On Becoming Wise Together

podcastOPTalksBooksTEBT
Written By Open Plaza

Dr. Javier Viera talks to Dr. Maria Liu Wong about her recent book on urban ministry and theological education

 
 

In this episode of OP Talks, Dr. Javier Viera, President and Professor of Education and Leadership at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and Dr. Maria Liu Wong, City Seminary of New York Provost, discuss her recent book  On Becoming Wise Together: Learning and Leading in the City (Eerdmans, 2023). This work proposes “that intercultural and communal understandings of theological teaching and learning suit the context of a complex and quickly changing urban world better than individualistic, rational Western habits of knowing.”

According to Dr. Wong, “This book reframes traditional Euro-North American conceptions of theological education by reflecting critically on my lived experience as a British-born Chinese-North American woman, a family member, an immigrant, an urban theological educator, a maker, a gallery curator, a community gardener, a Girl Scout troop leader, and a scholar.”

This conversation and the book are part of of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that “gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone.”

 
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Javier Viera

Dr. Javier Viera is the President (2021) and Professor of Education and Leadership at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dr. Viera is the first person of color to hold the office of president in the seminary’s 168-year history. He has served as Dean, Provost and Professor of Pastoral Studies at Drew University Theological Seminary; as executive minister of Christ Church in New York City; and as chair of his local Human Rights Commission. He is an ordained elder in the New York Conference of The United Methodist Church. Other professional activities include the Wabash Center Advisory Committee, the University Senate and Commission on Theological Education of The United Methodist Church, the Religious Education Association, and the American Academy of Religion. His scholarly interests center on inter-religious dialogue and how learning occurs across religious and ideological differences; adult learning and development, particularly Freirean dialectics and pedagogy; and the history of Latin America, particularly revolutionary and anti-colonial movements in the Hispanic Caribbean. Dr. Viera holds a PhD in Education from Columbia University Teachers College, an STM from Yale University, an MDiv from Duke University, and a BA from Florida Southern College. In 2020, he received the Yale Divinity School Distinction in Theological Education award and is currently completing a PhD in Latin American studies/history from the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico.

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Maria Liu Wong

Dr. Maria Liu Wong is the Provost of City Seminary of New York. Dr. Liu Wong has also served as their Dean and currently directs the Faith and Families initiative, the Walls-Ortiz Gallery and co-directs the Ministry in the City HUB, a national learning network. She is also a Senior Fellow with the Theological Education Between the Times project and Research Scholar with the LearnLong Institute for Education and Learning Research. Her research interests include lifelong and transformative learning, learning cities, mentoring, action research, women and leadership, diversity, place and arts-based pedagogies, youth and urban theological education. Dr. Liu Wong holds an EdD in Adult Learning and Leadership (AEGIS) from Columbia University Teachers College, an MA in Urban Mission from Westminster Theological Seminary, an MA in International Educational Development from Columbia University Teachers College and a BA in English/Environmental Science from Barnard College. She is the author of On Becoming Wise Together: Learning and Leading in the City (Eerdmans, 2023), part of the Theological Education Between the Times series, and has co-authored Stay in the City: How Christian Faith Is Flourishing in an Urban World (Eerdmans, 2017) and the forthcoming companion Sense the City. Dr. Liu Wong is a member and fellowship group leader at Redeemer Presbyterian Church Downtown in New York.

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