The Forum at Grace Cathedral

Following December 7, 1941, the United States government interned 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry evicted from scattered settlements throughout the West Coast states, yet why was a much larger number concentrated in the Hawaiian Islands war zone not similarly incarcerated? Tom Coffman is a political journalist and leading historian of modern Hawai‘i, author of six books, and director of six documentary films. His latest book is Inclusion: How Hawai‘i Protected Japanese Americans from Mass Internment, Transformed Itself, and Changed America. In making sense of the disparity between Island and mainland, Inclusion unravels the deep history of the U.S. “sabotage psychosis,” the causes of the internment , and the unique set of forces in Hawai‘i that preserved its interracial harmony through the depths of war. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Marking Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young and his wife Heidi Ho - a native Hawaiian - for a conversation with Coffman about how small groups with a common goal and working cooperatively can result in wondrous social change. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text "grace" to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce. About INCLUSION “Brilliant and meticulous, Tom Coffman reveals the people and forces that spared territorial Hawai‘i's Japanese populace from mass removal after Pearl Harbor and enabled its sons to serve America gallantly in World War II. The heroes of this true story…were inspired by an idealism and aloha that the world can learn from today. Based on groundbreaking research, Coffman's compelling account gives them recognition that they richly deserve.—Mark Matsunaga, Hawai‘i journalist, and World War II historian About the Guest Tom Coffman is a political reporter and author of six books, including Nation Within, Catch a Wave, Island Edge, and Tadaima! His widely aired documentaries include First Battle, Arirang, and Ninoy Aquino, and the Rise of People Power. His most recent film, with Meleanna Meyer, is Mauna Kea: Sacred Mountain/Sacred Conduct. His book in progress is titled Social Justice Work. He is a three-time recipient of the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association's award for nonfiction, and for his cumulative work, he received the Hawai‘i Award for Literature. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The  Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the critical issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors, and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials. Still, the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/the-forum

This Forum kicks off an evening of Grace Cathedral's advocacy to End Slavery for Good. Join Presiding Bishop Curry on screen from New York and Bishop Marc live from Grace Cathedral. They discuss the Free at Last Coalition, and how the national movement to change the 13th amendment has gathered a diverse group from across the political spectrum under its banner. Following the Forum, stay for a special contemporary service with Bishop Marc preaching, and SFJAZZ musician Destiny Muhammad, joined by a quartet, hallowing the long struggle for justice. While President Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation, state and legal law still allow for involuntary servitude — slavery by another name — as punishment for a crime. This is enshrined in the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. Disproportionately applied to Black and Brown people, this “punishment clause” subverts justice, and needs to be removed to free this nation from the institution of slavery.   Following Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Diocesan Bishop Marc Andrus, Grace Cathedral endorsed the movement. Through November 2022, there will be opportunities to learn the issues, frame them in light of Anglican Christian ethics, develop meaningful relationships and advocate with elected officials. An issue of this magnitude invites the active participation of the whole community, and has a place for everyone, including you.  THE VINE: FREE AT LAST Our Diocesan Bishop Marc Andrus will preach, reflecting on his Forum conversation with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, ongoing slavery and the demands of justice in our time. This contemporary service features music by Destiny Muhammad and a vocal quartet singing the praises of God and hallowing the long struggle for justice and concludes an evening of Grace Cathedral's advocacy to End Slavery for Good.

David Kyuman Kim is a professor of religious studies and American studies, the author of Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics and has been called by Cornel West “the leading philosopher of religion and culture of his generation.” He is founder of Radical Love Productions, a media platform dedicated to building a common culture dedicated to social justice and to living our best moral selves.    Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month for a conversation with Kim about cynicism, racism and violence, and the radical love it takes to see the humanity in others and to reach across to bridge that gap.  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce. Thank you!     About the Moderator  The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/the-forum.

Abby McEnany is a writer, comedian, actor and Chicago improv mainstay. She is the co-creator, writer, executive producer and star of the Showtime television series Work in Progress, a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about a self-identified "fat, queer dyke" entering into a transformative relationship during a time of crisis. Much of the story of Work in Progress, which ran for two seasons 2019-2021, is about Abby, the character, finding opportunities to live, when she has just about given up hope.   Each year Grace Cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with McEnany about what it's like to be one of the few people like her in film and television, and how her work deepens our connections to each other.  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce. Thank you!   About the Moderator  The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/the-forum.

In his book What Schools Teach Us About Religious Life, The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, finds schools to be important guideposts in the process of understanding religious life in this country, and the degree to which they are able to balance both tradition and contemporary reality can teach us a great deal about not only how to be more fluent in our religious literacy, but how to be better citizens in an increasingly complex world. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Heischman about what Episcopal school life and culture tells us about the contemporary American religious landscape and how to strengthen our connection to a more spiritually alive world. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce. Thank you!   About the Moderator The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThDis the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.

Bruce Cockburn, the award-winning songwriter and pioneering guitarist, whose life and music has been shaped by politics, protest, romance and spiritual discovery, is revered by fans and fellow musicians alike as one of the most important songwriters of his generation. Best known for “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” and “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” he has released 35 albums spanning five decades that have sold over 11 million copies worldwide. For Cockburn, music has always been a key way to explore culture, politics and the nature of the spirit. As a long-time activist, he believes that we can, and should, be dedicated to our shared humanity, and to saving ourselves, each other and this earth – we just need to find the will. And that journey, for Cockburn, has been marked in music. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Cockburn about the connections between taking action, music and faith. About the Guest For 50 years, this Canadian musical legend has been capturing in song the essence of human experience – while fiercely striving to make it better. One of Canada's finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and worldbeat styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique and Nepal, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. He remains deeply respected for his activism on issues from native rights and land mines to the environment and Third World debt, working for organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and Friends of the Earth. For his many achievements, the Ottawa-born artist has been honored with 13 Juno Awards, an induction into both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. 

Silicon Valley is known for its lavish perks, intense work culture and spiritual gurus. Over the past forty years, highly skilled workers have been devoting more time and energy to their jobs than ever before. They are also leaving churches, synagogues and temples in droves—but they have not abandoned religion. Are tech companies bringing religion into the workplace in ways that are replacing traditional places of worship, blurring the line between work and religion and transforming the very nature of spiritual experience in modern life? Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation about what can happen when work becomes religion, and the workplace becomes the institution that connects us. About the Guest Carolyn Chen, a sociologist, is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she grew up in Pennsylvania and Southern California. Carolyn received her A.B. from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. She previously taught at Northwestern University in the Department of Sociology, as well as in the Program in Asian American Studies, where she served as Director. Chen's research focuses on religion, spirituality and work in the new economy, as well as Asian American religions. She is the author of Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience (Princeton 2008) and co-editor of Sustaining Faith Traditions: Religion, Race and Ethnicity among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation (NYU 2012). She has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and spoken on National Public Radio. She is Co-Director of the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, and a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI), a scholarly community committed to the advancement of public knowledge of Asian Pacific American religions. Carolyn and her family live in the Bay Area. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  

Daniel Darling, the spokesperson for National Religious Broadcasters, an organization for members of Christian media, wrote a column for USA Today about his decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19. He wrote: “There are not many things in the world today that are worthy of our trust, but I sincerely believe the Covid-19 vaccine is one of them…as a Christian and an American, I was proud to get it.” The column cost him his job.    Author of A Way With Words: Using Our Online Conversations for Good, and now director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Darling helps shape conversations on faith, ethics, public policy and other cultural and philosophical issues. He has said: “I think you can have both courage and civility at the same time…this incessant need to fight and tear people down for sport is really unhealthy.”   Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. In a time when even a public health emergency is divisive, and public discourse is coarse beyond belief, join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Darling about how to get back to connecting courage of conviction with courtesy.  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. gracecathedral.org/givetograce  About the Guest  Daniel Darling is an author, pastor and leader. He is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a bestselling author of several books, including The Original Jesus, The Dignity Revolution, The Characters of Christmas, The Characters of Easter and A Way With Words. He is the general editor, along with Trillia Newbell, of a small group study on racial reconciliation, The Church and the Racial Divide and is a contributor to The Worldview Study Bible. Darling is an award–winning writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications. He is a columnist for World magazine and a regular contributor to USA Today. His work is often featured in Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition and his op-eds have appeared in The Washington Post, CNN, Washington Times, Time, Huffington Post, National Review, First Things and other leading outlets. Darling speaks and preaches around the country and is regularly interviewed on radio and television, including MSNBC's Morning Joe and CNN and Fox. He is the host of a popular weekly podcast, The Way Home, where he interviews Christian leaders, politicians and journalists. Darling holds a bachelor's degree in pastoral ministry from Dayspring Bible College, has studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served churches in Illinois and Tennessee. He and his wife Angela have four children. About the Moderator  The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/forum

Can the wisdom of Celtic spirituality help heal the earth, overcome our conflicts, and reconnect us to the sacredness of the earth and one another?   John Philip Newell (born 1953) is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of the earth and every human being. In his most recent book, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul, he writes: “The crises that we are in the midst of today, whether ecological, political, or societal, stem from the fact that we treat the earth and one another as less than sacred.” Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Newell about how his earth-based spirituality can help us rediscover our connection with God, with each other and with the earth. 

In February 2022, Opera Parallèle presents the one-act opera, Sophia's Forest, at Grace Cathedral. It is the story of a young girl who has recently immigrated to the United States, having survived a traumatic journey through the chaos of a civil war in her homeland. With music by Lembit Beecher, Sophia's Forest is an exploration of both the lasting effects on families of the immigrant experience, and the ways in which children use their imaginations to deal with trauma.   Composer Lembit Beecher's music has been praised as “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal,” combining vividly imaginative colors with striking emotional immediacy. Indre Viskontas is a neuroscientist, opera stage director and science communicator across all mediums. Malaak Malikyar Sills is a leader in the Afghan diaspora. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Beecher, Viskontas and Sills about the lasting effects on families of the refugee/immigrant experience, the ways in which children use their imaginations to cope with trauma, and how art can help us connect with ourselves and with others. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. gracecathedral.org/givetograce.   About the Guests Noted for his collaborative spirit and “ingenious” interdisciplinary projects (The Wall Street Journal), Lembit Beecher is currently the composer-in-residence of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, having previously served a three-year term as the inaugural composer-in-residence of Opera Philadelphia. Recent premieres include Sky on Swings, a chamber opera for Opera Philadelphia starring Frederica von Stade and Marietta Simpson, which was nominated for Best World Premiere at the 2019 International Opera Awards. Many of his latest projects involve the incorporation of untraditional elements into opera, symphonic works and chamber music, including baroque instruments, sampled interviews, animation, and technology. Malaak Malikyar Sills is a leader in the Afghan diaspora. She works to make visible and connect ideas, people and initiatives towards a common purpose. She does this through her role as a trustee of the Sills Family Foundation, where she works with refugee and immigrant communities, survivors of human trafficking, families affected by incarceration and environmental advocates. She further serves as an advisor on the Welcome.US fund and Board Chair of Refugee and Immigrant Transitions, where she previously worked as Afghan Community Senior Advisor. Her prior work at the International Rescue Committee, coupled with her lived experience, inform her understanding of the systemic barriers newcomers face. As a result, Malaak works on advancing deep engagement and solidarity work with refugee communities. She continues to serve as a volunteer case manager for newcomer Afghans. Indre Viskontas is a neuroscientist, opera stage director and science communicator across all mediums. Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, she is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco where she runs The Creative Brain Lab, and the Creative Director of Pasadena Opera. She leads the Communications Core at the Sound Health Network, promoting research and public awareness of the impact music can have on our health and well-being. She directed Kat'a Kabanova at the California Shakespeare Theater for West Edge Opera in the summer of 2021. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD,  is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About  The  Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/forum.

Can the threat of climate change bring together the political left and right in the United States? In the partisan politics that have become so divisive in our country, climate change is usually seen as a progressive issue, disregarded by conservatives. For those who believe that climate change is a very real threat -- to the world's environment, security, economy, agriculture and people – they know that the world must come together quickly to enact durable solutions before it is too late. Yet how can we build consensus for action globally, when in our own country we remain divided? Tonight's guest, Bob Inglis, is a former member of Congress, and the founder of republicEn.org, a grass roots organization whose mission is to educate, recruit and organize conservative voices for action on climate change. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2022 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Inglis about bringing the right and left in the United States together, and leading the world to solutions on climate change. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce.   About the Guest Bob Inglis is the Executive Director of republicEn.org. He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1992, having never run for office before. He represented Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, from 1993-1998, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings in 1998, and then returned to the practice of commercial real estate law in Greenville, S.C. In 2004, he was re-elected to Congress and served until losing re-election in the South Carolina Republican primary of 2010. In 2011, Inglis went full-time into promoting free enterprise action on climate change and launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative (“E&EI”) at George Mason University in 2012, later rebranded as republicEn.org. For his work on climate change Inglis was given the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/forum.

Kristi Yamaguchi has had a long and successful career in professional figure skating – she is an Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time World Champion figure skater, among many other honors. She hails from Fremont, a fourth-generation descendant of Japanese emigrants, whose family was sent to the internment camps during World War II – in fact her mother was born there. In 1996, she founded the nonprofit organization, Always Dream, whose mission is to ensure children from low-income families have access to high-quality books in the home environment and extensive family engagement and support.  Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 202 our theme is connection. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Yamaguchi about sports, fostering reading as an integral part of children's lives and acceptance of difference among people—and their importance to connecting with others.  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278 or go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce.   About the Guest Kristi Yamaguchi is an Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time World Champion figure skater. She went on to become a member of the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, and the US Olympic Hall of Fame. Following a long and successful career in professional figure skating, Kristi took to the dance floor to win top honors with partner Mark Ballas on the popular TV show “Dancing With The Stars.” In 1996, she founded the nonprofit organization, Always Dream, whose mission is to ensure children from low-income families have access to high-quality books in the home environment and extensive family engagement support. Kristi added New York Times Best-Selling author to her list of achievements with three children's picture books, “Dream Big, Little Pig!”, “It's A Big World, Little Pig!” and “Cara's Kindness.” Kristi resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Bret Hedican and their two daughters, Keara and Emma. About the Moderator The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About  The  Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/forum

The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night. . . . They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say. . . . He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”    Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh's letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”   The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.    Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Bishop Marc about his book Brothers in the Beloved Community, the little-known story of a friendship between two giants of our time, and the healing potential of the Beloved Community.   You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce to give or text Think to 76278.     About the Guest The Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Handley Andrus is the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Prior to his election in 2006, he served as Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Andrus is from Oak Ridge, Tennessee and has a BS in Plant Science, a Masters in Social Sciences and a Master of Divinity degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2019. His leadership has focused on key issues related to peace and justice, including immigration reform, civil rights for LBGTQ+ persons, health care, and climate change. His advocacy work has taken him to the Paris UN Climate Conference in 2015 (COP21), the 2016 conference in Marrakesh (COP22), as well as the Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrations at Standing Rock, North Dakota. Bishop Andrus is a member of the We Are Still In Leaders' Circle, a diverse group of ambassadors for American climate action. He also serves on the boards of the Episcopal Impact Fund, the Episcopal School for Deacons, Episcopal Community Services, the Bishop's Ranch, St. Dorothy's Rest, and the American Bach Soloists, among other organizations. Andrus is married to Sheila Andrus, Ph.D., former director of the Sparkman Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Public Health, and they have two adult daughters, Chloé and Pilar.   About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About  The  Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  gracecathedral.org/the-forum.

Can words change us? Poetry can help us understand and appreciate the world around us. Poetry's strength lies in its ability to shed a sideways light on the world, so the truth sneaks up on you. Poetry can teach us how to live—it bares open the vulnerabilities of human beings so we can all relate to each other a little better.   Brought up in the South Carolina lowcountry, Atsuro Riley is the author of Heard-Hoard (2021), which McSweeney's called “The essential collection of our moment—what we've needed most without knowing it.” His first collection, Romey's Order  (2010), was the winner of the Whiting Writers' Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, The Believer Poetry Award, and the Witter Bynner Award from the Library of Congress. US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan says of Riley “he's pursuing something a lot more ambitious that has deeply to do with sacred properties of language or language that could cast a spell against harm.”  In his own words: “All the best old tale-tellers of my Carolina upbringing could play righteously upon their (many) Englishes, deft as fiddlers bowing the strings. How they could pierce you with a lyric phrasing; how crackerjack they were at conjuring—for maximum reverberation and haunt. To my ear, a poetry unkillable as kudzu. I aspire to their example in everything I write. At the same time, I hear the admonishment of the Japanese master Basho (1644–1694), echoing from my mother's side of the cultural ledger: — Is there any good in saying everything?—”  Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Riley about poetry and the healing power of words.  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Go to gracecathedral.org/givetograce or text Think to 76278. Thank you.    About the guest  Atsuro Riley is the author of Heard-Hoard (University of Chicago Press, 2021), winner of the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, and Romey's Order  (University of Chicago Press, 2010), winner of the Whiting Writers' Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, The Believer Poetry Award, and the Witter Bynner Award from the Library of Congress. His work has been honored with the Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, the Pushcart Prize, and the Wood Prize given by POETRY magazine. His poems have been anthologized in The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall, The Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 Years of POETRY Magazine, The Oxford Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, Poems of the American South, The McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets, Poems from Far and Wide, Vinegar and Char, Gracious, and Home: 100 Poems. Brought up in the South Carolina lowcountry, Riley lives in San Francisco.  About the host    The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  https://gracecathedral.org/forum/

Sports don't exist in a vacuum, and sometimes it is whether you win or lose and not how you play the game. Injustice and inequity are reflected and reinforced in sports as they are in all areas of our society. And sport has long served as an arena for the struggle for racial justice. Athletes such as Tommie Smith and John Carlos, to Colin Kaepernick have served as powerful agents for change. But even many of their fans continue to be uncomfortable about their protests on the podium at Olympic medal ceremonies or on the field during the National Anthem. What does the activism of athletes and our reception of it tell us about who we are?    Dr. Harry Edwards has had an outsize influence over the history, culture and understanding of the role of sports in society. Professor at UC Berkeley for 30 years, he invented a field of study, the sociology of sports, and provided the foundation for all its assertions. He was the lead organizer behind the Olympic Project for Human Rights which led to the most widely recognized protest in sports history – when American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised Black Power salutes atop the Olympic medal stand in Mexico City in 1968. Beginning in the mid-1980s, he began consulting on issues of diversity for the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. He arranged seminars on finances and social interactions and essentially invented the modern system of player counseling and support.    Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Dr. Edwards about sports, athletes and how they play a role in healing racial injustice and inequity.    You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Visit gracecathedral.org/givetograce and choose The Forum as the fund designation or text Think to 76278.        About the guest  Dr. Harry Edwards is considered the leading authority on developments at the interface of race, sport, and society and a pioneer in the development of the sociology of sport as an academic discipline in America. He was awarded an athletic scholarship to San Jose State University, and completed a M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology at Cornell University. He was professor of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley from 1970-2000. He was the lead organizer of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, and advocated a Black athlete boycott of the 1968 Olympics among other protest efforts to dramatize the racial inequities and barriers confronting Blacks in sport and society. Edwards became a consultant on issues of diversity for all three major sports. The programs and methods he developed for dealing with issues and challenges facing professional football player personnel were adopted by the entire NFL in 1992. The NFL also adopted the Minority Coaches Internship and Outreach Program that he developed with Coach Bill Walsh at the San Francisco Forty Niners in 1986. He has written scores of articles and four books: The Struggle That Must Be, Sociology of Sports, Black Students, and The Revolt of the Black Athlete.    About the host    The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.      About The Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online at gracecathedral.org/the-forum. 

La frontera nos divide, pero la tierra nos une. (The border divides us, but the land unites us.)  We may not be a nation of immigrants (listen to Forum guest and historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz discuss her book of that title on September 29, 2021), but immigration continues to impact us all. Natural disasters, war, corruption and oppression continue to drive migrants' continued pursuit for an opportunity to live with a sense of dignity and hope for a future. Under the Biden administration, there have been policy changes that have been welcomed by immigrant advocates. At the same time, migrants seeking asylum have overwhelmed the federal system for processing them, including thousands of unaccompanied minors. What is life like on the border today? What can and should be done about this humanitarian crisis?   The Rev. Canon David Chavez has spent nearly all his life breathing in the culture, customs and geography of the United States' southern border, from his childhood in the 1980s growing up between border communities in Arizona and California to his current role as the Diocese of Arizona's Canon for Border Ministries.   Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Rev. Chavez about how to heal the divides our borders cause, and rediscover what unites us.   You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278.    About the guest  The Rev. Canon David Chavez serves as Canon for Border Ministries for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona. A native of Arizona,  Padre David was raised in both Arizona and southern California. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv. 2004, ThM. 2005), Fr. David is a member of the Association for Borderland Studies, and serves the wider church as a member of the council of advice for the Hispanic/Latino Ministries and as a member of the Mexico Covenant Committee. A proud father of two amazing boys and an avid reader (mostly philosophy and cozy mysteries), Fr. David also enjoys playing alto saxophone and hiking.   About the host    The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online

Artificial intelligence is embedded in our everyday lives: It influences which streets we walk down, which clothes we buy, which articles we read, whom we date and where and how we choose to live. It is ubiquitous, yet it remains obscure. Amid increasing scrutiny of technology's role in everything from policing to politics, “ethics” has become an industry safe word, but no one seems to agree on what these ethics are. How are the teams working on A.I. determining what kinds of ethics and principles to pursue? What sets humans apart from machines? Is the development of A.I. changing us? Can A.I. teach us anything about what it means to be human?  Linda Kinstler, a journalist and Ph.D candidate in the Rhetoric Department at U.C. Berkeley, has been reporting on the relationship between the digital and the divine for over a year and has had dozens of conversations with religious leaders, programmers and believers of all faiths about how our devices are indeterminately altering our interior lives.  Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Ms. Kinstler about ethics in technology, the question of what makes us human and the future of mankind. READ Linda Kinstler's essay in the New York Times: Can Silicon Valley Find God?   READ Isaac Asimov's favorite of his stories, The Last Question 

The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer is Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod (ELCA). The first openly transgender pastor Bishop in a mainline Christian denomination, Megan is an award-winning filmmaker, musician and historian. They were a finalist for the Lambda Literary award, received an honorable mention as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by Wisdom in Action with His Holiness the Dali Lama and have been featured on Queer Eye, Cosmo, People and in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.   Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Bishop Megan about the healing that comes from being our best self and being louder than other people's fear.   You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278.     About the guest The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (they/he) is Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bishop Megan, the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, was ordained Extraordinarily in 2006, one of 18 pastors ordained during the time when the ELCA did not allow LGBT pastors to serve openly. In 2010, Bishop Megan was one of the first seven pastors received into the ELCA after their policies changed. On May 8, 2021 they were elected as the first openly transgender Bishop in a mainline Christian denomination. Before serving as Bishop, they served as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco, Community Chaplain Coordinator for the San Francisco Police Department and Executive Director of Welcome with the LGBTQ+ Homeless Community in San Francisco. Bishop Megan is an award-winning filmmaker, musician and historian and has been featured on Queer Eye, Cosmo, People and in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. Bishop Megan lives near Golden Gate Park with their wife Laurel, two children and two cats.   About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  

Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly that we are a nation of immigrants. Are we indeed living in a land of opportunity—founded and built by immigrants? Or does this benign narrative of progress mask and diminish the US's history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today.  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an historian and the highly acclaimed author of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment and most recently, Not “A Nation of Immigrants”: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion.  Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Dunbar-Ortiz about how embracing the more complex and honest history of the United States can lead to healing. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278.    About the guest  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades, working with Indigenous communities on sovereignty and land rights and helping to build the international Indigenous movement. She is professor emerita of Ethnic Studies at California State University, East Bay. She is the author of numerous books and articles on indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, including Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico; The Great Sioux Nation; and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, which received the 2015 American Book Award. She is also the author of Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment and most recently, Not “A Nation of Immigrants”: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion.  About the host    The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About The Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online  

Whether it's meditation or a walk in nature, reading a sacred text or saying a prayer, there are many ways to tap into a heightened awareness of the world around you and your place in it. In The Awakened Brain, psychologist Dr. Lisa Miller weaves her own deeply personal journey of awakening with her groundbreaking research, revealing that humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality, and that our brains become more resilient and robust as a result of it. The Awakened Brain combines cutting-edge science (from MRI studies to genetic research, epidemiology, and more) with on-the-ground application for people of all ages and from all walks of life, illuminating the surprising science of spirituality and how to engage it in our lives.    Dr. Lisa Miller is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and Professor and Founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. A graduate of Yale and University of Pennsylvania, she is a leading national expert in spirituality, health and thriving in development.      Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Dr. Miller about the neuroscience of spirituality and a bold new paradigm for health, healing and resilience.    You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278.      About the guest    Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the Founder and Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology, and has held over a decade of joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School. Her innovative research has been published in more than one hundred peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Cerebral Cortex, The American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.    Dr. Miller is Editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, Founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of the APA journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice, an elected Fellow of The American Psychological Association (APA) and the two-time President of the APA Society for Psychology and Spirituality. A graduate of Yale University and University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate under the founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, she has served as Principal Investigator on multiple grant funded research studies. Dr. Miller speaks and consults around The Awakened Brain and The Spiritual Child for the US Military, businesses (including tech, finance, HR and sales), personal development, faith-based organizations, schools and universities, and for mental health and wellness initiatives.    About the host    The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.      About The Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online  

Restorative justice, an approach to justice that seeks to restore and repair the people and relationships impacted by crime, has seen worldwide growth since the 1990s. Rather than focusing on punishment, this philosophical approach to justice relies on values such as respect, participation, trust, accountability and healing. Deanna Van Buren is one of only 500 black female architects in the U.S. and is a nationally known advocate for magnifying the role of design in creating social change. She is the Executive Director, Design Director and Co-Founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, whose bold idea is that by transforming the spaces and places where we do justice, we can transform the culture of justice in our society. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Deanna van Buren about building the change that we believe in. About the guest Deanna Van Buren is the Executive Director, Design Director, and Co-Founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, and one of only 500 black female architects in the U.S. She is a nationally known advocate for magnifying the role of design for ending mass incarceration, and her work includes the creation of multi-use hubs for restorative justice and workforce development across the country. Deanna received her BS in architecture from the University of Virginia and her MArch from Columbia University, and she is an alumna of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.  About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.

June 2021 is Pride Month. While there won't be a parade this year, there is still much to celebrate. And there's still much work to be done in the struggle for true equality and acceptance for LGBTQ+ people. We are proud to be joined this month by Kim Jackson, as a guest at The Forum and to preach on Pride Sunday, June 27. Jackson is a State Senator for District 41 in Georgia, an Episcopal priest, and with her spouse, Trina, a lifelong advocate for social justice. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Senator Jackson about social justice, getting things done, and the celebration of Pride.   You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278. About the guest Kim Jackson serves as Senator for Georgia State Senate District 41, representing portions of Dekalb and Gwinnett counties. Kim works every day to build a safer, fairer, and more prosperous Georgia, and bring the diverse voices of her district to the Capitol: immigrants, refugees, and people living on the margins. An Episcopal priest from the rural South, Kim made Georgia home over a decade ago. After graduating from Furman University, Kim volunteered as an EMT and led her colleagues at Emory's Candler School of Theology to advocate for Criminal Justice Reform in Georgia. Upon receiving her Master of Divinity, Kim commenced her vocation as an Episcopal priest. Over the past 10 years of ministry, she has served as a college chaplain, a nationally renowned consultant and preacher, and a parish priest. As the Vicar of the Church of the Common Ground, Kim co-creates Church with people who are experiencing homelessness in downtown Atlanta. She and her spouse live on a small urban farm in Stone Mountain with goats, ducks, honeybees, and chickens. About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.  About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world

Grace Spring Forum Online with Lenny Duncan — United States of Grace: Celebrate Pride Monday, June 7, 2021   “The dreamers—those of us still engaged in building and often rebuilding the promises and vision of this country, those of us who are wrestling… we are America. We are the America that I'm writing about.” — Rev. Lenny Duncan     At thirteen, Lenny Duncan was a poor, queer Black teenager from Race Street in West Philadelphia, who climbed aboard a Greyhound bus and left his family behind. What Duncan found, in small towns and big cities across America, is what makes his new memoir so rich, so heartbreaking and so surprisingly patriotic.     Lenny Duncan is a pastor of the Jubilee Collective, a community in Vancouver, Washington; the board chaplain for ReconcilingWorks; and the author of Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US and United States of Grace: A Memoir of Homelessness, Addiction, Incarceration, and Hope.     Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Duncan about America, and survival, hope and grace.     Support the author and local booksellers — buy his books at The Collective – Oakland. #TheForum #USofGrace   You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Text Think to 76278.     About the guest LENNY DUNCAN (he/him) is a writer, witness, agitator, and pastor of the Jubilee Collective, a community in Vancouver, Washington, where he lives, organized around the idea that maybe Jesus is an anti-racist and loves queer, trans, and two-spirited people, too. Duncan has spent time in all 48 contiguous states, sleeping by the side of the highway or in penthouses along the way. His first book, Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US (2019), was a surprise hit for his publisher. Duncan is the board chaplain for ReconcilingWorks. He has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition and Code Switch.   About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    About The Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  https://gracecathedral.org/the-forum/ 

Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, Louise Little. Virtually nothing has been said about these extraordinary women until now, but the fundamental belief in equal justice and dignity came above all else from the three mothers of James, Martin Luther and Malcolm. Celebrate Mother's Day and Black motherhood by hearing the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes. Anna Malaika Tubbs, author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation, is a Cambridge Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and a Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Scholar, with a BA in Anthropology from Stanford and a Master's from the University of Cambridge in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with the author about how her book stands against the women's erasure, a monument to their historical importance. As Malcolm X put it, “All our achievements are mom's.” Support the author and local booksellers — buy her book at Books Inc. Laurel Village or wherever fine books are sold! You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278. About the guest ANNA MALAIKA TUBBS is the author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation. She is also a Cambridge Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and a Bill and Melinda Gates Cambridge Scholar. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a BA in Anthropology, Anna received a Master's from the University of Cambridge in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies. Outside of the academy she is an educator and DEI consultant. She lives with her husband, Michael Tubbs, and their son Michael Malakai. About the host   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.  About  The  Forum  The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online

Humans, unlike other animals that are drawn to water, are not natural-born swimmers. We must be taught. Our evolutionary ancestors learned for survival; now in the 21st century we swim in freezing Arctic waters and piranhainfested rivers to test our limits. Swimming is an introspective and silent sport in a chaotic and noisy age, it's therapeutic for both the mind and body, and it's an adventurous way to get from point A to point B. It's also one route to that elusive, ecstatic state of flow.   Bonnie Tsui, a swimmer and surfer, is a longtime journalist for The New York Times and the author of American Chinatown; her first children's book, Sarah and the Big Wave, about the first woman to surf Mavericks; and Why We Swim.  Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with the author about what seduces us to water despite its dangers, why we come back to it again and again, and what that says about being human.     You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Click here to give or text Think to 76278.     About the guest  Bonnie Tsui is a longtime journalist for The New York Times and the author of WHY WE SWIM, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, a TIME Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020, an NPR Best Book of 2020, and a Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe bestseller. It is currently being translated into seven languages. Her first children's book, SARAH & THE BIG WAVE, about the first woman to surf Mavericks, will be published in May. She lives, swims, and surfs in the Bay Area.  About the host    The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.   About  The  Forum   The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum's host, Malcolm Clemens Young, the dean of Grace Cathedral, and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online  

In the 1960s, three-quarters of American children lived in families with two first-time married, heterosexual parents. Today fewer than half do. The conventional family has broken into a multitude of perfect families, including gay families, multiparent families, adoptive families, foster families, families built through assisted reproduction, single parent-headed families, and child-free families. What does it mean to be an “ideal family” in America today? And for families learning to deal with their exceptional children, to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent should they help them become their best selves? In his books New Family Values and Far from the Tree, the Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology and bestselling author Andrew Solomon explores the startling proposition that diversity is what unites us all. The experience of difference within families is universal; these stories are everyone's stories. And themes of generosity, acceptance, and tolerance expand our definition of what it is to be human. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Solomon about how to make peace with difference across generations.   About the guest Andrew Solomon, Ph.D., is a writer and lecturer on politics, culture and psychology; winner of the National Book Award; and an activist in LGBTQ rights, mental health, and the arts. He is Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center, Lecturer in Psychiatry at Yale University, and a former President of PEN American Center. He is the author of the best-selling Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity (2012), Far and Away: How Travel Can Change the World) (2016) and New Family Values (2018) among others.

The vital signs of the planet – CO2, global temperatures and sea levels rising – are telling us that it is in the midst of a medical emergency. What does it mean to be a human being on Earth when every living system is declining, and the rate of that decline is accelerating? What is our role in setting the planet on the path to healing? Ellie Cohen is the CEO of The Climate Center, and a leader in catalyzing cross-boundary, collaborative, and just responses to the climate crisis. She is leading the campaign to help California, the world's fifth largest economy, serve as a model for the rest of the country and the world. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing. Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation in advance of Earth Day about where we are today, where we need to be tomorrow, and how we're going to get there. About the guest Ellie Cohen, CEO of The Climate Center, is a leader in catalyzing cross-boundary, collaborative, and just responses to the climate crisis. She oversees the statewide Climate-Safe California campaign to achieve net-negative emissions by 2030, to capture more carbon than we are emitting, catalyzing the nation and the world into accelerated climate action. Ellie served as President and CEO of Point Blue Conservation Science for 20 years where she and the organization's 160 scientists developed climate-smart conservation solutions for wildlife and people. Under her leadership, the organization grew five-fold to a workforce of 200 and was invited as an Observer NGO to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. An honors graduate of Duke University (botany) and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government (MPP), Ellie has received numerous accolades including the Beyond Duke Alumni Award for Service and Leadership (2019), the National Park Service Pacific West Region Partnership Award (2018), and the Bay Nature Environmental Hero Award (2012). Ellie currently serves as an appointed member of the San Anselmo Sustainability Commission. You can follow Ellie on  Twitter and LinkedIn.

We are living in times of immense challenge on every front - socially, politically, ecologically and spiritually. We are destroying the natural systems on which we rely, making many of us feel alienated and lost. We are in one of the most profound transitions in human history - we need a new story to reorient and ground ourselves to meet these challenges.   Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are co-directors of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, a project which evokes the spiritual wisdom and ecological ethics from the world's religions for the healing of both people and the planet. They are also creators, with Brian Thomas Swimme, of the multimedia project Journey of the Universe, which weaves together the best of modern science with literature, history, philosophy and religion to inspire people to preserve, protect, and heal our common planetary home.  Join Dean Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation about the journey of who we are, how we got here, where we are headed and how we belong.  You can also hear Mary Evelyn Tucker guest preach on Sunday, March 14 at our 11 a.m. Choral Eucharist. Buy Journey of the Universe. 

As we approach the tenth anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, inequity and inequality continue to be on the rise. Join us to hear from Judith Butler, UC Berkeley's Maxine Elliot Professor Emeritus in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory on her latest book The Force of Nonviolence.   As featured in the New Yorker, Butler argues that our times, or perhaps all times, call for imagining an entirely new way for humans to live together in the world—a world of what Butler calls “radical equality.” Dean Malcolm Clemens Young and Dr. Butler will discuss how this radical ideal might help heal our divided world.  Buy her book. 

Larry Brilliant is a physician and epidemiologist, CEO of Pandefense Advisory, senior advisor at Skoll Foundation and former professor of epidemiology and WHO medical officer. He is also a person of abiding faith. He joined Dean Malcolm Clemens Young in March of 2019 to reflect upon what we could learn from the history of smallpox as we face pandemics of the future. Just one year later, COVID-19 entered our lives. Each year Grace Cathedral chooses a theme for reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing.  As we enter the second year of the pandemic, we need more than healing. We need strength, endurance, steadfastness, the ability to hang on, and finally — hope. In this second conversation with Dean Young, Dr. Brilliant will put the pandemic in the perspective we need, discuss what's really happening now and what we can expect next.

What is the role of philanthropy in our community, and has that role changed during the pandemic? Can philanthropy be an agent of social change in the community? Join us to hear from Nicole Taylor, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about the work of SVCF and the future of philanthropy. 

Betty Louie is a first-generation Chinese-American retired businesswoman, community leader and philanthropist, and as the Year of the Ox begins she will be in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young to reflect upon the spiritual and secular traditions of the Chinese New Year, Chinatown revitalization in the context of pandemic and beyond and her family's fascinating history in San Francisco.

Hilary Pennington is the Ford Foundation's executive vice president for program and responsible for the BUILD program, which aims to strengthen social justice organizations, reducing inequality in all its forms. She will be in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about philanthropy in the 21st century.

Tom Steyer, businessman, climate activist and NextGen America founder will be in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young to reflect on politics in the 21st century in the first week following the inauguration of the 46th President.    Each year Grace Cathedral chooses a theme for reflection, and in 2021 our theme is healing.  Dean Young and Steyer will discuss the current state of our country as we head into a new year with the same problems of COVID-19 and new challenges of 2021, and Steyer's hopes for healing in our divided country.   

Join us for a panel discussion with Clayborne Carson of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford and Eva Paterson of Equal Justice Society, moderated by Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of California, presented in partnership with The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation. Organized around the MLK2021 theme of Justice and Hope, the conversation is designed to create a space to critique, analyze and thoughtfully question assumptions about King and faith, King and community and King and society, and to ignite greater dialogue and programs of action that will infuse the positive force of justice. 

Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration and reflection, and in 2020 our theme is bridges. In this landmark year—the 150th and 100th anniversaries of the amendments granting the vote to men of color and to women—in the midst of a divisive presidency, and in an election year, the need for reconciliation in our country – and city – is urgent. Join us to hear from San Francisco Mayor London Breed in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about San Francisco post-pandemic and post-election. About the guest Mayor London Breed is a native San Franciscan, raised by her grandmother in Plaza East Public Housing in the Western Addition neighborhood. In June 2018, Mayor Breed was elected to be the first African American woman and second woman in San Francisco history to serve as Mayor. She was re-elected for her first full four-year term in November 2019. She led San Francisco's emergency response to COVID-19 and is currently guiding the City's phased reopening and economic recovery. Recently, Mayor Breed announced her vision to fundamentally change the nature of policing in San Francisco and issued a set of policies to address structural inequities. Since becoming Mayor, she has focused on helping the City's homeless population into care and shelter; adding more housing for residents of all income levels; helping those suffering from mental health and substance use disorder on San Francisco's streets; ensuring that all San Franciscans have access to a thriving economy; making San Francisco a cleaner and safer city; and furthering San Francisco's leadership in combating climate change. Prior to public service, Mayor Breed served as Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Western Addition for over a decade. She also served as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner and in 2010 was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to be a San Francisco Fire Commissioner, where she served until her election to the Board of Supervisors. In 2013, Mayor Breed was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 5 for six years, including three years as President of the Board.

Twenty-five years ago, Alan Jones, then Dean of Grace Cathedral, founded The Forum to create a space for civil conversations on issues that matter. At this most divisive time in our country, when civil discourse is more needed than ever, we couldn't think of any way we'd rather spend the eve of the election than sharing in a conversation between Dean Emeritus Alan Jones and Dean Malcolm Clemens Young on faith and politics, bridging the divides that separate us, the pandemic and their hopes for 2021.

“It is a Christian obligation to vote, and more than that, it is the church's responsibility to help get souls to the polls.”— Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, The Episcopal Church  The United States locks up more people per capita than any other nation, at the staggering rate of 698 per 100,000 residents. And the poor and people of color are dramatically overrepresented in our nation's prisons and jails. Once released from prison, former prisoners are punished again, discriminated against in housing, employment and in voting. Something needs to change.   Proposition 17, on the November ballot, would amend the California constitution to restore the right to vote to convicted felons who are released on parole from state or federal prison. Under current law such persons are not eligible to vote until the terms of their parole are completed. Can even narrow policy changes, like this one, meaningfully reduce our society's use of incarceration? And what else can we do?   Join us to hear from Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, co-founder of All of Us or None, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about Prop. 17, amending the 13th Amendment and the movement to win full restoration of human and civil rights for formerly and currently incarcerated people. 

In the courtroom, there are always—and only— two irreconcilable sides of the same story. When the wrong story prevails, justice is perverted and an innocent person is condemned.  When there is an exoneration, we expect a happy ending. But an exoneration can be an earthquake that leaves behind upheaval and ruin. What is the way forward? Join us to hear from Lara Bazelon, attorney, professor and director of the Criminal & Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinics at USF, and author of Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about breaking down stereotypes and preconceptions about crime and justice, and asking the hard questions about what is right and fair and possible in our lifetime.

The Forum is the cathedral's flagship conversation series, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2020. Each year the cathedral chooses a theme for inspiration. In 2020 our theme is bridges. We are challenging ourselves to explore and reflect upon reconciliation in this very divisive time in our country. Join us to hear from San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young, will talk about his work building bridges that promote justice and safety in our community. About the guest:  Chesa Boudin is the recently elected District Attorney of San Francisco. Personally impacted by parental incarceration and the failings of the criminal justice system, DA Boudin was inspired to become a public defender, and now, decarceral prosecutor. He is focused on reforming the criminal justice system and making our communities safer by developing data-driven policies to expand alternatives to incarceration and treat the root causes of crime. In his first few months in office, DA Boudin ended the office's practice of asking for cash bail, eliminated status enhancements, implemented California's first diversion program for primary caregivers, and ended the prosecution of charges resulting from racist pre-textual traffic stops. He has also implemented numerous police reforms, started an innovative Economic Crimes Against Workers Unit to protect workers from exploitation, and has succeeded in reducing the jail population in San Francisco even as crime rates declined. He remains committed to additional reforms that promote justice and protect public safety. Check out DA Boudin's podcast, Chasing Justice: https://www.chasingjusticepodcast.com/

Are you stunned by the rise of populist, nationalist movements, wondering why so many would seemingly vote against their own economic interests, or simply feeling like a stranger in your own country? As we approach election day in November, how can we connect with a crucial set of workers –and voters? How can we bridge the differences in gender, class, race and work?    Join us to hear from Joan Williams, described as having “something approaching rock star status” in her field by The New York Times, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about her central role in reshaping the conversation about work, gender and class — and why we won't fix US politics until we talk about class. 

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in conversation with Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of California.  As we enter our seventh month of sheltering in place, when community is more precious and urgent than ever, go deeper with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church into his understanding of the Beloved Community – where the term come from, how he first encountered it, how his understanding of the Beloved Community has changed over time, among other questions – in conversation with Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of the Diocese of California.    

Join us for a conversation presented by Grace Cathedral and City Lights, with Michael G. Long, editor of We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest and Miguel Bustos, Senior Director of the GLIDE Center for Social Justice, moderated by Patrick Thompson, veteran antitrust litigator.

Join us for Grace Cathedral's flagship conversation program online with ethicist, author and award-winning teacher Grace Kao. The COVID-19 public health emergency is also causing a human rights crisis, with its economic and social effects disproportionately impacting the poor, the elderly and people of color.  Even if “we are all in this together,” some enjoy more safety, shelter, resources and care.  How does moral thinking about the common good challenge these disparities? Do conceptions of the common good differ across national and cultural contexts?  How can religious communities and theological ethics teach us to address them?  Join us to hear from Grace Kao, Professor of Ethics at the Claremont School of Theology and co-director of the Center for Sexuality, Gender and Religion, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about individualism and inequality, solidarity and the common good, and discerning a sense of the global common good in a time of crisis.

Join us for Grace Cathedral's flagship conversation program online with University of Oxford professor and one of the editors of the eleven volumes of Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooks. In this era of fake news, what can we learn from Kierkegaard's “truth as subjectivity”? Does 19th century philosophy have something to teach us?  Join us to hear from Joel Rasmussen, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about why the writings of Søren Kierkegaard matter today. Rasmussen's studies focus on the interconnections between religion, philosophy, history and literature in modern culture. Kierkegaard (1813–1855)—Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher— epitomizes these interconnections.

In the Bible, Jesus and the prophets call out the powerful in society for their injustice towards the poor and vulnerable. What do the ancient words of Scripture, calling for change, mean for our lives today? Join us to hear from Herman Waetjen, author of The Reordering of Power: A Sociopolitical Reading of Mark's Gospel and The Letter to the Romans: Salvation as Justice and the Deconstruction of the Law, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about what to do with the Bible in the current political and cultural climate. Waetjen is professor emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union, and spent his academic career exploring the Gospels for their revolutionary insight.

Join us for Grace Cathedral's flagship conversation program online with one of the world's foremost scholars on Hinduism. What is Hinduism, a religion practiced by over one billion people? Join us to hear from Wendy Doniger, one of the world's foremost scholars of Hinduism, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about one of the world's oldest major religions. Holding doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard and Oxford, Doniger is Professor Emerita of the University of Chicago and a prolific author, translator and editor, publishing almost thirty books in as many years. Recent works include Against Dharma: Dissent in the Ancient Indian Sciences of Sex and Politics, Redeeming the Kamasutra, and Pluralism and Democracy in India: Debating the Hindu Right. Her groundbreaking work The Hindus: An Alternative History elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds, the inner life and the social history of Hindus.

Join us for Grace Cathedral's flagship conversation program online with the science, philosophy and theology scholar and activist Dr. Philip Clayton who is working toward a genuinely ecologically sustainable civilization. Could COVID-19 help us win the fight against climate change? The pandemic has elicited a global response unlike anything we've seen before, and carbon emissions have dropped worldwide. This crisis also presents an opportunity, so how can we all―scholars and activists, secular and religious leaders, the private sector as well as the public―begin to live and think right now the way our grandchildren will have to live and think, impacted by the climate crisis? Join us to hear from teacher, speaker, author and activist Philip Clayton in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young as he reflects on what actions we can take to shift the structures of human life on this planet toward a genuinely ecological civilization. As a scholar, Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology) works at the intersection of science, philosophy and theology. As an activist (president of EcoCiv.org, and the Institute for Postmodern Development of China), he works to convene, facilitate and catalyze multi-sectoral initiatives toward ecological civilization.

Join us for Grace Cathedral's flagship conversation program online with the dean of St. John the Divine, a cathedral in the heart of Manhattan. New York City is at the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine — the largest cathedral in the world — is in the heart of Manhattan. What is the role of the cathedral in such overwhelming circumstances? How is St. John the Divine responding to the pandemic? How is their community finding ways to pray, mourn, learn and act in this time of crisis and change? Dean Clifton Daniel, III and Dean Malcolm Clemens Young,  Dean of Grace Cathedral will reflect together on a cathedral's unique calling. 

Who is God? What does it mean to be human? Why do we believe what we believe? These are questions that systematic theology attempts to answer.  Join us to hear from Katherine Sonderegger, Virginia Theological Seminary's William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology and author of Systematic Theology: Vol. 1, The Doctrine of God, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Young. 

Disproportionately impacting people of color, the pandemic has revealed the ongoing, disastrous consequences of racism and inequality in our country. As people of faith, we must ask: is there a relationship between Christian religion and white supremacy in the United States? And how might we start to disentangle them? Join us to hear from Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Professor of Theology at Fordham University and author of The Sin of White Supremacy: Christianity, Racism and Religious Diversity in America, in conversation with Malcolm Clemens Young, dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. In her book, Hill Fletcher proposes strategies to foster racial healing in America, leading with the demand that white Christians accept their responsibility for racist policies and structural discrimination in America.