Life After Doom
An Evening with Brian McLaren
Wednesday, October 30 • 7.00 - 8.30pm (Eastern) • Online
$25 event registration
Includes a copy of Life After Doom for the first 100 people who register
Full and half scholarships are available for this event. Please contact Nicole Diroff at nicole@thebtscenter.org to inquire.
Note: Those who register for the Life After Doom Book Study Group will be automatically registered for this public event and do not need to register separately.
As we live into increasingly unstable times — climate chaos present in blisteringly hot days and alarmingly frequent floods and fires, political divisiveness, economic injustice and inequalities that only seem to get worse — many of us find our days infused with a sense of unease, disquiet, and anxiety. We know that the world is wildly unbalanced and that the powers which have long governed our society — political, religious, and economic — are only contributing further to the deeply unsustainable situation in which we find ourselves. How can we bear the truth of this moment and find our way forward in these times?
In his new book Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, widely celebrated author, speaker, and activist Brian D. McLaren looks unflinchingly at this moment and names that feeling so many are experiencing as doom. Yet rather than stopping at that challenging feeling, McLaren dives deeply into Christian tradition and the Bible as an indigenous ecological text to ask what resources we can embrace to find a path into new ways of being. Drawing on the wisdom of philosophers, poets, scientists, and theologians, and with deep honesty and compassion, he invites us to embrace a contemplative stance and offers new ways forward for radical community, belonging, and resilience.
The BTS Center warmly invites you to join us for an intimate conversation with Brian McLaren to discuss the ways in which this time offers immense possibilities alongside profound loss. Brian will be joined by a panel of respondents as well as musical accompaniment for an evening of soulful connection and incisive conversation.
Meet Brian D. McLaren
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is a core faculty member and Dean of Faculty for the Center for Action and Contemplation and a podcaster with Learning How to See. He is also an Auburn Senior Fellow and is a co-host of Southern Lights. His newest books are Faith After Doubt (January 2021), Do I Stay Christian? (May 2022), and Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (2024). His co-authored children’s book Cory and the Seventh Story was released in 2023.
Born in 1956, McLaren graduated from University of Maryland with degrees in English (BA, 1978, and MA, 1981). His academic interests included Medieval drama, Romantic poets, modern philosophical literature, and the novels of Dr. Walker Percy. In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree (honoris causa) from Carey Theological Seminary in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and in 2010, he received a second honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal).
A frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, he has appeared on All Things Considered, Larry King Live, Nightline, On Being, and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. His work has also been covered in Time, The New York Times, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and many other print and online media.
He has taught or lectured at many seminaries and at denominational and interfaith gatherings.
Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and five grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife and ecology, fly fishing and kayaking, music and songwriting, and literature.
Meet Our Conversationalists
Rev. Mira Sawlani-Joyner is a dedicated pastor, preacher, educator, and public theologian, whose ministry is deeply influenced by her immigrant heritage. She holds a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary, where she was honored with awards for Excellence in Public Theology and Community Life.
Rev. Mira’s commitment to justice and advocacy is shaped by her decolonized perspective and her experience as a “third culture kid” with Philippine and Indian roots, raised in Hong Kong. Her ministry journey spans diverse multicultural communities across Australia and the United States. As a mother of three daughters, she is passionately driven to create a more just world, striving to make God’s kin-dom a reality on earth.
Currently, Rev. Mira serves as the Minister of Justice, Advocacy, and Change at The Riverside Church in New York City. In this role, she works closely with organizations such as GreenFaith, the Poor People’s Campaign, Interfaith Commission on Housing Equality, and Action Corps, bringing a faith-rooted approach to the pursuit of justice and social transformation.
After a career spanning more than thirty years in financial management, John Elwood began a second life on matters closer to his heart. He and his wife Barbara established a 50-acre organic produce farm, which today serves more than 700 cooperative members; chaired the board of a mission sending agency operating on four continents; served on the boards of three prominent Christian environmental advocacy organizations; and helped lead resistance to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. In 2019, he turned his focus to the theological implications of the ecosystem crisis, earning an M.A. in Ecotheology from Union Theological Seminary. He now serves on the Steering Committee of the Eden Vigil Institute for Environmental Leadership at William Carey International University.
Ben Yosua-Davis serves on The BTS Center staff team as Director of Applied Research, where he shapes the organization’s posture of “rigorous and reverent curiosity,” focused on research that supports and shares the wisdom of on-the-ground practitioners working in a climate-changed world. He is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary and Colby College.
Previously, he lived in Haverhill, MA, where he co-planted a new church called The Vine, one of the earliest mainline missional church expressions in the country, and hosted a podcast entitled, “Reports From the Spiritual Frontier,” which chronicled the day-to-day lives of leaders innovating new forms of spiritual community.
Ben is a Maine native and now lives on Chebeague Island, Maine with his wife, Melissa, his son Michael, and his daughters, Genevieve and Emeline; where he directs the community chorus and delivers tins of cookies to unsuspecting neighbors.
