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Contemplation, Creativity, and the Call to Collective Liberation: Exploring James Baldwin and the Via Feminina
with Rev. Dr. Aizaiah Yong
The 16th Annual CLGS Georgia Harkness Lecture
Thursday, 15 October 2026 at 4pm (Pacific Time)
This will be an ONLINE Lecture
In a moment marked by intensifying social, spiritual, and ecological fragmentations, this lecture explores how contemplative wisdom can support the transformation of systems and ways of being that wound us, such as patriarchy, capitalism, white and Christian supremacy, and other intersecting forms of domination.
Drawing from via feminina — a contemplative, justice‑oriented framework rooted in the healing of soul wounds — this talk expands its horizons through the androgynous, prophetic witness of James Baldwin, an African American writer whose life and work illuminate pathways of transformation across racialized, gendered, and queered boundaries.
The lecture invites participants to imagine new forms of spiritual practice that promote holistic healing, creative courage, and collective liberation. We will explore how the insights of via feminina and James Baldwin can empower us in struggles for freedom and offer generative possibilities for resisting the cultural, political, and spiritual violences that diminish human flourishing.
This is an invitation to find our grounding, listen deeply, and re‑engage our lives with renewed courage, committed to liberation for all.
Rev. Dr. Aizaiah G. Yong, PhD, is a scholar-practitioner of spirituality and mysticism and ordained Pentecostal clergy in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with strong ties to the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) & the City of Refuge UCC (Oakland, CA). His life and work are deeply rooted in the lived experience of navigating complex identities, bridging academic theology, executive stewardship, and psychospiritual care to curate spaces of radical belonging.
He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Collegeville Institute (CI) for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. At this historic interdisciplinary residential research center, he advances intercultural dialogue and cross-sector innovation through rhythms of contemplation, community discernment, first-person reflection, and evidence-informed approaches to promote collective wisdom. A prolific voice for the future of religiosity, Dr. Yong has lectured worldwide and authored four books, as well as over 50 original articles and book chapters.
And as a survivor of a near-fatal motorcycle accident, Dr. Yong’s work is grounded in survival, collective care, and compassion-based approaches to healing. He is blessed to call central Minnesota home—with incredible landscapes, changing seasons, and the presence of deer, fox, loons, turtles, trees, lakes, and quarries—where, along with his beloved partner and four children, they are making a sanctuary.
The CLGS Georgia Harkness Lecture
In the fall of 2010 CLGS inaugurated The CLGS Georgia Harkness Lecture, the second of the Center’s two named lectures which is presented every October. (The CLGS John E. Boswell Lecture, offered every April, was launched in 2008.)
Georgia Harkness (1891-1974) was a pioneering theologian in the Methodist tradition, a leading figure in the ecumenical movement, and the first woman hired to teach theology at a Christian seminary. Harkness focused her teaching and writing (more than thirty books and many articles) on the practical application of theology to the pressing social issues of her day, ranging from women’s rights to racism, war and peace, international relations, and, later in her life, full civil rights for gay and lesbian people. Harkness retired from teaching after serving on the faculty at Pacific School of Religion from 1949 to 1960.
The passion Harkness brought to her work of making vital theological connections among wider cultural and political issues, her keen interest in employing poetry and the arts to her theological work, and her firm commitment to civil rights and social justice — all of this contributed to PSR’s “tradition of boldness” — a tradition that shapes the ongoing work of PSR’s Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion.
Click here for a list of past CLGS Harkness Lecturers.