April 13, 2021
Dear BTI Students, Faculty, and Community,

Firstly, Ramadan Mubarak to all who observe. We hope you have a blessed and peaceful month of reflection.

Today we are excited to host our first Virtual Admissions fair! If you know someone who may be interested in learning more about theological education in Boston, it is not too late to register. The fair begins at Noon today! Join us!

Looking ahead, the BTI Consortium is beginning to gather class schedules and approved courses for the Fall semester and to prepare for our graduating class of BTI Certificate students. We hope to have a rough or incomplete version of the Fall 2021 Course Catalog by Mid-May at the latest. We are also preparing a survey where students and faculty will have the opportunity to offer feedback on Cross-Registration and other aspects of the BTI Consortium's work over the past year. Keep your eye on the newsletter and our social media channels for updates.

The end of the semester is coming quickly, with all its stress and work, but Spring is also finally showing its face in Boston. Take a moment this week to take your reading outside or to go for a walk around your neighborhood. You can do this! Finish strong, friends!

Peace,

Chloe McLaughlin
BTI Consortium Internal Projects Manager/Graduate Assistant

To submit events, resources, or job opportunities to be publicized in our newsletter or on our website, email information (including links and graphics) to Chloe at btinews@bostontheological.org.
Upcoming BTI Consortium Sponsored Events
TODAY!
Virtual Admissions Fair. April 13, 2021, 12:00-1:30PM. Hosted by the BTI Consortium and our 10 Member Schools.

This event is open to any prospective Masters or Doctoral Degree student who is interested in learning more about any or all of our member schools. The event will be held entirely online using the Zoom and Gather platforms.
Post-Conference Talk Back Session. April 22, 2021, 7:00-8:30PM. Hosted by BTI Consortium Executive Director, Dr. Stephanie Edwards and BC's Dr. Adkins-Jones.

Join the BTI students and faculty who attended "The Hinges Upon Which the Future Swings" the 2021 Spring Virtual Conference, hosted by The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary. The KGCCWL recognizes the significance of centering Black women’s scholarship as viable sources and resources for theological education. The center serves as a site of participatory learning for scholars, students, clergy, laity, and community leaders. The talk-back will be facilitated by BC Theology Professor Amey Vicoria Adkins-Jones, and hosted by BTI Executive Director Dr. Stephanie C. Edwards.
Upcoming ONLINE Events
Annual Hindu View of Life Lecture. Wednesday, April 14, 5:00-6:30PM. Hosted by Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions.  
This lecture will focus on the Hindu view of life from the margins. While the “Hindu margin” is a fairly large heterogeneous group, this lecture will lay the lens on the third gender, Kinnars (pejorative term hijṛā) and spiritual partners, categorized as “consorts.” Both these groups will be discussed within the ritual praxis of “lived religions,” within the larger world of Śākta Tantra (Goddess esoteric traditions).
Religion and Public Affairs Workshops. Hosted by the Boston University Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs: CURA 
The Religion and Public Affairs Workshops provide a platform for creative discussion between students and scholars interested in topics at the intersection of religion and politics. At each meeting, we read and discuss foundational and recent works in this emergent, interdisciplinary field including scholarship from Religion and Theological Studies, International Relations, Anthropology, Political Science, History, and Sociology. Through this forum, we hope to raise awareness of IR and Religion scholarship at BU.

Friday, April 16, 3:00-4:30PM
with Nicole Correri
Panel Dialogue. Friday, April 16, 4:00-5:00PM. Hosted by the Harvard Divinity Responsible Organization Initiative.  
How can our ministerial and public work inform one another? How has the pandemic called for transformed notions of leadership? Come hear Melissa Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and Instructor in Ministry (HDS), J. Bryan Hehir, Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life (HKS), and HDS Acting Dean David Holland, John A. Bartlett Professor of New England Church History (HDS), speak from their experiences occupying both spaces of law, academia, and international government, as well as ministry.
Panel Discussion. Sunday, April 18, 5:00-6:15PM. Hosted by Hebrew College. In response to Brenda Bancel’s new photographic exhibit “Faith in Isolation Expressed,” religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions will explore the ways in which they and their communities have expressed their spiritual commitments during the pandemic. This will include discussion of prayer, meditation, study, and acts of service and advocacy.
Lecture. Tuesday, April 20, 6-7:30PM. Hosted by the Boston University School of Theology Alumni Association and Sponsored by the Lowell Institute. Join us for our bi-annual Lowell Lecture! Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, PhD has been described in a myriad of ways: a scholar-activist, scholar-leader, thought-leader, teacher, public theologian, ethicist, poet of moral reason, and word artist. Among these ways of describing Dr. Robyn, they are also a visionary thinker who has spent two decades working in the borderlands of church, academy, & movements seeking to not only disrupt but dismantle supremacy culture and help steward the logic of liberation as a Transqueer Latinx. They enflesh a deep hope of collaborating in these borderland spaces where their work seeks to contribute to the ongoing work of collective liberation. Full Description.
Webinar Panel Discussion. Wednesday, April 21, 12:00-1:00PM EST. Hosted by the Boisi Center at Boston College
The 2020 documentary, The Social Dilemma, unveils the ugly capacities of the very social media platforms many of us spend hours on each day. Economic interests have commodified our social media use, incentivizing greater monetization through advertisements and the implementation of advanced algorithms to ensure that use only increases. But additional time results in additional exposure to the abundant misinformation that floods the platforms. The combination of use, misuse, and the manipulation of use has led the world's societies, including our own, toward extreme polarization. After viewing the documentary--with one such opportunity hosted by the Boisi Center--join Zac Karanovich, Kristin Peterson, and Michael Serazio, all of Boston College, for a panel discussion further exploring the influence of social media as it leads to the greater polarization of our society, our politics, and our religion. More Information and Registration.
Lecture and Discussion. Thursday, April 22, 5:00-6:30PM. Hosted by The Harvard Buddhist Community. What is “whiteness” and how has it shaped, functioned in, and hindered American convert Buddhist modernism? How have Buddhists of Color illuminated and undone whiteness? How can white practitioners support and enact the practice of racial justice and collective liberation? And, how should we historically situate the “radical re-orientation” underway in these Buddhist lineages?
This talk traces the ways in which whiteness has functioned and limited Buddhist modernist convert lineages in North America. It outlines key attempts by Buddhists of Color to expose and overcome such whiteness such as the pioneering work of Zenju Earthlyn Manuel from the Soto Zen lineage and Larry Yang from the Insight Community who have forged alternative Buddhist hermeneutics of multiculturalism and difference. In conclusion, it situates this “radical orientation” as reflecting critical, collective, and contextual turns that push modern Buddhism beyond its individualistic colonialist underpinnings.
Panel Discussion Livestream. Tuesday, April 27, 7:00-8:00PM. Hosted by Gordon Conwell.
For over 40 years Gordon-Conwell alumni have been leaders in the Faith, Work, and Economics movement. Join our panel of international experts as we reflect upon its past, its present, and its future in the wake of COVID-19, artificial intelligence, and globalization. More Information.
Enrichment Event. Thursday, April 29, 4:30-6:30PM. Hosted by the Spiritual Life Center of West Hartford, CT. Who was Mary Magdalene? Mary Magdalene is one of the most maligned, misunderstood and mysterious figures in Western Culture. Her stories, half truths, and gnosis, have been bent, twisted, and at best fragmented. Some say she is the missing link to the true understanding of Christianity, and of the Western Mystery Cults. Many have sought to remover her from history, yet her energy, memories and devotion have persevered and live on. As an embodiment of the Divine Feminine, the study and connection to Mary Magdalene can offer powerful insights into our own personal and planetary healing, finding liberation and peace for all of us. Join Dan Lupacchino as we embark on conversations, study and meditation with the Divine Mary Magdalene.
Lecture. Tuesday, May 25, 5:00-6:30PM Hosted by Hartford Seminary. Please join us for the biennial Willem A. Bijlefeld Lecture as we welcome Dr. Mona Siddiqui, known internationally as a public intellectual and a speaker on issues around religion, ethics, and public life.

Suffering and struggle give meaning to the human condition and are a constant theme in philosophy, theology and psychology. Drawing upon her recent book, Human Struggle: Christian and Muslim Perspectives, Dr. Siddiqui compares how two prominent theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Sayyid Qutb, wrestled with their faith when they experienced a deep personal struggle.
Writing Opportunities & Job Postings
Deadline for Proposals: May 10, 2021
GIRES, the Global Institute for Research, Education & Scholarship and the “Greenwood”African American Studies Center (GAASC) create a welcoming space for discussion and exploration of the complicated relations between religion and politics in the United States.
“The United States is both remarkably religious and remarkably secular”. Although the US is a pluralist democracy, known for its multicultural identity, the role of religion has been crucial in the formation of the nation’s identity and history, proving that the relationship between religion and politics is extremely complex and delicate.
Our new international conference seeks to bring together scholars from different countries who research a variety of topics related to the interactions between religion and politics in the United States from various perspectives. We define the terms “religion” and “politics” broadly and welcome all topics related to the way religion shapes politics or politics shapes religion. We want to examine how the two conflict, collaborate, or otherwise influence each other. The conference will explore the intersections between religion and politics in both historical and contemporary contexts.
We intend to create a space for interdisciplinary conversation. Thus, we invite submissions that address questions across a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches – not only those of political science, but also of history, law, philosophy, religious studies, international relations, theology, sociology, minority studies, immigration studies, cultural studies, and/or psychology.
A Faith that Does Justice is looking for more writers!
A Faith That Does Justice is an interfaith organization that seeks to educate and call followers to action. Our organization sends a short piece on social justice, called The Weekly Word, to subscriber emails. We are currently looking for more writers to join us.
Submissions range from 500-1,000 words and should engage social justice, appeal to people of all faiths, encourage readers to put their faith into action, and utilize a faith-based perspective.
For more information or to submit an editorial, contact info@faith-justice.org.
Kids4Peace Boston seeks a passionate, self-motivated and mission-driven leader to bring us into our second decade. The Executive Director is the external face of the organization,and is responsible for the overall operation of the organization, including: strategic planning, fundraising and financial management; cultivation of relationships with families, donors, board members, and partner organizations; oversight of program development and implementation; leadership and direction of staff, and achievement of measurable outcomes, consistent with the priorities, policies, programming goals, and financial plan approved by the K4PB Board of Directors. Full Job Posting.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead a truly unique ministry driven and mission focused organization. Mercy by the Sea (MBTS) is a Retreat and Conference Center founded and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, Northeast Community. Since 1974, Mercy has welcomed all who seek to enhance the quality of their lives in a complex, changing world. With an exceptionally beautiful, Long Island Sound location, Mercy by the Sea offers guests a sacred space of peace and tranquility where creativity can flourish and personal, professional and spiritual renewal and growth can take place. There are a myriad of offerings at MBTS including private, directed and group retreats, structured programs, both in-person and virtual as well as space for professional meetings and conferences – all in a serene, quiet, natural setting.
The Assistant Tutor Director/Chaplain works closely with the Tutor Director - Chaplain, as well as another Asst. Tutor Director/Chaplain. They help with EVcorps volunteer recruitment, training, and support. Tasks include working with student coordinators, periodically attending tutoring to engage EVcorps volunteers on site, as well as organizing regular reflections and meaning-making opportunities for tutors. Asst. Tutor Director/Chaplains are responsible for on-campus community events, as well as individual check-ins each semester with around 30 tutor volunteers, whether virtually or in-person, at their respective campuses. Full Job Posting.
Harvard Divinity School is currently conducting a search for the next Associate Dean of Ministry Studies. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Associate Dean of Ministry Studies oversees the scope, features, content, direction, and operations of the MDiv program. This position serves on the Dean's senior administrative staff and is a teaching and voting member of the Faculty of Divinity. This role has oversight for courses in Ministerial Arts, participation in curricular planning and faculty development for programs in ministry, responsibility for Field Education Program (with Assistant Director of Field Education), coordination of Denominational Counselors for M.Div. students, and supervision of department staff. To review the full job description and to apply online, you may reference the Harvard Careers website.
St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, MA
In this newly created role, the Chief of Staff will work closely with the Executive Director as an advisor, manager, strategic partner, problem solver and cross-departmental communicator. The Chief of Staff will create and implement policies and systems that support a culture of data-driven decision making and collaboration across the organization, while also serving as a resource across all departments of the organizations, acting as a liaison between the ED and staff, and serving as an advisor on projects and initiatives.
See Offical Position Announcement for more information and to see desired qualifications and directions for application. Offical Position Announcement.
Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium | www.bostontheological.org

STAY CONNECTED