WILSON, N.C. — March 17, 2022 — The Center for Vocation and Rural Ministry at Barton College is pleased to welcome the Reverend Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, celebrated spiritual writer, author, and founder of Rutba House in Durham, as the featured speaker for the spring Light of Life Series Lecture on Monday, March 21. The community is invited to attend. Masks are encouraged, and social distancing is required.
The event will be held in Howard Chapel. The program will begin at 1:45 p.m. with music provided by Ramey Dail, assistant to the registrar at Barton College. The 2 p.m. lecture by Reverend Wilson-Hartgrove will focus on in his book, “Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom From Slaveholder Religion.”
A native of North Carolina, the Reverend Wilson-Hartgrove is a sought-after speaker. He is a graduate of Eastern University and Duke Divinity School. In 2003, he and his wife, Leah, founded the Rutba House, a house of hospitality where the formerly homeless share community with the formerly housed. Reverend Wilson-Hartgrove directs the School for Conversion, a popular education center that works to make “surprising friendships possible.” He is also an associate minister at the historically black St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church.
Reverend Wilson-Hartgrove is a co-complier of the celebrated “Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,” and the author of several books on Christian spirituality, including “Reconstructing the Gospel,” “Strangers at My Door,” “The Awakening of Hope,” “The Wisdom of Stability,” and “The New Monasticism.” He is also co-author, with the Reverend Dr. William Barber II, of “The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement.”
An evangelical Christian who connects with the broad spiritual tradition and its monastic witnesses, Reverend Wilson-Hartgrove is a leader in the Red Letter Christian movement and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. He speaks often about emerging Christianity and faith in public life to churches and conferences across the denominational spectrum and has given lectures at dozens of universities and seminaries, including Calvin College, MIT, Bethel, Duke, Yale, Princeton, Jewish Theological, Perkins, Wake Forrest, St. John’s, DePaul, and Baylor.
For additional information, contact the Reverend Malinda Fillingim, director of the Center for Vocation and Rural Ministry at Barton College, at mdfillingim@barton.edu.
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