an Open Online Lecture Series from Homebrewed Christianity
Bonhoeffer
& the Future of Faith
An Online Pop-Up Learning Community
A 5-Week Series on Bonhoeffer and Faithful Praxis
Launching May, 2023
5 Lectures from leading Bonhoeffer Scholars
Each week you will receive a lecture exploring the ways Bonhoeffer's thought can challenge and address the issues of our present age.
5 Weekly Livestreams
Each week the class will gather live with Dr. Pugh, Dr. Fuller, and one of the featured scholars to unpack the lecture and dig deeper into Bonhoeffer's writings.
Online Learning Community
Everyone will be invited to join the private online group to connect with other nerds and have access to everything in Audio/Video on the class resource page.
Bonhoeffer, his Legacy, & How it Can Shape our Praxis for Today
Why does a theologian like Dietrich Bonhoeffer still excite our theological imagination? What is it about his work in a different era that still engages some of the most cutting edge theological work done today? Join us for the new Homebrewed Christianity class, “Bonhoeffer and the Future of Faith” as we listen to and learn from internationally known scholars working in areas such as climate change, prison reform, racial tensions, pastoral care, and Christian Nationalism. These scholars, generations removed from Bonhoeffer’s day, find inspiration in him for the continuing task of theology to interpret and respond to global challenges in our day. Together this class will think about Bonhoeffer’s enduring question to the church of his day, “What is Christianity for us today?” How we are responding in our time to this question will determine the shape of faith for our day and beyond.
Class Invitation Video
Bonhoeffer Scholars
Each week we will have a lecture from a noted Bonhoeffer scholar. Not only will you get access to the lectures to work at your own pace, but each scholar will be joining us for a live stream session and QnA. This class is for those anxious about what's next for those in religious life. We are excited to dive into the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to inform our praxis for the unknown future of faith.
Dr. Lori Brandt Hale
Bonhoeffer on Justice
Lori Brandt Hale is professor and chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN.
She is the Vice President of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section and a Westar Institute Scholar.
Brandt Hale is co-editor of and contributor to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance (June 2020), the second volume in a new series on faith and political theology by Lexington Books. Her chapter in this book, a constructive read of Bonhoeffer’s work, is titled, “The Interfaith Imperative: How Bonhoeffer Compels Interfaith Action.” She is also the co-author of Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians (Westminster John Knox, 2009) and has written numerous articles and book chapters on Bonhoeffer’s political resistance, understanding of vocation, and relevance in contemporary times - including the now perennial question, “Is this a Bonhoeffer moment?”
Rev. Dr. Jennifer M. McBride
Bonhoeffer on Incarceration
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer M. McBride (Ph.D. University of Virginia) is Associate for Formation at All Saints’ Episcopal Church and a Transitional Deacon in the Atlanta Diocese. Previously she served as Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and held the Board of Regents Endowed Chair in Ethics at Wartburg College in rural Iowa. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology at Emory University, McBride served at Candler School of Theology as program director for the Certificate in Theological Studies at Metro State Prison for Women.
McBride is author of You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row (Cascade, 2022), Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (Fortress, 2017), and The Church for the World: A Theology of Public Witness (Oxford University Press, 2011). In addition to book chapters and scholarly articles, her work has appeared in popular publications like The Christian Century and CNN.com and has been featured in the New York Times.
McBride is president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section, co-editor of the T&T Clark book series, New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics, and co-editor of Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought.
Dr. Di Rayson
Bonhoeffer on Ecology
Di Rayson is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji and is an ecotheologian and Bonhoeffer scholar, having published widely. Her first book was Bonhoeffer and Climate Change: Theology and Ethics for the Anthropocene.
Di is co-convenor of the upcoming XIV International Bonhoeffer Congress in Sydney, Australia in January 2024.
Prior to becoming a theologian she had an extensive career in public health and social policy in Australia and the Pacific. Di is an Anglican lay preacher, singer and cellist. When in Australia she lives on a small farm between the mountains and the sea.
Dr. Andrew Root
Bonhoeffer on Faith Formation
Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary.
He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014). Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor (IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012 his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009).
Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Dr. Reggie Williams
Bonhoeffer on Race
Reggie L. Williams is Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago’s Hyde Park, and ordained in the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
Williams' primary work is in Christian Social Ethics as one devoted to black church, making an effort to recalibrate what it means to be Christian and human away from false ideals, towards healthier embodied life together. He writes and teaches about the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in relationship to the race-based totalitarian regime that he opposed. He also researches and teaches Black Aesthetics for the possibilities it offers to imagine a new way of being in the world, unhindered by obstacles that prohibit our ability to know and to love one another in actual embodied life, together. These interests converge in an interpretation of Jesus as the core influence for a Christian understanding of the good, faithful, and moral life.
Meet the Hosts
Dr. Tripp Fuller
Homebrewed Christianity Podcast
Tripp just moved back to North Carolina after three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh. He recently released Divine Self-Investment: a Constructive Open and Relational Christology, the first book in the Studies in Open and Relational Theology series. For over 15 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast (think on-demand internet radio) where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 4 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to... topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History, etc. Tripp is a very committed and (some of his friends think overly ) engaged Lakers fan and takes Star Wars and Lord of the Rings very seriously.
Dr. Jeffrey Pugh
Dr. Jeffrey C. Pugh recently retired as Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies and Distinguished University Professor from Elon University in North Carolina. The author of six books ranging from Barth, religion and science, and the apocalyptic imagination to Bonhoeffer, Pugh’s work has focused on Christian complicity in the Holocaust and the lessons that can be applied to instruct future generations. His latest work, a chapter on his reflections while he was participating in the clergy resistance at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, is found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Resistance. He and his wife Jan, a retired United Methodist minister, make their home in Charlottesville, Virginia.
FAQs
When does the class meet?
The class is asynchronous and you can participate fully without being present at any specific time. The weekly streaming session will take place on FIVE consecutive THURSDAYS at 2pm ET - May 4 through June 8.
How do I get access to the class content?
The complete class content collection will be available on the password protected resource page. The downloadable audio and video of each session will be uploaded there and available for at least a year.
What happens after I sign up?
The email you enter when signing up will receive an email from tripp[at]homebrewedchristianity[dot]com. The email will include access to the resource page, details on how to join the class Facebook group, and more.
Do I have to have Facebook?
No. Facebook is not required to participate, but an additional way to connect with other class members and interact throughout the class.