FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Dr. Paula Owens Parker will discuss “African American Mystics Transfiguring Systems of Oppression: Insights for Our Times” in the University of Saint Francis Annual Alverno Lecture.
The event, free and open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 17 at the USF North Campus Auditorium, 2702 Spring Street. The USF College of Arts, Sciences and Business serves as sponsor of the lecture.
Dr. Parker serves as program associate of the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
The lecture will address several issues, Dr. Parker explained.
“The matrix of domination of racism, classism and sexism engenders oppression; it also creates active resistance movements by members of subordinated groups living in death-dealing conditions. Examining the African principles of looking back to history to move forward in the future, the importance of community for shaping identity, and the necessity to see a person’s humanity provide a framework as we study the lives of African American womanist mystics. We will explore how radical faith amid suffering, injustice and violence becomes the catalyst for social change,” Dr. Parker said.
Dr. Parker holds a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary (San Anselmo, California), a Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Fisk University (Nashville, Tennessee). She completed training in the School of Healing Prayer Christian Healing Ministries (Jacksonville, Florida), the Pecos Benedictine School of Spiritual Direction (Pecos, New Mexico), in the Community Healing Network’s Emotional Emancipation Circles. She is a member of Society for the Study of Black Religion, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Spiritual Directors International and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
For more information on the Alverno Lecture, contact Dr. Adam DeVille at 260-399-7700, ext. 8120 or adeville@sf.edu.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the College of Health Sciences and the College of Arts, Sciences and Business. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. USF Downtown houses the music technology and graduate health sciences programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis, recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution, has 18 athletic programs boasting two individual and four team NAIA national championships. Approximately 2,200 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.