Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
"'Who keeps us safe?' - Christian Politics of Care" by Isaac Villegas
2026 Bechtel Lecture in Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies
To become a peace church involves social habits that draw people into the loving-kindness of God, whose justice precipitates a confrontation with the ordinary violence that structure our lives -- the sins of the church and the world. This lecture will turn to the Anabaptist tradition for insights into organizing communities of mutual care.
Rooted in his experience as a Mennonite pastor, Isaac Villegas will develop a political theology of care that follows from the social practices that sustain congregational life. His account will include the lessons he has learned from abolitionist organizing where people develop interpersonal commitments and institutional networks through which they attempt to live out the possibilities of a chant heard in the streets during protests and demonstrations, a rallying cry for another world: "Who keeps us safe?" "We keep us safe!"
"'Who keeps us safe?' - Christian Politics of Care" by Isaac Villegas
2026 Bechtel Lecture in Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies
To become a peace church involves social habits that draw people into the loving-kindness of God, whose justice precipitates a confrontation with the ordinary violence that structure our lives -- the sins of the church and the world. This lecture will turn to the Anabaptist tradition for insights into organizing communities of mutual care.
Rooted in his experience as a Mennonite pastor, Isaac Villegas will develop a political theology of care that follows from the social practices that sustain congregational life. His account will include the lessons he has learned from abolitionist organizing where people develop interpersonal commitments and institutional networks through which they attempt to live out the possibilities of a chant heard in the streets during protests and demonstrations, a rallying cry for another world: "Who keeps us safe?" "We keep us safe!"
