The Peyton Lecture in Preaching
November 11, 2025
Untitled. (Saving Ourselves): Revisiting Our Assumptions of Proclamation in the Present Times. 
Proclamation transgresses our understandings of time, while opening generative pathways for life here and now. Belief enacted in the ordinaries of life provides more openings for proclamation made flesh in daily life. Communities of faith who understand proclamation as a time-transgressing occurrence also hold space for time-bound and time-transgressing acts of faith. Instead of waiting for an outwardly salvific intervention, these communities prioritize "saving ourselves" as a sacred act of risk.
Dr. Ashley Boggan D.
General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives & History of the UMC
The United Methodist Studies Lecture in Wesleyan History and Contemporary Engagement
November 11, 2025
Reclaiming Wesley: Reclaiming the Heart of Methodist Identity and the "Method" of Methodism
Dr. Boggan will call us back to the roots of our identity. Part of the talk will center on the moment John Wesley “submitted to be more vile" in spreading the love of God to all people, and she will argue that "Wesleyan vile-tality" is at the core of who we are as Methodists. In the second part, she will propose the "Method" of Methodism as a new Wesleyan Practical Quadrilateral, complete with resources to implement the method in your ministry contexts. In an accessible and engaging account of a fascinating history, these stories of our past call us to understand who we were, question who we are, and reclaim who we should be.
èßäÊÓÆµapp's singular approach to integrating rigorous learning with hands-on experience will prepare you to achieve your educational goals and expand your world in ways you never imagined. Ours is a community of people forging their own paths. We'd like to help you shape yours.
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