The Beatitudes Society Advisory Board
Diana Butler Bass
Author
Diana Butler Bass is an expert in American religion who works as an author, speaker, and independent scholar. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books on American religious practice including Christianity for the Rest of Us, 2006. The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, 2004, has been lauded as one of the most important books on mainline Protestantism in the last two decades.
Diana has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies. From1995-2000 she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations. [top]
David Batstone
Professor of Ethics, University of San Francisco
President, Not For Sale Campaign
Dave is Professor of Ethics in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He received his B.A. from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, his M.Div from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and his PhD from the Graduate Theological Union. Following graduation, he taught at the GTU before taking up a faculty post at USF in1994. He is the author of Not For Sale. [top]
Rev. Jennifer Butler
Executive Director, Faith in Public Life
Rev. Jennifer Butler is Executive Director of Faith in Public Life, a strategy center advancing faith in the public square as a positive and unifying force for justice, compassion and the common good. Butler most recently served as the Presbyterian Church (USA) Representative to the United Nations (UN). During her nine years at the UN, Butler represented the denomination on a range of issues, including women’s rights, genocide in the Sudan, and the war in Iraq. Her book Born Again, The Christian Right Globalized (University of Michigan, 2006) explores the Christian Right’s impact on the global women’s movement through its growing activism at the United Nations and globally. Her work on religion, human rights and politics has been featured in articles in The Nation, Mother Jones, The American Prospect and the Washington Post. Butler served in the Peace Corps from 1989 to 1991 in a Mayan village in Belize, Central America. A graduate of Princeton Seminary, she holds a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University and Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary. [top]
Alexander Carpenter
Recent GTU graduate; Instructor, Pacific Union College
In 2006, Alexander was a Beatitudes Society Fellow with the Center for American Progress' Faith in Public Life initiative. He worked as the Online Communications Manager for the San Francisco-based The Regeneration Project + Interfaith Power and Light environmental while completing his M.A. in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. In addition, Alexander runs media projects for Spectrum magazine's blog. A graduate of Andrews University - English Literature and Religion - he's spent a year in Bangladesh assisting with micro-credit projects with Muslim and Hindu women and another year in India working in Bollywood. He lives in Napa, Ca and teaches in the Visual Arts Department at Pacific Union College, Angwin, CA. [top]
The Rev. Ronald David, M.D.
Chaplain and CPE supervisor, Hospital of the Good Samaritan, Los Angeles, CA
Ronald David is a pediatric neurologist, Episcopal priest, chaplain, and recently certified Diplomate in CPSP. As a supervisor in clinical pastoral education at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles, California, he experiences chaplaincy as the perfect melding of clinical theology and medicine. Troubled by the distortions and misunderstandings of theological concepts as represented in medical science and care, Ronald is writing a book on the relationship between health, spirituality, and religion. [top]
Rev. Patricia de Jong
Senior Minister, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, CA
Patricia de Jong has been Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Berkeley, United Church of Christ, in Berkeley, California since 1994. She was the first woman to be called to that position. She is a graduate of Western Michigan University and Pacific School of Religion
and has served as a Campus Minister at the University of Oregon, the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State University. Before coming to Berkeley she served as Minister of Education for Christian Discipleship at The Riverside Church in New York City (1984-88) and as Senior Minister of the Urbandale United Church of Christ in Des Moines, Iowa (1988-94).
At First Congregational, Pat has focused on creating a welcoming community that can respond to the neighborhood, the nation and the world. The church is a vibrant presence in downtown Berkeley with strong connections to the University of California at Berkeley and Pacific School of Religion. She is an avid world traveler and often combines that love with her concerns for peace and social justice which were motivations for recent trips to South Africa and Iran. Pat is married to Sam Keen, a writer and philosopher. [top]
Rev. James Gertmenian
Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis
Founder, Plymouth Center for Progressive Christian Faith
Jim Gertmenian is Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational Church and a founder of the Plymouth Center for Progressive Christian Faith. His leadership at Plymouth has advanced a nationally recognized progressive Christian pulpit rooted in a vibrant, living congregation. His vision has led to the creation of the emerging leaders conferences, bringing together seasoned leaders of progressive Christianity with younger seminarians from around the country. Jim is a graduate of Oberlin College and Union Theological Seminary and has served pastorates in New York, Connecticut and Minnesota. In Minneapolis he has worked closely with the city’s Mayor, co-chairing a commission of eighty people to formulate a ten-year plan for ending homelessness, and he currently serves on the steering committees of Heading Home Minnesota and Heading Home Hennepin, organizations that address homelessness issues. He has served for ten years on the Board of United Theological Seminary. He is a hymn-writer, and several of his works appear in various denominational hymnals. [top]
Joe Hough
William E. Dodge Professor of Social Ethics and
President Emeritus of the Faculty, Union Seminary
Former President Joseph C. Hough, Jr., graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in 1955. From Yale Divinity School he received the B.D. in 1959. From Yale University, he received the the M.A. (1964), and the Ph.D. (1965). Hough was the fifteenth president, as well as the William E. Dodge Professor of Social Ethics, at Union Theological Seminary. Prior to assuming the post at Union in 1999, Hough served as dean and professor of Ethics of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, for nine years. He was also the first director of the Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership, a program for the divinity, law, medical, and business schools of Vanderbilt. Dr. Hough served on the faculty of Claremont Graduate School and was dean of the School of Theology at Claremont (California) from 1974 to 1989.
He has earned numerous honors over the years, including a Doctor of Divinity from Wake Forest University, the Centennial medal for Distinguished Service from Claremont in 1986, and the Joshua Award from the American Jewish Federation for outstanding contributions to human relations. His teaching and research interests are in social ethics, theological education, the Church and ministry. Hough is the author, co-author, or editor of several books, including Christian Identity and Theological Education; Beyond Clericalism; The Congregation as a Focus for Theological Education; Theology and the University; and Black Power and White Protestants. He is frequently called on to speak to media and public gatherings as a strong voice for religious tolerance.
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The Rev. Frances Hall Kieschnick
Founding Director, The Beatitudes Society
Frannie was ordained 23 years ago at All Saints in Pasadena, a church renowned for its prophetic and progressive Beatitudes spirit. Having served at All Saints for five years, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Michael, to raise their family. She served in various parochial positions, including Interim Rector, for the next 10 years before moving on to found alternative, informal, interfaith and family friendly congregations within two parish communities. Reaching out to those questioning the relationship between their faith and the rest of their lives, these faith communities ask what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world. A graduate of Yale University and the Episcopal Divinity School, Frannie now serves on the Advisory Board of the Yale Divinity School. She is the Founding Director of The Beatitudes Society and parent of two teenagers. [top]
Michael Hall Kieschnick
President and Co-founder, CREDO (formerly Working Assets)
Michael is the president and a co-founder of Credo (formerly Working Assets), a leading social change business. He also serves on the boards of Sojourners, the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation. He has helped to found a number of organizations, including Dads and Daughters and the Secretary of State Project. In his spare time, he teaches a course on social innovation at Stanford University and plays tennis and basketball with enthusiasm. He has a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard and undergraduate degrees in biology and economics from Stanford. [top]
Rev. Jacqui Lewis
Senior Minister, Middle Church, New York City
Executive Director, The Middle Project, Inc.
Rev. Jacqui Lewis joined the staff of Middle Collegiate Church in January 2004 as Associate Collegiate Minister of Congregational Life and assumed the role of Senior Minister in July of 2005. Middle is a dynamic 700 member multiracial, multicultural, inclusive congregation in which everyone is welcome just as they are as they come through the door.
Prior to Middle Church, Lewis worked as a senior consultant for the Alban Institute. Lewis was a pastor to two congregations in Trenton, NJ. One was a new church development and community center called the Imani Community Church, a rich multicultural experiment, that cemented her commitment to multicultural and multiracial congregations as a way to deconstruct discrimination. Lewis believes that when we “rehearse” living together in congregational life, we learn lessons for healing the world.
Lewis graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, with a B.S. in Business Administration. She earned her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1992, focusing on preaching, urban ministry and education. Lewis earned an M.Phil. (2002) and a Ph.D. (2004) in Religion and Society: Psychology and Religion from Drew University, writing a dissertation on leaders in multiracial/multicultural congregations.
Dr. Lewis is a sought-after speaker on the multiracial/multicultural congregations. She has been interviewed by several media outlets including the NY Daily News, “30 Good Minutes” (A Chicago TV program), and Forbes.com. She has been adjunct professor at Union Theological Seminary in preaching and worship and at the Center for Arts in Religious Education (CARE) at the Graduate Theological Union. She is currently on the Doctor of Ministry faculty at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
She has published several books, the most recent one being The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multiracial and Multicultural Congregations (Abingdon, 2008.)
Lewis is the Executive Director of The Middle Project, an institute that prepares ethical leaders for a just society. [top]
John Lindner
Director, Department of External Relations, Yale Divinity School
John B. Lindner serves as Director of the Department of External Relations at Yale Divinity School since 2002. Among the spectrum of his responsibilities, he has given leadership to Reflections magazine, a national publication of theological and ethical inquiry.
A minister in the PCUSA, he spent over a quarter century providing leadership for international, ecumenical/interfaith programs of the PCUSA, the National Council of Churches (NCCCUSA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC). He served as writer for the NCCCUSA’s Middle East Policy and directed its program of US-USSR Church Relations. He served the WCC as director of planning and development for the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.
Lindner is co-author of “By Faith: Christian Students Among the Cloud of Witnesses” (1991, Friendship Press) a history of the ecumenical Christian student movement in the US and co-issue editor of a special issue of the journal Theological Education (vol. 34, autumn 1997) on “Ecumenical Formation: A Methodology for a Pluralistic Age. The Case of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey”.
Currently, he is active in programs supporting peace initiatives for the Middle East. He serves as a member of the Leadership Council of Churches for Middle East Peace and on the Executive Committee of A Different Future. [top]
Jane Olson
Chair, Human Rights Watch
Jane Olson has devoted her life to international justice and humanitarian work. She chairs the International Board of Human Rights Watch and serves on the board of the Salzburg Seminar for International Studies. She also chairs the board of Landmine Survivors Network and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Jane has received numerous awards, including the inaugural 2005 Eleanor Roosevelt Award from Feminist Majority; the Silver Achievement Award from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles; and the Community Achievement Award from Public Counsel. She and her husband, attorney Ronald L. Olson, reside in Pasadena, CA. They have three grown children and eight grandsons. [top]
Iara Peng
Former Director, Young People For
Former Deputy Director, National Programs and Outreach, People for the American Way Foundation
Iara was the director of Young People For, a program of People For the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) that is committed to identifying, engaging and empowering the next generation of young progressive leaders and activists across the country. Before joining Young People For, she was the Executive Director of the Youth Justice Funding Collaborative (YJFC), a nonprofit that supports communications strategies that contribute to real change throughout the country's juvenile justice systems. She is a member of the Board of YJFC. She worked for two years as the Vice President of Doble Research Associates, a public interest consulting firm that researches public opinion and presents a detailed map of how and why people think the way they do about complex public issues. She was also Vice President of Marga, Inc., a consulting firm to nonprofit organizations specializing in strategic planning, board development, fundraising and communications. Iara was a contributing author to A Global Agenda: Issues Before the 57th General Assembly of the United Nations and Education for Civic Engagement in Democracy and has co-authored several publications including Our Nation's Kids: Is Something Wrong and Protecting Our Rights: What Goes on the Internet. Iara holds a Master of Public Administration, with a concentration in nonprofit management, from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Political Science and Communications from Rollins College. [top]
Glen Stassen
Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Glen H. Stassen is the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, a Christian evangelical seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of several books, including Just Peacemaking and Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, which won Christianity Today's award for best book of the year in theology or ethics. Stassen has frequently appeared in the media, including the Los Angeles Times and Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor.
Areas of Expertise:
• Just peacemaking theory (the new paradigm in Christian ethics on peace and war)
• Recovering the Sermon on the Mount for Christian ethics
• Churches that practice what they preach
• United States abortion rates
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The Rev. Dr. M. Michelle Woodhouse
Senior Associate Emerita, All Saints by-the-Sea, Montecito
The Rev. Dr. M. Michelle Woodhouse has served parishes in Fall River, MA, Philadelphia, PA. Most recently she has served for 15 years as the Senior Associate at All Saints-by-the-Sea, Santa Barbara, CA, focusing on pastoral care, the Seniors' Program, Outreach, and Health Ministries. She retired in 2007.
Michelle has been very active in the wider community, serving on numerous boards of directors of local non-profits. She has served on the Diocese of Los Angeles' Commission on Aging, Commission on Ministry, and twice has been elected as a Diocesan Ecclesiastical Judge. She has served nationally on General Convention's Commission on Renewal, Health and Human Affairs (co-chair), Agenda and Arrangements, Committee on Social Responsibility in Investments, Associate Coordinator for General Convention, and on the Advisory Committee to the President of the House of Deputies.
Michelle has published in the Anglican Theological Review, contributed to a volume published by Oxford University Press, as well as magazine and journal articles.
Michelle is passionate about developing a vision and making it come true. She is genetically wired and spiritually inspired as a pioneer who thrives on challenges, particularly concerning issues of justice, peace, and the well-being of all people.