The Future of American Democracy

TONIGHT'S PROGRAM

5:30

OPENING REMARKS

5:35

FEATURED CONVERSATION

SPECIAL GUEST

Sherrilyn Ifill, Former President and Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

MODERATOR

Dr. Heath W. Carter

6:45

AUDIENCE Q&A

Please submit questions electronically at Slido.com, using event code #3593053

7:00

RECEPTION

Light snacks and beverages will be available on the Concourse of the library, 2nd floor

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton President of Princeton Theological Seminary

ABOUT THE SERIES

In a moment defined by cascading crises, many across the nation and world are wondering aloud about the future of American democracy. In the months ahead Princeton Theological Seminary will confront this uncertainty head-on, convening a series of timely conversations with leaders poised to shape that future.

If you have questions or suggestions for the series moving forward, email democracy.panels@ptsem.edu

To receive information about upcoming conversations and resources in the series, sign up for our e-newsletter at bit.ly/PTSdemocracyseries

COMING UP

IN PERSON & LIVESTREAM

+ Faltering Faith in Institutions: A Panel Conversation

Featuring Jamelle Bouie, Walter Kim, and Shannon Watts

April 13 at 5:30 p.m. EST

This conversation brings together three individuals known for creative thought and distinguished leadership when it comes to the role of institutions in our society. This wide-ranging conversation will offer insight and new vantage points on the way we work with, within, and around institutions to build the future we want

SPECIAL GUEST

SHERRILYN IFILL

Sherrilyn Ifill served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 2013 to 2022, and currently serves as President and Director-Counsel Emeritus Ifill provided transformational leadership during one of the most consequential and intense moments in our nation’s history She began her career as a Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, before joining the staff of the LDF as an Assistant Counsel in 1988, where she litigated voting rights cases for five years.

For over 20 years, Ifill taught civil procedure and constitutional law to thousands of law students at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore and pioneered a series of law clinics, including one of the earliest law clinics in the country, focused on challenging legal barriers to the reentry of ex-offenders Ifill is also a prolific scholar who has published academic articles in leading law journals, and op-eds and commentaries in leading newspapers. Her 2007 book, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century, was highly acclaimed, and is credited with laying the foundation for contemporary conversations about lynching and reconciliation

In 2013, Ifill was invited back to the Legal Defense Fund – this time to lead the organization as its 7th Director-Counsel In that role, Ifill increased the visibility and engagement of the organization in litigating cutting-edge and urgent civil rights issues and elevating the organization’s decades-long leadership fighting voter suppression, inequity in education, and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system At critical moments during national political and civil rights crises, Ifill’s voice and vision have powerfully influenced our national dialogue Ifill is a frequent public commentator on racial justice issues, known for her fact-based, richly contextualized analysis of complex racial issues She is a trusted and valued advisor to civic and community leaders, national civil rights colleagues, and business leaders.

Among many honors, Ifill is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and was recently named one of TIME Magazine’s Women of the Year In 2021, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2021, one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year, honored with a 2021 Spirit of Excellence Award by the American Bar Association, and named Attorney of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2020. In 2022, Ifill will receive the prestigious Brandeis Medal, named for Supreme Court Justice Louis D Brandeis, and the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award

Ifill graduated from Vassar College in 1984 with a B A in English and earned her J D from New York University School of Law in 1987 She has received honorary doctorates from New York University, Bard College, Fordham Law School, and CUNY Law School. In 2019, Ifill was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2020, she was named Attorney of the Year by The American Lawyer. In 2021, Ifill was appointed to President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court She serves on the boards of the Learning Policy Institute, the NYU Law School of Trustees, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Profiles in Courage Advisory Board Sherrilyn joined The Ford Foundation organization as a Senior Fellow in June 2022

CONVENERS

DR. HEATH W. CARTER

Heath W. Carter is associate professor of American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he teaches and writes about the intersection of Christianity and American public life He earned a BA in English and theology from Georgetown University in 2003, an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2005, and a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame in 2012.

Carter is the author of Union Made: Working People and the Rise of Social Christianity in Chicago (Oxford University Press, 2015), which was the runner-up for the American Society of Church History’s 2015 Brewer Prize He is also the co-editor of three books: The Pew and the Picket Line: Christianity and the American Working Class (University of Illinois Press, 2016), Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017), and A Documentary History of Religion in America, 4th Ed. (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018).

He is working on a new book entitled On Earth as it is in Heaven: Social Christians and the Fight to End American Inequality, which retells the story of the American social gospel By the 19th century, some American Christians had come to see participation in fights against structural inequality as essential to their faith. Over the course of roughly 100 years, stretching from 1865 to 1965, these believers women and men, Catholic and Protestant, black and white and Latinx cultivated a proud, if fractious, social Christian tradition that transformed not only the churches but also the nation as a whole This book tells the story of how little-known activists, eminent theologians, radical preachers, and progressive politicians powered faith-filled movements for a more egalitarian United States of America

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Princeton Theological Seminary, founded in 1812, is the first seminary established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church Its mission is to educate leaders for the church of Jesus Christ worldwide. Its students and more than 11,000 graduates from all 50 states and many nations around the world serve Christ in churches, schools and universities, healthcare institutions, nonprofit agencies, initiatives for social justice, mission agencies, and the emerging ministries of the church in the 21st century

For more information, go to www ptsem edu

ALSO AT PTS

IN PERSON & LIVESTREAM

Considering Mass Trauma: When Public Conversations Converge, April 19 at 5:00 p.m. EST

When the stories of mass trauma are so great in number from shootings to catastrophic climate events, to global pandemics how do we find the right words again? This event places Dr Wagner’s recent scholarship on narrative fracture and preaching in the wake of mass trauma in dialogue with how political leaders respond to the same traumatic events. Her conversation partner, former Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan, brings experiences deeply resonant but with an entirely new vantage point, creating space for a wider-ranging audience to engage with critical themes of lament, hope, reconciliation, forgiveness, and more

Register at bit.ly/consideringtrauma

IN PERSON &

VIRTUAL

Barth & the Political: 2023 Karl Barth Conference

June 18 21, 2023

Major scholars will test and contest Barth as a resource for political theology, broadly construed, and enter into critical and constructive conversation with Barth The conference will foster new conversations, generate creative space for critical engagement, and explore the potential for an explicitly theological stance in complex and difficult social and political contexts

Register at pts.events/2023-barth-conference/