Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times
February 8, 2024 at 7 p.m.
The Graham Memorial Chapel
Featuring the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III
All are welcome to attend the Rabbi Ferdinand M. Isserman Memorial Lecture: Thursday, February 8, 7 p.m. in Graham Memorial Chapel at Washington University of St. Louis Danforth Campus.
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III will speak on his latest book, Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times, released in November of 2022. Utilizing the scholarship of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Howard Thurman, alongside biblical texts, a bevy of religious traditions, Black culture, and his own personal experiences to create this book, Dr. Moss offers up a methodology on performing spiritual resistance by uniting two pillars of his ministry: love and justice.
Dr. Moss has built his ministry on community advancement for racial and social justice activism. As Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois since 2008, Dr. Moss routinely preaches and practices a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problems of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic inequality. Dr. Moss is also part of a generation of ministers who are committed to preaching a prophetic message of love and justice.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Moss is an honors graduate of Morehouse College who earned a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. In 2022, Dr. Moss was named a professor of homiletics at McAfee School of Theology, where he continues to teach the next generation of preachers.
About the lecture
The Rabbi Ferdinand M. Isserman Lecture honors the life of the late Rabbi Ferdinand M. Isserman, the distinguished rabbi and author who was actively involved in social justice and interfaith issues locally, nationally, and internationally. The Isserman Fund, through which both the lecture and prize are supported, was founded by Rabbi Isserman’s widow Ruth and their children in 1992. The Isserman Lecture invites the WashU and St. Louis community to engage in conversation around social justice and interfaith relations. The public program has featured faith leaders, journalists, educators, artists, and activists from a diversity of faith traditions and across the United States.
The Isserman Lecture is hosted by Office for Religious, Spiritual & Ethical Life at Washington University in St. Louis. in collaboration with the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis.
Free parking for the event is available in the Danforth University Center garage (6475 Forsyth Ave). This lecture is part of Interfaith Week 2024.
For more information
Contact The Rev. Callista Isabelle, Director for Religious, Spiritual and Ethical Life.