The Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Service at Stanford University, in partnership with the NorcalMLK Foundation, is a revered annual event that honors Dr. King's legacy.
At the heart of this service is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Address, a profound and thought-provoking speech delivered by a distinguished guest speaker. The address serves as a platform for addressing contemporary social justice issues, reflecting on Dr. King's teachings, and inspiring positive change.
The celebration service is a gathering of the Stanford University community and the wider public to commemorate Dr. King's contributions to civil rights and social progress. It features a program that includes music, spoken word performances, and reflections on Dr. King's life and work. This event fosters dialogue, unity, and a renewed commitment to advancing the principles of equality and justice that Dr. King championed throughout his life. It's a moment to reflect on the ongoing struggle for civil rights and to celebrate the progress made while acknowledging the work that remains ahead.
The MLK Celebration speaker, Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Ph.D., is The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences and Executive Director of both the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE) and the nationally-acclaimed Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG) and serves as co-founder of the Society for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (SRER).
Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of ethics, feminist/womanist studies, Black Church studies, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and postcolonial studies with an overall approach to the study of Christian social ethics that engages broad questions of moral agency, cultural memory, ethical responsibility and social justice. Drawing upon socio-historical methods and liberation ethics, her work in Christian social ethics has a threefold focus—race, gender, and class—and she is equally interested in the challenges of religious pluralism, social justice and the political world.
Floyd-Thomas’ research trajectory envisions the challenge for constructive ethics in making liberationist discourse and theologies more viable. This is exemplified in her numerous publications including numerous articles, book chapters, six books, namely, Mining the Motherlode: Methods in Womanist Ethics (Pilgrim Press, 2006), Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society (New York University Press, 2006), and Black Church Studies: An Introduction (Abingdon Press, 2007), U. S. Liberation Theologies: An Introduction (New York University Press, 2010), Beyond the Pale: Reading Ethics from the Margins (Westminister John Knox Press, 2011), Beyond the Pale: Reading Theology from the Margins (Westminister John Knox Press, 2011), and two book series for which she serves as general editor: Religion and Social Transformation (NYU) and ‘Making It Plain’: Approaches in Black Church Studies (Abingdon). Her current research projects – Exodus in America: The Unlikely Alliance between White Jews and Black Christians; Liberation Theologies in the United States: An Introduction; Making It Plain: Approaches to African American Christian Social Ethics; The Westminster John Knox Dictionary of African American Religion and Thought – continue to address the ongoing challenge of liberationist discourse and interdisciplinary scholarship.
The address is a partnership between the NorcalMLK Foundation, Stanford University's Office for Religious & Spiritual Life.
Enjoy the 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Service, featuring the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Address by Dr. Raymond C. Carr, here.
