Symposium

Join us for the 13th annual Starr King Symposium as we explore the shape of religious and social leadership amidst a polycrisis of sociopolitical, cultural, economic, and climatic disruption. Gathering together in hybrid community, we will find guidance and inspiration in expert teachers, practitioners, and one another, and will begin to develop action plans to meet the challenges ahead.

This year we continue our experiment in offering multi-locational, hybrid education, structuring a program that supports the full participation of persons who may gather either online or at one of two locations on opposite ends of the country. Instead of having a singular “Honored Teacher” to headline Symposium, the program will feature a variety of contributing presenters and workshop leaders.

Cláudio Carvalhaes, earth thinker, theologian, liturgist, performer and artist, a native Brazilian from São Paulo, completed his Ph.D. in Liturgy and Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 2007.

Dr. Johnson is Assistant Vice Provost for the Humanities and Executive Director of the “Tech for Humanity” initiative advancing human-centered approaches to technology at Virginia Tech. He is the founding director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Humanities

Professor Syeed is a graduate of Guilford College and Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where she was a teaching fellow in the area of mediation and ran the university’s mediation program.

Dr. Rachel Harding is a poet, historian and scholar of religions of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora. Associate Professor of Indigenous Spiritual Traditions in the Ethnic Studies department of the University of Colorado Denver, Dr. Harding writes about the conjunction of religion,

Dr. Harris is American Council of Education Fellow at the University of Denver and Founding Director of African American and Africana Studies at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. She is the first African American woman to earn the rank of Full Professor at TCU. Dr. Harris is the author

“It’s a fitting weekend for us to have Symposium,” said the Rev. McNatt in reference to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “For us to recenter ourselves and remind ourselves about the human struggle for justice and the role that each of us plays in the creation of beloved community…

This “urban retreat” serves as a day of study, dialogue, food, art, music, community-building, service, and celebration of the Spirit of Life, as we cultivate multi-religious, counter-oppressive, just and sustainable

The keynote address, “Mindfully Resisting Fragmentation: Rest in Your True Nature!”, was delivered by Our Honored Teacher, internationally renowned poet, teacher, and activist Mushim Patricia Ikeda. Seated cross-legged in a meditative posture,

Convened by our provost, Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje, the gathering provided an opportunity for participants to learn, reflect, collaborate and celebrate the theme of “transformative change” as integral to the call of religious leadership.

Starr King graduates, donors and friends are warmly invited to join us in Oakland, California. This urban retreat, open to all, is convened by our school’s Dean of Faculty Dr. Gabriella Lettini and is an integral component of our Emergent Educational Design:

This urban retreat, led by our Provost Dr. Ibrahim Farajajé, inaugurates a new structure in our educational approach: an annual gathering of our entire student body, faculty, staff and trustees for three days of learning, ritual, celebration, food, music,