Summer 2026 · Online Summit
Leading religion scholars reflect on America's 250th anniversary — its contested past, its shifting present, and the challenges ahead for people of faith.
Register Now to Get AccessLectures released soon — watch at your own pace.
About the Summit
In 2026, the United States marks 250 years since its founding. The current administration is already leveraging the anniversary toward a narrow — and troubling — rendering of the church's history and witness in America. Anticipating a flood of Christian nationalist celebrations alongside the broader wave of historical retrospectives, we wanted to create something different: a resource for people of faith to hear what leading scholars of religion and American history want to contribute to our reflection at this milestone.
Each contributor offers a lecture on whatever they are carrying into this moment. Some offer sweeping reads on America's religious trajectory. Others examine a particular tradition, movement, figure, or crisis from our past. Still others look forward — at the shifting religious landscape, the erosion of democratic norms, or the challenges awaiting communities of faith on the other side of this anniversary. No one was asked to fit a theme. The result is a collection of voices that, taken together, tell a more honest and complete story than any single narrative could.
What You'll Encounter
Move past the slogans and recover a fuller, truer account of faith in America — one that holds both its glories and its failures.
Name and understand the movement that fuses national identity with a narrow vision of the church — and learn to respond with clarity.
Examine the shifting religious landscape of the present and what it means for communities of faith now.
Each talk comes with a discussion guide and a resource list, ready to use with your church, classroom, or small group.
Encounter scholars and thinkers whose work may be new to you — fresh perspectives that broaden the conversation.
Become part of a wider community wrestling honestly with faith and the American story at 250.
How It Works
Each talk runs about 30 minutes. Watch at your own pace, whenever and wherever works for you.
Gather for live conversations with your hosts — and if you can't make it, replays are always available.
Companion guides and curated resource lists accompany every lecture, built for group study and deeper reflection.
Everything lives on the resource page and stays available for at least a year — return to it as often as you like.
Pay what you can — including $0A course like this is typically offered for $250 or more, but we invite you to contribute whatever you can (including $0) to help make this possible for everyone.
Register Now to Get AccessYour Hosts
Author & Historian of American Religion
Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author and one of America's most trusted commentators on religion and culture. A historian of American religion with a doctorate from Duke University, she has written more than a dozen books, including Grounded, Christianity After Religion, Grateful, and Freeing Jesus. Diana's work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and TIME. She speaks to congregations, conferences, and universities across the country, and is one of the most widely read public voices on how faith communities are navigating the changing American landscape.
Luther Seminary · Homebrewed Christianity
Tripp Fuller is Visiting Professor of Theology at Luther Seminary and the founder of Homebrewed Christianity, the most popular theology podcast in the world with over 4 million downloads per year. He is the author of Divine Self-Investment and the creator of the Homebrewed Christianity Guide book series with Fortress Press. For over 15 years, Tripp has been making the best resources from the academy accessible to the church — so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. He takes Star Wars and the Lakers very seriously.
Our Contributors
Dartmouth College
Randall Balmer is one of the most prolific historians of American evangelicalism, a professor of religion at Dartmouth College, and an Episcopal priest. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right, Thy Kingdom Come, and Evangelicalism in America. His work traces how the religious right was forged not around abortion but around the defense of segregation — a history that has never been more urgently relevant.
Xavier University
Adam Clark is Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University, where he teaches courses on Black Theology, Jesus and Power, and Religion and Hip Hop. Trained at Union Theological Seminary under James Cone, Dr. Clark is committed to theological education as a counter-story — one that equips students to read against the grain of dominant culture. He serves as co-chair of the Black Theology Group at the American Academy of Religion and is a frequent collaborator with Homebrewed Christianity.
Campbell University
W. Glenn Jonas, Jr. is the Charles B. Howard Professor of Religion and former Associate Dean at Campbell University, where he has taught church history since 1994. A past president of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, Dr. Jonas is the author of The Baptist River: Essays on Many Tributaries of a Diverse Tradition and multiple congregational histories. He received his Ph.D. in church history from Baylor University and is a sought-after preacher and teacher across Baptist churches in North Carolina and beyond.
Baylor University
Elesha Coffman is Associate Professor of Church History at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary. She is the author of The Christian Century and the Rise of the Protestant Mainline and the recently published Turning Points in American Church History. Her work maps the rise and decline of mainline Protestantism in American public life — essential context for understanding where we stand at the 250th.
Luther Seminary
Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is one of the most prolific practical theologians working today, authoring numerous books including the Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Churches and the Crisis of Decline. His work sits at the intersection of theology, secularization, and the lived experience of congregations — offering insight into how churches navigate a rapidly changing world.
Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Corey D. B. Walker is Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Inaugural Director of the Program in African American Studies. A distinguished scholar of African American social, political, and religious thought, Dean Walker is the author of A Noble Fight: African American Freemasonry and the Struggle for Democracy in America and is completing Disciple of Nonviolence on Wyatt Tee Walker. His work bridges religion, ethics, and the ongoing struggle for democracy.
Central Methodist University
Kevin Carnahan is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Central Methodist University. He has served as President of the Niebuhr Society and Co-editor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. His most recent book is The Disappearance of Eve and the Gender of Christ: Why Traditional Soteriology Requires a Trans Savior (Fortress Press, 2025). He is also an active public scholar on TikTok, Instagram, and Substack, bringing theological ethics to a wide audience.
Saint Louis University
Reggie Williams is Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. He is the author of Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance, selected as a Choice Outstanding Title. His work examines how Dietrich Bonhoeffer was transformed by his encounter with the Black church during the Harlem Renaissance — and what that transformation means for Christians confronting nationalism today. He is a board member of the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society and a recurring guest on Homebrewed Christianity.
Vanderbilt University Divinity School
Juan M. Floyd-Thomas is Associate Professor of African American Religious History at Vanderbilt University's Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion. He is the author of The Origins of Black Humanism and Liberating Black Church History: Making It Plain, co-author of Black Church Studies: An Introduction and The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture, and most recently the author of Critical Race Theology: White Supremacy, American Christianity, and the Ongoing Culture Wars. A co-founder of the Black Religious Scholars Group and president of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion, Floyd-Thomas's work examines the entangled roots of white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and the culture wars in America — and charts a path for a revitalized social gospel for the 21st century.
Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Bill J. Leonard is Founding Dean and Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, where he held the James and Marilyn Dunn Chair of Baptist Studies. He is the author or editor of some 25 books, including Baptist Ways: A History, God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention, and The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers — co-authored with Tripp Fuller. A leading historian of American and Baptist religion, Leonard writes a regular column for Baptist News Global and has served as interim pastor of more than 25 congregations across the country. He is an ordained Baptist minister and a member of First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue, the oldest African American Baptist congregation in Winston-Salem.
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Jennifer Harvey is Vice President of Academic Affairs at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. A scholar of racial justice and white anti-racism, she is the author of Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation and Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America. Her work argues that the reconciliation paradigm long favored by white Christians has failed — and makes the case for reparations as a biblical and theological imperative.
Yale Center for Public Theology & Public Policy
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a writer, preacher, and moral activist. He serves as Assistant Director at the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy and is Associate Minister at St. John's Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. He and his wife Leah founded the Rutba House, a house of hospitality. The author of more than a dozen books, including Revolution of Values and White Poverty (with Bishop William J. Barber II), Jonathan is a steering committee member of the Save America Movement and co-publishes the "Our Moral Moment" Substack.
Questions
The summit is fully asynchronous. There's no fixed schedule to keep — lectures are pre-recorded, so you can watch on your own time, at your own pace.
After registering, you'll receive an email with access to a password-protected resource page. All the content stays up for at least a year, so you can return whenever you like.
It's built for exactly that. The roughly 30-minute talks fit naturally into a group session, and every lecture includes companion discussion and resource guides for deeper conversation.
A course like this typically carries a value of $250 or more — but you can pay what you can, including $0. We want this resource to reach everyone.
The summit is produced by Faith at 250, a collaboration between Diana Butler Bass and Homebrewed Christianity.
Register now to receive access to all lectures, livestream replays, discussion guides, and the full resource library.
Register Now to Get Access