Speaker: Pamela Lightsey, Associate Dean for Community Life and Lifelong Learning, Clinical Assistant Professor of Contextual Theology and Practice, Boston University School of Theology. Book discussion: Pamela Lightsey.“Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology.” Pickwick, 2015. 

About Pamela Lightsey

Dr. Pamela Lightsey is a scholar, social justice activist, and military veteran whose academic and research interests include: classical and contemporary just war theory, Womanist theology, Queer theory and theology, and African American religious history and theologies. In 2005, Dr. Lightsey was ordained as an elder in full connection in the United Methodist Church. In 2008, she became the first out African American queer lesbian elder in the denomination. A teenager during the Black Power movement, Dr. Lightsey’s commitment to social justice was shaped in the south and its flame has remained kindled across a lifetime of fighting injustice on the streets, in the classroom and in the church. Her work interrogates the intersections of oppression such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and classism. Her activism is both informed by and informs her scholarship.

Dr. Lightsey currently serves as Associate Dean and Clinical Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Theology. She is the author of numerous publications her most recent manuscript being Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology. Dr. Lightsey is a member of the Workgroup on Constructive Theology, the American Academy of Religion (has co-chaired the AAR Womanist Group) and served as board member of Reconciling Ministries Network. As a highly sought out public speaker, Dr. Lightsey lectures at universities across the country (such as Vanderbilt, Loyola, Fordham, Syracuse), and at institutions in Brazil, Cuba and South Korea.

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The Faith & Life Forum explores matters of faith and public life. This term, we will explore the theme of "Redefining Success: Living a Life of Sacrifice and Service” through readings, discussion, interviews, and lectures.