Keynote presentations, music, art, dance, conversations, workshops, food, liturgy and ritual, conversation, inspiration, resources and lots of FUN.

Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Ph.D is a leading voice in the construction of mujerista theology.  Currently, she serves as professor of ethics and theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.  A native of La Habana, Cuba, she became a political refugee in 1960, worked as a missionary in Lima, Peru in the late 1960s, and “was born a feminist” in 1975.  She earned her B.A. from the College of New Rochelle, in New York, and her M.Div., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  Her work established the field of study which she named mujerista theology, and En La Lucha - In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology (Fortress Press, 1993 and 2003),  remains a foundational text for students and scholars alike.  She has written several other books including Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voices in the Church, Women of God, Women of the People, and is working on a project called Justicia: A Reconciliatory Praxis of Care and Tenderness.  She regularly speaks to audiences around the world in academic, church, and public settings. .  http://www.users.drew.edu/aisasidi/ 

Monica A. Coleman, Ph.D., is a womanist theologian and ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  Currently she serves as associate professor of constructive theology and African American religions at the Claremont School of Theology in California.  A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, an M.Div from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and her Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University.  Her most recent book is Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology (Fortress Press, 2008).  She is also the author of The Dinah Project (2004), a book based on her work with church responses to sexual violence, and several articles in journals like the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, the Journal of Caribbean Literatures, and Soundings  http://www.monicaacoleman.com/

Caryn D. Riswold, Ph.D., is a feminist theologian in the Lutheran tradition.  Currently she serves as associate professor of religion and chair of gender and women’s studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.  A native of South Dakota, she earned a B.A. from Augustana College (SD), an M.A. from the Claremont School of Theology, and the Th.M. and Ph.D. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.  Her most recent book is Feminism and Christianity: Questions and Answers in the Third Wave (Cascade Books, 2009).  She is also the author of Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians (2007), Coram Deo: Human Life in the Vision of God (2006), and several articles in journals like Dialog, Political Theology, and The Lutheran.   http://www2.ic.edu/criswold 

Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D. is a feminist theologian, ordained minister, author, teacher, and chaplain. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Perkins School of Theology and at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, and an oncology chaplain at Baylor University Medical Center. A native of Louisiana, Jann received the B.A. degree from Louisiana Polytechnic University, the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Texas Christian University, and the M.Div. from Southwestern Theological Seminary. For more than twenty-five years, Jann has researched, taught, and written books on feminist theology and inclusive worship. Bringing Divine Feminine names and images into worship encourages the revaluing of the feminine so that liberation and equality are realized in church and society.  Her most recent book is Seeking Wisdom: Inclusive Blessings and Prayers for Public Occasions (Wipf & Stock, 2010). Her other books are Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians (Eakin Press, 2006); Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister (Eakin Press, 2002); In Search of the Christ-Sophia: An Inclusive Christology for Liberating Christians (Twenty-Third Publications, 1995; Eakin Press, 2004); Imagine God! A Children's Musical Exploring and Expressing Images of God (Choristers Guild, 2004); In Whose Image? God and Gender (Crossroad, 1990, 2001); Praying with Christ-Sophia: Services for Healing and Renewal (Twenty-Third Publications, 1996); Counseling People with Cancer (Westminster John Knox, 1998); God, A Word for Girls and Boys (Glad River, 1993). http://www.jannaldredgeclanton.com/

Purpose:

To provide opportunities for feminist faith seekers, people of spirit, God/dess devotees, interfaith leaders, progressive Christians, artists, spiritual directors, etc. to experience and discuss the urgent implications of God/dess imagery and gender issues which must transform religions, patriarchal systems, society and our daily lives so that together we seek and speak justice, repair the web and support  a sustainable world.

AND to model feminist (egalitarian) faith community within the Christian tradition and other faiths and systems which benefit from switching paradigms: from patriarchal/domination to partnership/caring models