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Interrogating Privilege

Class meets 6:30pm - 8pm on Zoom | Wednesdays Jan. 18, 25, Feb. 1, 8, then Thursdays during Lent: Feb. 23, Mar. 2, 9, 16

Presenters: Rev. Priscilla Paris-Austin & Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace

This 8-week course is designed specifically for lay leaders to open up transparent, and honest conversations around the ways privilege shapes and impacts our lives and communities of faith. If you’ve read anti-racist books, and are looking for the next, best steps as an individual, family or congregation, this course offers additional ways to move forward. Participants will also have an option to explore their own bias through the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
  • If your congregation has purchased a Congregation Unlimited Bundle contact your church leadership for the Zoom Registration links. (If you are a church leader and wish to register for this bundle option, register HERE) 
  • Or you may register for an Individual Unlimited Bundle - attending as many LiVE 2022-2023 offerings as desired - register HERE
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  • NOT PART OF A COHORT? Register for this single mini course HERE
ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS:

Rev. Priscilla Paris-Austin is pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church (ELCA) in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, a congregation that takes seriously their calling to be a Sanctuary that is Open and Affirming of all persons of every gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, ability, age, and status. Their commitment to being actively antiracist has encouraged them to be the fiscal sponsor for the emerging #66th Synod Reparations Fund, of which Priscilla (aka Nakia) is a member of the founding board. She is passionate about Youth & Family Ministry, serving on leadership teams for the Western States Youth Gathering and the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. She enjoys being a writing consultant for Sparkhouse, Sundays & Seasons, and more. Her calling to allyship has her serving as a member of the Strategic Team for Authentic Diversity (STAD) for the NW WA Synod, the Advisory Team for the ELCA Strategy Towards Authentic Diversity and other boards for diversity and inclusion, both in the church and for her children's school. She lives in eternal thankfulness for the partnership of her spouse of 25+ years and the gift of parenting 3 amazing humans with whom she shares a love of God, the arts, basketball, gymnastics, and justice for all. 

Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace, an ordained Lutheran clergywoman, is the Associate Professor of Congregation and Community Care at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. She received her doctorate in Family Social Science/ Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Minnesota and her Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, after taking most of her coursework at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

Dr. Wallace is a member of the Steering Committee of the Lutheran Association of Teaching Theologians, the ELCA’s Theological Roundtable, and the Conference of International Black Lutherans - the African and African diasporic teaching theologians of the Lutheran church and is also a member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. The ELCA’s Womanist Initiative, a pilot project for the engagement of ELCA seminaries in providing “womanist” course offerings to their students, is the brainchild of Dr. Wallace.

Dr. Wallace has authored several articles and book chapters including: The Tragic Vision of Church in the Time of the Pandemic – Everything is Going to Be Alright” in Word and World; “The Impact of COVID-19 on Black America” in Kenneth J. Doka and Amy S. Tucci (eds.) Living with Grief Since COVID-19; “She Had to Keep Him Hidden: - Experiences of Trauma in the lineage of Moses” in The ELCA Connect Journal; “2020 New World Order” in Dialog; “The Women Gathered – Stringing Beads of Resistance: Identity, Lament, and Hope published in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion, “Narratives of Grieving African Americans About Racism in the Lives of Deceased Family Members”,  “A Womanist Legacy of Trauma, Grief, and Loss: Reframing the Notion of the Strong Black Woman Icon”, “Hush No More: Constructing an African American Lutheran Womanist Ethic” and is the co-author of the book, “African American Grief”. She is really proud of her piece recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the ordination of African American Lutheran Women entitled, “The Slay Factor”.  Dr. Wallace is also a contributor to “Luther’s Small Catechism with African Descent Reflections.”

A member of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc., Dr. Wallace considers herself a “womanist” and so embraces the wholeness of all people – men and women.  A mother of two adult educators and the “nana” of three grandchildren, Dr. Wallace is native of Brooklyn, New York, now residing in Atlanta traveling between St. Paul, Minnesota where she teaches and Birmingham, Alabama where she is the Interim Pastor of Shades Valley Lutheran Church.  She loves music, poetry, the arts, and everything beautiful.