Friends of the Week 2024 and Weekly Themes from CI
Week One • June 22–29: The Evolution of the Modern Presidency
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Race and the American Religious Experience
Mary Ellen McNish, Former General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee
Week Two • June 29–July 6: The AI Revolution
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Religion’s Intersections: Interdisciplinary Imagination with Science, Technology, and AI
Gray Cox, Professor, College of the Atlantic; Clerk, Quaker Institute for the Future
Week Three • July 6–13: What We Got Wrong: Learning from Our Mistakes
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Ethics and Meaning-Making Beyond Faith
Benigno Sanchez-Eppler, Professor, Amherst College
Week Four • July 13–20: Eight Billion and Counting: The Future of Humankind in a Crowded World
Interfaith Lecture Theme – World Religion and a Shifting Population
Cheryl Morden, IGC Former Co-Clerk, Quaker UN Committee/New York (QUNO)
Week Five • July 20–27: Our Greatest Challenges (That We Can Actually Do Something About)
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Spiritual Grounding for Social Change
Alicia McBride, Senior Director for Quaker Leadership, Friends Committee on National Legislation
Week Six • July 27–Aug. 3: Exploring the Transformative Power of Music with Renée Fleming
Interfaith Lecture Theme – The Arts: Expressions from the Soul
Niyonu Spann, Transformation Consultant; Musician; Founder/Director of: Beyond Diversity 101, CEIO (Co-Creating Effective & Inclusive Organizations) & 4 Circles Beyond
Week Seven • Aug. 03–10: Wonder and Awe. A Week Celebrating Chautauqua’s Sesquicentennial
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Wonder and Awe: Reverence as a Response to the World
Michael Birkel, Emeritus Professor of Religion and Spirituality, Earlham School of Religion
Week Eight• Aug. 10-17 Water: Crisis, Beauty and Necessity. – A Week in Partnership with National Geographic
Interfaith Lecture Theme – Water: A Metaphor for Life
Beverly Ward, Field Secretary, Earthcare, Southeastern Yearly Meeting
Week Nine • Aug. 17–25: Rising Together: Our Century of Creativity and Collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Interfaith Lecture Theme – All Rise: Save Us and Look Beyond
LaVonna and Cliff Loesch: LaVonna: Clerk, FWCC Section of the Americas; Cliff: Former Presiding Clerk, Friends United Meeting