About the Sawatsky Lectures
The Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar Lecture was established in 2004 to honour Rodney’s tenure and Lorna’s involvement at Conrad Grebel University College.
Dr. Rodney Sawatsky joined the faculty of Conrad Grebel in 1974, teaching in the areas of History, Religious Studies, Mennonite Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies. He served the college as Academic Dean from 1974-89 and as President from 1989-94.
Sawatsky provided inspiration and impetus for the development of the College’s graduate program in Theological Studies. As Dean and then President he significantly shaped the strong faculty that defined Grebel’s distinctive academic profile for more than three decades.
Rodney and his wife Lorna were key figures at Conrad Grebel, the University of Waterloo, and in the local community. Since Rodney’s death in 2004, Lorna has continued to support and advocate for causes that were important to them both.
In keeping with Rodney Sawatsky’s own academic interests, the Sawatsky Visiting Scholar is awarded to renowned scholars, practitioners and performers — representing a wide range of academic and creative disciplines — who bring their expertise to the Grebel community.
Contributions to the endowment fund that supports the Sawatsky Visiting Scholar are welcome. See Director of Advancement, Fred W. Martin.
Past lectures
Rev. Dr. Ray Aldred (2024)
Dr. Darla Schumm (2023)
Lecture recording
2023 Sawatsky Lecture
The 2023 Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Lecturer was Darla Schumm, associate provost and Professor of religious studies at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Power of Misfitting: Disrupting Sinner, Saint, and Super Crip Controlling Images
Using Patricia Hill Collins’ delineation of “controlling images,” Darla Schumm identifies three of the most prevalent controlling images religious communities ascribe to people with disabilities. She argues that the sinner, saint, and super-crip controlling images produce, reinforce, and perpetuate the ideological justification-whether intentionally or unintentionally- for designating people with disabilities as the inferior other within their religious communities. Schumm ultimately offers Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s conception of misfitting as a deliciously disruptive controlling image as well as an avenue for reorienting our thinking about disability more generally, and for complicating the sinner, saint, and super-crip controlling images in particular.
Darla Schumm is the associate provost and professor of religious studies at Hollins University—a small liberal arts college for female-identified students located in the midst of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Roanoke, Virginia. Darla received her B.A. in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in history, psychology, and women’s studies from Goshen College, her M.A. in social ethics from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, and her Ph.D. in religion, ethics, and society from Vanderbilt University. Schumm’s current research focuses on intersections between religious studies and disability studies. She is the coeditor of four books, most recently Disability and World Religions: An Introduction (Baylor University Press, 2016), as well as the author of numerous articles and opinion pieces. Darla is working on a monograph tentatively titled: Accessible Love: The Work of Transformational Disability Justice.
Dr. Regina Shands Stoltzfus (2022)
2022 Sawatsky Visiting Scholar: Dr. Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Resistance Strategies: Equipping Ourselves and Our Communities for Long Term Justice Work
"The work of building a more just world includes acknowledging the world that is, and that was. This knowledge can be overwhelming, especially for people with marginalized identities. This talk will reflect on strategies from past and current movements, as well as how my own teaching has changed."
About Dr. Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Dr. Regina Shands Stoltzfus began teaching at Goshen College in 2002 and teaches courses in race, class and ethnic relations; personal violence and healing; peacemaking; women and gender studies; biblical studies; and transforming conflict and violence. She attended Goshen College and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Cleveland State University in 1988. In 2001, she earned a master’s degree in biblical studies from Ashland Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in theology, ethics and contemporary culture from Chicago Theological Seminary.
Shands Stoltzfus previously served as an associate pastor at Lee Heights Community Church in Cleveland, Ohio, as campus pastor at Goshen College, as minister of urban ministries with Mennonite Mission Network, as staff associate for urban peacemaking with Mennonite Conciliation Service and as director of admissions at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She is a co-founder of the Damascus Road anti-racism education program, now called Roots of Justice Anti-Oppression program, and regularly leads anti-racism workshops. She serves on the steering committee for the Women in Leadership Project and on the Panel on Sexual Abuse Prevention with Mennonite Church USA. She co-authored the book “Set Free: A Journey Toward Solidarity Against Racism” (Herald Press, 2001). She is an active writer for The Mennonite, Sojourners and other print and online publications.
In 2016, Shands Stoltzfus was awarded the State of Indiana Civil Rights Commission’s (ICRC) Spirit of Justice Award, the commission’s highest honor.
Lecture
Public lecture: "Resistance Strategies: Equipping Ourselves and Our Communities for Long Term Justice Work"
Date: Thursday, March 24, 2022
Dr. Ysaÿe M. Barnwell (2019)
Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, PhD, MSPH, is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (PhD), and public health (MSPH). She was a professor at Howard University College of Dentistry for over a decade, and over the following 8 years developed training programs in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, and administered community-based health programs at Gallaudet University, all in Washington DC. For almost thirty years, and on three continents, Barnwell has led the workshop Building a Vocal Community - Singing In the African American Tradition, which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. Her pedagogy is highly respected among musicians, educators, health workers, activists, organizers, and members of the corporate and non-profit sectors.
www.ymbarnwell.com
Lectures
Public Lecture
The Power of Music to Create Inclusive Communities
Date: Friday, March 8, 2019
Community Workshop
Building a Vocal Community: The Power of Song in Community
Date: Saturday, March, 9, 2019
Don E. Saliers (2018)
About Don E. Saliers
Dr. Don E. Saliers is a Theologian-in-Residence at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. For many years he directed the Master of Sacred Music program at Emory, and was an organist and choirmaster at Cannon Chapel for 35 years. Before joining the Candler faculty in 1974, Saliers taught at Yale Divinity School, and has taught in summer programs at Notre Dame, Boston College, Vancouver School of Theology, St. John’s University, and Boston University School of Theology.
An accomplished musician, theologian and scholar of liturgics, Saliers is the author of 15 books on the relationship between theology and worship practices, as well as more than 150 articles, essays, chapters in books and book reviews. He co-authored A Song to Sing, a Life to Live with his daughter Emily Saliers, a member of the Indigo Girls.
Saliers sits on the editorial board of Worship, Weavings, and Spiritus journals, and is involved in the development of United Methodist worship resources. He has served as president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society for the Study of Christian Religion, and helped found the Academy for Spiritual Formation.
Lecture
Public lecture: "Psalms in a Difficult Time: the Rhythms of Doxology and Lament"
Date: Thursday, February 15, 2018
Mary Jo Leddy (2017)
About Mary Jo Leddy
Dr. Mary Jo Leddy is a writer, theologian, and social activist well known for her work with refugees, including as founder and director of Romero House in Toronto. She is author of The Other Face of God: When the Stranger Calls Us Home (2011) and Our Friendly Local Terrorist (2010), among many other publications. Leddy is an adjunct professor at Regis College, and an Honorary Fellow at the University of St. Michael’s College, both at University of Toronto.
Lecture
Public lecture: "Room Enough for Hope: Canada’s Response to the Refugee Crisis "
Date: Friday, March 3, 2017
Sir James MacMillan (2016)
Robert Johnston (2015)
About Robert Johnston
Dr. Robert Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Robert Johnston is professor of theology and culture at Fuller Seminary. He is a pioneer in theology and film and the church and the entertainment industry. The author or editor of 15 books, Johnston has published in a variety of fields, including theology, selected Old Testament topics, evangelical theology, theology and film, and theology and culture. His recent books include Useless Beauty (2004), Finding God in the Movies (co-written with Catherine Barsotti, 2004), Life Is Not Work/Work Is Not Life (co-written with J. Walker Smith, 2001), and Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue (2000, 2nd ed. 2006). He is editor of Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline (Baker Academic, 2007), the co-editor of Don’t Stop Believin’, an Old Testament general editor of the Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Baker), and co-editor of both the Engaging Culture and the Exegeting Culture series for Baker Academic, as well as the Religion and Film series for Routledge. A past president of the American Theological Society and the recipient of two major research grants from the Luce Foundation, Johnston is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church. He is married to Catherine Barsotti, has two grown daughters, and likes the beach.
Lecture
Public Lecture: "If you have Eyes to See": God's "Presence" at the Movies
Date: Thursday, February 5, 2015