Remaking the Commons: Forming a Moral Imagination for Possession and Philanthropy in Place
Date: Friday, April 11, 2025 at 4 pm
Location: Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, 3535 W Kessler Blvd N Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46222
Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s annual Thomas H. Lake Lecture is in partnership with Spirit & Place as part of the Big Tent series.
In honor of philanthropic leader Thomas H. Lake, the annual Lake Lecture invites a noted scholar or practitioner to speak on a topic related to faith and giving. Big Tent Talks presents notable and inspirational
speakers focused on faith and spirituality.
Join us as we mark the 20th Annual Thomas H. Lake Lecture with a thought-provoking discussion led by Dr. Willie Jennings. Participate in person or join the experience via livestream. Following the lecture, we invite you to stay for a reception where you can engage with fellow attendees and Dr. Jennings.
About This Lecture
At this crucial moment, when homelessness is exploding, affordable housing is diminishing, and segregated communities are increasingly common, we need to ask the question– “Are our built environments fundamentally immoral?” In this year’s talk, Dr. Jennings invites us to imagine how a faithful practice of giving might build new realities of community in our towns and cities.
About Our Speaker
Dr. Willie James Jennings is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School.
Dr. Jennings was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr. Jennings received his B.A. in Religion and Theological Studies from Calvin College (1984), his M.Div. (Master of Divinity degree) from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena California, and his Ph.D. degree from Duke University. Dr. Jennings, who is a theologian, 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. It is one of the most important books in theology written in the last 25 years and is now a standard text read in colleges, seminaries, and universities. Dr. Jennings is also the recipient of the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his groundbreaking work on race and Christianity. Dr. Jennings recently authored commentary on the Book of Acts won the Reference Book of the Year Award, from The Academy of Parish Clergy. 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. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 American Academy of Religion Book of the Year in the Constructive- Reflective Studies category, and in 2023 won the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award. Dr. Jennings has been selected to give several prestigious lectures, including the Bampton Lectures at Oxford University, the Huslean Lectures at Cambridge University, the Cole Lecture at Vanderbilt University, the Parks-King Lecture at Yale University, the Ferguson Lecture at Manchester University, and the Hughes-Cheong Lecture at the University of Melbourne.
Now Dr. Jennings is hard at work on a two-volume work on the doctrine of creation, tentatively entitled, “Reframing the World.” Volume two is entitled Jesus and the Displaced: Race, Theology, and the Built Environment.
In addition to being a frequent lecturer at colleges, universities, and seminaries, Dr. Jennings is also a regular workshop leader at conferences. He is also a consultant for the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, and for the Association of Theological Schools.
He served along with his wife, the Reverend Joanne L. Browne Jennings as associate ministers at the Mount Level Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, and for many years, they served together as interim pastors for several Presbyterian and Baptist churches in North Carolina. They are the parents of two wonderful daughters, Njeri and Safiya Jennings.