IT’S TIME TO GATHER AGAIN! We’re calling all our friends, old and new, to join us for the THEOLOGY & PEACE SUMMIT, NOVEMBER 14-17 in NASHVILLE at the Scarritt Bennett Center–to meet face to face, to share our joys and our concerns, and, in the context of the current world crises, to renew our hopes and ours dreams for the future.

Over the last fifteen years, articulating a theology grounded in René Girard‘s Mimetic Theory, we’ve held conferences in multiple cities and contexts across the United States. In Chicago, we addressed the systemic nature of mass incarceration and the contagion of gun violence involving people and police. In Raleigh, we looked at the history of lynching, and prayed with the organizers of the first Moral Monday occurring on the steps of North Carolina’s capital. In Baltimore we made lasting friendships with Newborn Community, who, inspired by the teachings of René Girard and Gordon Cosby, built multiple ministries in the midst of a neighborhood ravaged by discrimination, poverty, and drugs. In Nashville, we spent two years at American Baptist College, a historically black college, where focused on systemic racism, sex-trafficking, and the life-sentencing of minors, we witnessed first hand what it means to practice solidarity with the victim.

Staying true to our original mission, we have stored up pearls of theological wisdom, we have plumbed the depths of our collective good, and grappled with the reality of our social evils. Understanding that all of us, regardless of our differences, are inherently connected, we attempt to live lives of Ubuntu and Beloved Community. With so many challenges confronting the world and future generations, this work has never been more important. JOIN US as we continue to tap the wellspring of inspiration rising out of René Girard’s understanding of what it means to be human beings constructed by our shared desires. Who knows where the Spirit will lead us next…