Join us for a discussion in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., presented in partnership with The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation and moderated by Executive Director Aaron Grizzell. Organized around the MLK2025 theme of Toward a more just union, 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. 

The guest speakers will include Willie James Jennings, Ph.D. (The Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale Divinity School) and Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Ph.D. (The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University). 

Please also join us for an Interfaith service in celebration of Dr. King immediately preceding The Forum. Your registration for the Forum is also a registration for the Interfaith service.   

Advance registration is recommended but not required. The Interfaith Service and Forum will also be livestreamed here and will be posted on our Youtube channel for viewing on demand.  

Watch

Dr. King’s sermon at Grace Cathedral, March 28, 1965 part 1 

Dr. King’s sermon at Grace Cathedral, March 28, 1965 part 2 

About The Guests

Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas is The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences and Executive Director of both the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE) and the nationally-acclaimed Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG) and serves as co-founder of the Society for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (SRER). Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of ethics, feminist/womanist studies, Black Church studies, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and postcolonial studies with an overall approach to the study of Christian social ethics that engages broad questions of moral agency, cultural memory, ethical responsibility, and social justice. Her numerous publications include Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006) and Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007).  

Willie James Jennings is a theologian who teaches in the areas of Christian thought, race theory, decolonial, and environmental studies. Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race published by Yale University Press and recipient of the 2010 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive-Reflective Studies category. He is also the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging, which was the inaugural book in the much-anticipated book series, Theological Education between the Times, and has already become an instant classic, winning the 2020 book of the year award from Publisher’s Weekly. He is an ordained Baptist minister and has served as interim pastor for several North Carolina churches. A Calvin College graduate, Jennings received his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. in religion and ethics from Duke. 

About The Moderator

Aaron Grizzell is the executive director of the Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation (NorcalMLK Foundation). The foundation, dedicated to helping unlock the promise in every person by promoting social, economic, and environmental justice, was originally founded in 1985 by the late Coretta Scott King to serve as the official organization in northern California to honor her husband’s newly established federal holiday. He also co-founded the Black & Brown Comix Arts Festival (BCAF), a comic book, animation, and popular culture expo that celebrates artists of color. Grizzell’s experience spans over 25 years in civic and social justice, public policy, and economic development. 

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.  More about Grace Forum Online. 

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