Is America Possible: Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy

Now more than ever the world calls out for a radical paradigm shift in our collective thinking. These inspired leaders and activists are at the forefront of this push for change.

The lecture and workshop will weave together strands of diverse experiences, aiming at different ways to realize the possibilities of democracy in America, a theme that has occupied the lifework of these three scholars. Vincent Harding describes his vision of deepening the American dream as a task of maturing and honing this nation's capacity for becoming "the land that never has been yet." Susan Griffin and Don Hanlon Johnson have described the American dream as the intense struggle of developing a truly egalitarian sensibility, a quality whose attainment is not easily realized. As our nation faces the challenges of an election year, join these three thinkers for discussion and reflection on "wrestling with the angel of democracy."

Vincent Harding, PhD, is professor emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He is founder and chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project which he and his late wife, Rosemarie, began in 1997. Harding is the author of many books, and collaborated in the past as a friend and coworker with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don Hanlon Johnson, PhD, is the founder of the Somatic Psychology Program at CIIS where he is a professor. His lifetime of writing and teaching has been focused on the role the body plays in social transformation. His latest book is Everyday Hopes, Utopian Dreams: Reflections on American Ideals.

Susan Griffin is a well-known writer and poet. Her latest book, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen, is about the inner life of democracy. She has published 19 books, including Woman and Nature, a classic work that inspired ecofeminism, published in a new edition by Sierra Club Books in 2000.