Scholar-Activist Encounter: Traci West and Nicholas Johnson

October 15, 2020, 7:30pm Eastern Time

How do activism and scholarship contribute to our understanding of Scripture in the world today?

In this session, CLBSJ Board Chair Nicholas Johnson and groundbreaking Christian Ethicist Traci West, author of Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality (NYU Press, 2019). Both pastors-scholar-activists, Rev. Johnson and Dr. West will discuss their work to build bridges between the seminary, sanctuary and the streets, and the role of scripture and Christian ethics in discerning our way forward at this moment in time.

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About the participants

Rev. Dr. Traci C. West is professor of Christian ethics and African American studies at Drew University Theological School. She is the author of Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality: Africana Lessons on Religion, Racism, and Ending Gender Violence (2019), Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter (2006), Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics (1999), editor of Our Family Values: Same-sex Marriage and Religion, and author of many articles and book chapters on gender, racial, and sexual justice in religion and society.

The Reverend Nicholas A. Johnson is pastor of Raritan Valley Baptist Church in Edison, NJ. He also teaches in the Philosophy and Religion department at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ. Nicholas holds undergraduate degrees in History and Religious Studies from the University of Chicago and a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament and Early Christianity at Drew University in Madison, NJ. A native of Newark, NJ, Nicholas developed an interest in the intersections of faith, academia, and activism as a teenager. His work as a pastor-scholar-activist focuses on racial/ethnic justice and inter-generational community building.

The Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice invites you to join us for an interactive dialogue exploring the interfaces between scholarship and activism. How do these ways of being contribute to our understanding of Scripture in the world today? Let’s come together to learn from each other. Most events take place on the third Thursday of the month at 4:30pm Pacific Time / 7:30pm Eastern Time. We do not meet every month, and occasionally meet on a different night.

See the full schedule of the Scholar-Activist Encounter series. For questions, email info@clbsj.org.

This series is co-sponsored by the Community of Living Traditions.