Joy: Community, Inclusion, and Social Justice
This interfaith conference will feature plenary speakers Amy Hollywood (Harvard Divinity School) and Mary Clark Moschella (Yale Divinity School). There will be a number of presentations from the GTU community speaking from their different traditions and disciplines on the place of joy in religious thought and practice. This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendees in the Dinner Board Room at 2400 Ridge Road and online attendees on Zoom.
Register to attend in-person here.
Register to attend remotely via Zoom here.
The schedule is as follows:
Welcome & Introduction to Conference Theme: 9:00-9:10 am
- Jen Davidson–Welcome
- Deidre Green–Opening Remarks
Panel 1: Joy in Community and Tradition: 9:10 - 10:30 AM
- Sam Shonkoff – “Joy as Self-Transcendence in Hasidism”
- John Klentos – “Joy from an Orthodox Christian Perspective: Byzantine Liturgical Hymn-Texts”
- Laurie Garrett-Cobbina – “Let’s Do What We Do”
10 minute break
Panel 2: The Transformative Power of Joy: 10:40-12 PM
- Jess Jones – “The Joy of the Saints: A Christological Approach to Joy From a Latter-day Saint Perspective”
- Elizabeth Peña – “Looking with Wonder: The Slow Art Movement”
- Valerie Miles-Tribble – “The Joy of Knowing Amid the Unknown”
Lunch Break 12:00-1:00 pm
Plenary 1
- 1:00-1:35 Plenary: Amy Hollywood, Harvard Divinity School - "Novel Theology"
Panel 3: Joy and Justice: 1:35-2:55 PM
- Rebecca Esterson – “Helen Keller on Optimism, Activism, and Her Swedenborgian Faith”
- Mahjabeen Dhala – “Joy in the Qur’an: Faith, Community, and Social Justice”
- Nancy Lin – “Qualities of Joy: Some Buddhist Examples”
10 minute break
Panel 4: Exploring the Mysteries of Joy: 3:05-4:25 PM
- Chris Hadley – “The Pain of the Cross and Trinitarian Joy: Reconstructing Balthasar's Childbirth Metaphor”
- Arthur Holder – “'Likeness is the chief delight': Meister Eckhart on Metaphysics of Joy”
- Rita Sherma – “Ananda: When the Name of God is 'Joy' - A Hindu Ecofeminist Perception of Existential Joy”
Plenary 2
- 4:25-4:55 pm Plenary: Mary Clark Moschella, Yale Divinity School - "Justice and Joy"
Closing Remarks: 4:55-5:00 pm
- Deidre Green