Convenings

The first seven days of 2025

I spent the past several days in chilly Chicago, attending the American Society of Church History’s annual meeting. The conference was held in the historic Blackstone Hotel, home of the infamous “smokefilled room” where senators conspired to nominate Warren G. Harding for president in 1920. (The Conference on Faith and History held a breakfast in that suite, less smoke, more cinnamon rolls.)

While there, I had the opportunity to catch up with so many friends and fellow scholars, including Leah Payne, author of the award-winning God Gave Rock & Roll to You, Melissa Borja, whose book Follow the New Way: American Refugee Resettlement Policy and Hmong Religious Change won the organization’s Brewer Prize, and Elesha Coffman and Jon Maiden, whose books Turning Points in American Church History: How Pivotal Events Shaped a Nation and a Faith and Age of the Spirit: Charismatic Renewal, the Anglo-World, and Global Christianity, 1945-1980, were feted with their own panels.

Meeting the lovely Leah Payne for the first time

Melissa Borja winning the Brewer Prize

I also had the privilege of speaking on a panel honoring Robert Orsi’s contributions to the field. I recounted about how his work has inspired me since my days as a PhD student, and how our scholarly paths have converged around what he has called “The Study of Religion on the Other Side of Disgust.” There is much more to be said on that, and I’ll save it for a future post.

For now, however, I want to draw your attention to our next live recording of the Convocation Unscripted! It’s a new year, and a lot has been happening in the few first days of 2025.

We’ll be meeting up this Thursday at 5pm ET, just after President Carter’s funeral. There will be plenty to talk about, so we’d love to have you join us. Here’s the info:

We’re recording this week’s session of The Convocation Unscripted as a free live Zoom webinar. We’re hoping you will join us on Thursday, 01/09, at 5:00 PM ET.

Here’s how it will work. If you’d like to reserve a spot (it’s free but limited to the first 1,000 registrants), please click on the button below to register. Once you register, you’ll receive the zoom link for the event. Cameras and audio will only be on for The Convocation Unscripted team, but we’ll have the chat open for interaction, encouragement, and questions. We hope to see you there!

If you’re a fan of The Convocation Unscripted, we’d also love to have you follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Even better, subscribe (free) to our Substack to get our episodes delivered to your inbox:

Looking forward to hearing from many of you in the chat this week!

Finally, congratulations to Jemar Tisby, who has two new books out in the new year: Stories of the Spirit of Justice, for young readers, and I Am the Spirit of Justice, a picture book.

One last thing: You may have noticed that a while back I started linking to Bookshop.org rather than to Amazon whenever possible. With everything going on, little things matter. I also set up my own “Bookshop” on the site, with recommended books and affiliate links. As always, it’s best to buy from your favorite local shop, but if you’re looking for the convenience of online shopping, Bookshop.org shares profits with independent bookstores.