Bonhoeffer Symposium with The Rev. Jennifer M. McBride, Ph.D
Date and Time
Bonhoeffer Symposium | Christ Church Frederica
Saturday, August 8, 2026
This symposium addresses the theology and life of German pastor-theologian and Nazi-resister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Led by an internationally known Bonhoeffer scholar and Episcopal priest, we will examine Bonhoeffer’s key theological concepts that help us diagnose, from a theological perspective, how a significant portion of American Christians could become Christian Nationalists. And in a spirit of humble self-reflection, we will ask how Bonhoeffer’s theological insights might inspire us to become more faithful disciples of Jesus.
Signup Form:
Schedule:
9:00 Gather and Coffee
Morning: Introduction to Bonhoeffer
9:15-9:30 Introduction to Documentary
9:30-11:00 Watch Documentary
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-12:00 Discussion of Documentary
12:00 Working Lunch
Afternoon: Thinking Theologically with Bonhoeffer
12:15-1:45 Session One: Discipleship and the New Situation
1:45-2:00 Break
2:00-3:15 Session Two: Freedom for Others
3:15-3:30 Closing Thoughts
Fee:
$25
Speaker Bio:
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer M. McBride (Jenny) has served as Associate Rector at All Saints’ Episcopal Church since 2022. Before her ordination to the priesthood, Jenny was a college and seminary professor, whose scholarship and teaching focused on modern theology, Christian social ethics, and faith and politics. Jenny has also directed a theology certificate program at a Georgia women’s prison through Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.
Jenny was a professor and close friend of Kelly Gissendaner, who was the only woman on Georgia's death row until her execution in 2015, and was a leading activist in the international #KellyOnMyMind campaign. Her most recent book, You Shall Not Condemn, publishes letters between Kelly and internationally renowned German theologian, Jürgen Moltmann. While teaching in the prison program, Jenny became an active participant at the Open Door Community in Atlanta, an intentionally interracial, residential, Christian activist and worshipping community that, for forty years, had been engaged in works of mercy and justice with people experiencing incarceration and homelessness.
She is author of You Shall Not Condemn: A Story of Faith and Advocacy on Death Row (Cascade, 2022), Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (Fortress, 2017), The Church for the World: A Theology of Public Witness (Oxford University Press, 2011), and is co-editor of Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought. In addition to book chapters and scholarly articles, her work has appeared in popular publications like The Christian Century and CNN.com and has been featured in the New York Times.
Jenny is the recent past president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section, an academic organization that brought the writings of Bonhoeffer to the English-speaking world, and she has served on its Board of Directors since 2008. She is co-editor of the T&T Clark book series, New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics and has been chair and a member of the steering committee for the American Academy of Religion’s “Bonhoeffer: Theology and Social Analysis” group. Recent essays on Bonhoeffer include “Bonhoeffer and Feminist Theologies” in The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and “Bonhoeffer’s Critique of Morality: A Theological Resource for Dismantling Mass Incarceration” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance.
Jenny is married to Dr. Thomas Fabisiak (Fabe-is-ak), who is the founding co-executive director of the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison and Associate Dean at Life University, where he oversees a college degree program for women in Georgia prisons. They live in Atlanta, a city they dearly love.