The Stanley Grenz Lecture Series with Dr. Yohana Junker

We are thrilled to host Dr. Yohana Junker as the lecturer for our annual Stanley Grenz Lecture Series at 6:30 pm Friday, January 10, speaking on “Decolonial Visions in the American Southwest: Artistic and Religious Freedom.”

Dr. Junker is the Associate Professor of Art, Spirituality, and Culture and the Associate Dean for Spiritual Life and Social Transformation at Claremont School of Theology. In her upcoming book, Dr. Junker explores the intersection of artistry, colonialism, ecology, and Native American resistance within the American Southwest. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion. At this event, you will be invited into embodied learning around theology, justice, and the arts.

RSVP is required to attend on-campus at The Seattle School (2501 Elliott Avenue.) Note: Low-residency students attending the Winter 2025 residency do not need to RSVP. Livestream is available for those not local to campus. Register for the livestream version in the sign-up form.

About the Stanley Grenz Lecture Series:

This series is offered in honor of former Professor Stanley Grenz, a prolific Christian scholar with a pastoral heart and deep intellectual presence. In his memory, each year The Seattle School hosts theological leaders and thinkers to advance theological discourse.

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Dr. Yohana Junker’s research probes the intersections among the fields of art history, eco-criticism, and decolonial studies, with special attention to contemporary Indigenous and diasporic art practices. In her writing, art, and activism, she explores the human capacity to imagine and retrieve generative ways of being even in the face of impossibility. She also investigates the ways artists create poetic spaces that allow viewers to come together, to reclaim agency and restore a sense of purpose, a thirst for justice, and a desire for transformation. Her artwork is central to her scholarship and activism.

Dr. Junker has contributed chapters for the following forthcoming volumes: Georgetown Companion in Interreligious Studies (Georgetown); Sustainable Societies: Interreligious & Interdisciplinary Responses (Springer); Painted Portrayals: The Art of Characterizing Biblical Figures (SBL Press); with Dr. Aaron Rosen she is co-editing Modern and Contemporary Artists on Religion: A Global Sourcebook (Bloomsbury).

Dr. Junker serves on several boards organizations: Art, Religion, and Culture (ARC); Center for Arts and Religion; La Comunidad; Feminist Studies in Religion Blog. Read more on her at www.yohanajunker.com