Conference Speakers
Friday Evening Opening Celebration
Dr. Margaret Aymer
Associate Professor, New Testament
Interdenominational Theological Center
B.A., Harvard-Radcliff College; M.Div., Union Theological Seminary; M.Phil., Union Theological Seminary; -Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary
Dr. Margaret Aymer teaches courses on the New Testament and has a special interest in biblical hermeneutics, particularly how African diasporic communities signify the Bible as "scripture." Some of her most significant publications are "Teaching Christians to 'Read': Theological Education and the Church"; "Empire, Alter-empire and the Twenty-first Century"; "What Do the Gospels Say about Sex and the Church?" in Frequently Asked Questions about Sexuality, the Bible, and the Church; First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James and a forthcoming book, African American Biblical Interpretation: An Introduction with co-author, Randall C. Bailey.
Saturday Policy Plenary
Dr. Gary Dorrien
Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics
Union Theological Seminary & Columbia University
Gary Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. An Episcopal priest and lifelong athlete, he was previously the Parfet Distinguished Professor at Kalamazoo College, where he taught for 18 years and also served as Dean of Stetson Chapel and Director of the Liberal Arts Colloquium.
Prof. Dorrien is the author of 14 books and approximately 250 articles that range across the fields of ethics, social theory, theology, philosophy, politics, and history. He is described by Princeton University philosopher Cornel West as "the preeminent social ethicist in North America today"; by Boston University philosophical theologian Robert Neville as "the most rigorous theological historian of our time, moving from analyses of social context and personal struggles through the most abstruse theological and metaphysical issues"; and by University of Georgia philosopher Frederick Ferré as "a superstar interpreter of modern religious thought."
Prof. Dorrien's books include acclaimed works on economic democracy, social ethical theory, theories of myth and interpretation, Barthian neo-orthodoxy, and neoconservative politics. More than forty reviewers have described his trilogy, The Making of American Liberal Theology, as the definitive work in the field. The Expository Times called it "an endeavor best described, by all accounts, as magisterial, definitive, and authoritative." The Journal of Markets and Morality called it "monumental, encyclopedic, breathtaking."
Prof. Dorrien's book Social Ethics in the Making, a comprehensive interpretation of social ethics as an academic field and a tradition of public discourse, won the Choice Award as the outstanding book in ethics of 2009. The Christian Century described it as "magnificent, sprawling, monumental, captivating, expertly written, and exhaustively researched...Social Ethics in the Making will soon be recognized as a classic."
A frequent lecturer at universities, conferences, civic groups, and religious communities, Prof. Dorrien is a recent past president of the American Theological Society and has a long record of involvement in social justice organizations. His book, Imperial Designs, grew out of his extensive lecturing against the U.S.'s invasion and occupation of Iraq. His book, Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice (Columbia University Press, 2010), features his lectures on economic democracy, racial and gender justice, and anti-imperial politics.
He has two books forthcoming in early 2012: Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology (Wiley-Blackwell), which makes an argument about the impact of Kantian and post-Kantian idealism on modern religious thought, and The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective (Rowman & Littlefield), which makes a progressive critique and defense of Barack Obama's presidency.
Prof. Dorrien teaches part-time as the Paul E. Raither Distinguished Scholar at Trinity College. His wife, Brenda Biggs, a Presbyterian minister, died of cancer in 2000, and his daughter Sara Biggs Dorrien graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 2011.
Ellen Nissenbaum
Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs
Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
In her twenty-sixth year as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, Ellen directs the Center's work with federal policymakers and with other national, state, and local organizations on a broad range of policy issues. These include federal budget and tax issues, Social Security, federal policies concerning Medicaid and health care, federal nutrition programs, federal low-income housing programs, unemployment insurance, and welfare reform policies.
She is regarded as one of the leading legislative directors among non-profit organizations in Washington and frequently is asked to provide support to a number of organizations coalitions by providing technical assistance, strategic guidance, and communications and messaging planning for their legislative activities.
Ellen is frequently sought out by many journalists at respected news outlets covering legislative and budget developments for her analyses and commentary on congressional developments.
Sunday Morning Interdenominational Worship
Dr. Arturo Chávez
President and CEO of the Mexican American Catholic College
San Antonio, TX
Dr. Arturo Chávez is the President and Chief Executive Officer of MACC, the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Texas. He has been a member of the MACC faculty since the year 2000, and was appointed President in 2007. Since then, Dr. Chávez has led the organization into its current transition from a Cultural Center to a Catholic College that offers B.A. and M.A. degrees in Pastoral Ministry. The unique degree plans are offered bilingually to meet the growing needs of Latinos for higher education, especially for service in faith communities.
Dr. Chávez has worked for over 30 years in a variety of ministries. As a teacher, youth minister, a chaplain to the incarcerated, and a community organizer. He founded a nonprofit youth organization called JOVEN and was instrumental in establishing other faith-based partnerships to address the urgent needs of families who are poor and disenfranchised. His commitment to community-based activism, education, and peace-building continues through his ministry as a teacher, facilitator, and international speaker.
Nationally recognized for his efforts to combat racism and poverty, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as an advisor on the White House Council for Faith Based and Community Partnerships. Recently, Catholic Charities USA recognized him as "…a national champion of the poor" with the 2010 "Keep the Dream Alive Award" in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Chávez holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Incarnate Word, a Masters degree from Oblate School of Theology of the Southwest, and a Ph.D. in Religious and Theological Studies, from the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology, with a focus on the relationship between religion and social change.
Sunday Evening Advocacy Banquet
Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, II
Emanuel Cleaver, II is now serving his fourth term representing Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, the home district of President Harry Truman.
Having served for twelve years on the city council of Missouri’s largest municipality, Kansas City, Cleaver was elected as the city’s first African American Mayor in 1991.
During his eight year stint in the Office of the Mayor, Cleaver distinguished himself as an economic development activist and an unapologetic redevelopment craftsman. He and the City Council brought a number of major corporations to the city, including TransAmerica, Harley Davidson, and Citi Corp. Cleaver also led the effort, after a forty year delay, to build the South Midtown Roadway. Upon completion of this major thoroughfare, he proposed a new name: The Bruce R. Watkins Roadway. Additionally, his municipal stewardship includes the 18th and Vine Redevelopment, a new American Royal, the establishment of a Family Division of the Municipal Court, and the reconstruction and beautification of Brush Creek.
Cleaver has received five honorary Doctoral Degrees augmented by a bachelor’s degree from Prairie View A&M, of the University of Texas, and a Master’s from St. Paul Theology of Kansas City.
In 2009, Cleaver, with a multitude of accomplishments both locally and Congressionally, introduced the most ambitious project of his political career—the creation of a Green Impact Zone. This zone, consisting of 150 blocks of declining urban core, has received approximately $125 million dollars in American Recovery and Reinvestment funds. The Green Impact Zone is aimed at making this high crime area the environmentally greenest piece of urban geography in the world. This project includes rebuilding Troost Avenue, rehabbing bridges, curbs and sidewalks, home weatherization, smart grid technology in hundreds of homes, and most importantly, hundreds of badly needed jobs for Green Zone residents.
Cleaver was unanimously elected the 20th chair of the Congressional Black Caucus of the 112th Congress. Cleaver, a native of Texas, is married to the former Dianne Donaldson. They have made Kansas City home for themselves and their four children.
Conference Moderators
Rev. Dr. Mari Castellanos
Policy Advocate for Domestic Issues
Justice and Witness Ministries Washington Office
United Church of Christ
Mari Castellanos serves the church as Policy Advocate for Domestic Issues at the Washington Office of the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ where she has worked for the past eight years. Before she answered this call she served a local congregation. She completed her studies at the Florida Center for Theological Studies where she obtained her Doctor of Ministry Degree and at Barry University in Miami where she received her Master's Degree in Theology. Her doctoral work focused on developing an institute for multi-cultural studies for pastoral ministers. In Washington she focuses on different areas of legislative concern including immigration and climate change.
Sr. Marge Clark, BVM, Ed.D.
Lobbyist
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Sister Marge Clark works as a lobbyist on domestic human needs at NETWORK. A member of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), she has over thirty years experience in higher education, teaching teachers. This follows some years in elementary school teaching. She is also actively engaged in work to close the School of the Americas, and in her Congregation's work with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility
Conference Music Minister
Dr. Patrick Evans
Associate Professor of Sacred Music,Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music
Artist-in-Residence, Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY
Patrick is committed to the reclaiming and renewal of congregational song. As Director of Music for the daily ecumenical worship in Marquand Chapel at Yale University, he works with the Dean of Chapel, student chapel ministers and musicians, and a wide range of students, faculty, and guests from varied denominational backgrounds and musical traditions. He recently joined a team of church musician/teachers convened by the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Missions, spending two weeks in Uganda, teaching and learning from church musicians and pastors from that country, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sudan. He has also been on the faculties of the Montreat and Westminster Conferences on Music and Worship, and was Director of Music for Seattle University 2007 Summer Institute for Liturgy and Worship.
As a singer, he has been a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival, Sapporo, Japan. He has appeared regularly in opera, oratorio, and recital performances, and has sung All the Way through Evening: Songs from the AIDS Quilt Songbook throughout the United States. During a recent sabbatical year, he served as artist-in-residence at Union Theological Seminary, and he currently serves in the same capacity at Broadway Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Minister of music for ten years at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Evans was previously associate professor of music at the University of Delaware, where he chaired the voice faculty and directed the opera program.
B.M., B.M.E., University of Montevallo;
M.M., D.M., The Florida State University.
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View the archive of previous years' speakers below: