Click here to register for this online CLGS Micro Certificate program!

Instructor: Professor Bernard Schlager, PhD, Associate Professor of Historical & Cultural Studies at Pacific School of Religion, and Executive Director of PSR’s Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS).

This online, four-session CLGS microcertificate program is designed to bridge the gap between Christian spirituality and contemporary queer advocacy by reframing Christian teachings and history as sources of empowerment and social transformation.

Each session strategically connects theological concepts (such as inherent belovedness, prophetic justice, transformative leadership, and the sanctity of righteous anger) to the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals, drawing on the works and lives of figures like Henri Nouwen, Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Howard Thurman, and Audre Lorde.

The curriculum acknowledges and directly addresses historical religious harm while recentering Christianity around liberation, self-acceptance, and collective action, inviting participants to explore spirituality as a foundation for authentic, resilient, compassionate, and effective activism.

Learning Objectives

  1. Conceptual Integration: Students will demonstrate (via weekly online forum discussions, in-class discussions, and the completion of four projects) their ability to connect core theological themes (e.g., “chosen-ness,” the image of the Divine, and decolonial emotion) to their own lived experiences and activist contexts, demonstrating this synthesis through reflective writing and forum discussion.
  2. Narrative Competency: Students will demonstrate (through weekly online and in-class discussions and the completion of four projects) their ability to identify and deconstruct harmful religious narratives used against LGBTQ+ communities, while articulating empowered, faith-based counter-narratives inspired by historical exemplars of faith-driven social change.
  3. Foundational Application: Students will demonstrate (via weekly online forum discussions, in-class discussions, and the completion of four projects) their ability to synthesize course models and insights to create a personal manifesto or creative work that articulates a spiritually-grounded approach to activism, emphasizing sustainability, community-building across difference, and a focus on the most marginalized.

Schedule of Live ONLINE Class Sessions

 2, 9, 16, and 23 July 2026 | 4pm to 5:30pm (Pacific Time)

 

Session

  

Date

  

Focus
Session 1 Thurs 2 July Foundations of the Spiritual Self — Connection and Belovedness

 
Session 2 Thurs 9 July The Self as an Agent of Change — The Legacy of Sojourner Truth

 
Session 3 Thurs 16 July Transformative Leadership — Temperament and the “Religion of Jesus”

 
Session 4 Thurs 23 July The Power of the “Uses of Anger” — A Catalyst for Change

 

Certificate Outcomes

NOTE: only students who attend all live online sessions of the class and complete all class assignments will be awarded this CLGS Micro Certificate.

Graduates leave with the ability to:
  • Connect core theological themes to their own lived experiences and activist contexts, demonstrating this synthesis through reflective writing and forum discussion.
  • Identify and deconstruct harmful religious narratives used against LGBTQ+ communities, while articulating empowered, faith-based counter-narratives inspired by historical exemplars of faith-driven social change.
  • Synthesize course models and insights to create a personal manifesto or creative work that articulates a spiritually-grounded approach to activism, emphasizing sustainability, community-building across difference, and a focus on the most marginalized.

 Course Price: $50

For information on financial aid for this CLGS Micro Certificate program, please contact Professor Schlager at bschlager@clgs.org

No one will be turned away due to a lack of funds.

Only those participants who attend all live sessions and complete all assignments will earn the CLGS Micro Certificate in Christian Social Activism – An Introduction for LGBTQ+ Activists.

Instructor

Bernard Schlager, PhD

Dr. Bernard Schlager, Associate Professor of Historical & Cultural Studies at Pacific School of Religion, and Executive Director for The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS), received his PhD from Yale University in the history of medieval and Latin American Christianity. He has taught at the University of New Hampshire, Trinity College, Middlebury College, and Yale.

Professor Schlager’s research interests include queer studies, the history of Christianity, LGBTQ pastoral care, and medieval social and religious history. He has published numerous articles on ancient church history, medieval hagiography, the history of sexuality, and the history of education. He is co-author with David Kundtz of Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk: LGBTQ Pastoral Care (Second Edition: Cascade Books, 2019); and editor of Mapping New Terrain in Queer Religious Scholarship: Essays in Honor of John Eastburn Boswell (Routledge, 2025).