Stanley Grenz Lecture Series with Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II
We are thrilled to host Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II as the lecturer for our annual Stanley Grenz Lecture Series at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, January 9. He will be speaking on The Revolution of Re-creation: Relationality, Play, and the Possibility of Building Better Worlds.
Gary is the associate professor of Pastoral Theology and Social Transformation and the director of Racial Intelligence Systems at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He earned his PhD from Brite Divinity School, where he focused on issues related to young African American men through the lens of public pastoral theology. His newly released book, Playing the Game: Embodied Brilliance Beyond the Moral Limits of Race in Sports, investigates the intersection of race and ethics in cultural misinterpretations of Black athleticism in the United States.
The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Monique Gadson, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, and Dr. Joel Kiekintveld, Affiliate Faculty of Theology & Culture.
After the panel, there will be time to purchase a signed copy of his new book, Playing the Game: Embodied Brilliance Beyond the Moral Limits of Race in Sports.
RSVP is required to attend on campus at The Seattle School (1130 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA). Note: Low-residency students attending the Winter 2026 residency do not need to RSVP.
The event will not be livestreamed, but will be recorded for future viewing.
About Dr. Gary Green
Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II is associate professor of Pastoral Theology and Social Transformation at United Theological Seminary. He is also the designer and founding director of Racial Intelligence Systems – formerly Anti-Racist Initiatives – a three-tiered reconditioning program that uses comedy and play to rewire the ways institutions reflect on and embody better racial realities.
He earned his PhD from Brite Divinity School, where he focused on issues related to
young African American men through the lens of public pastoral theology. He is the author of
Playing the Game: Embodied Brilliance Beyond the Moral Limits of Race in Sport, a book that
brings recasts athleticism is intelligence, and Black athletes as divine tricksters who flip the
racial scripts that seek to dehumanize Black men based the historical hold “beast” has on our
cultural imagination.
His broader research interests involve raising consciousness to issues of race, masculinity, and
power, particularly when these issues are uniquely disclosed in spaces or cultural performances that are overlooked by the Church and the Academy. Gary is committed to highlighting neglected sources in his research as a way to prioritize the revolutionary potential of voices that have gone unheard. His scholarly calling is to contribute to theological perspectives that more adequately reflect embodied life and that undergird sociopolitical redress for oppression in marginalized populations in the United States.
In addition to his academic work, Gary hopes to help religious communities become more
socially engaged around issues of justice and social ethics. He is an ordained minister who has
served the Black Church, and has facilitated public conversations about theology, sport, and
social justice.
Gary values engaging religious and community leaders, inviting them to become more theologically critical and culturally aware. He believes these critical conversations can help
religious leaders in particular better recognize the complexities of privilege and oppression both inside and outside of the church.
Beyond his intellectual endeavors, Gary has a passion for comedy, music, and film. He is
fascinated by the creative genius of comedians, music producers, and film writers, and integrates these modes into his scholarship and pedagogy. Gary is also a former athlete who loves to watch sports with family. But above all, his favorite thing to do is spend time with his wife, Monica, and their beautiful children, Ella, Elliott, and Ellison.
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.