An evening with author and ethicist Jennifer Herdt, and poet and author Shane McRae
Doomscrolling. Bingewatching. Swiping Left and Right. In the digital era, when information is treated like a commodity, distraction abounds, but attention is scarce. What does it mean to pay attention today? How is the simple—but radical act—of attending essential to our humanity and our intellectual, moral, creative, and social well-being?
Jennifer A. Herdt is Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics at Yale University’s Divinity School and author of Assuming Responsibility: Ecstatic Eudaimonism and the Call to Live Well, Forming Humanity: Redeeming the German Bildung Tradition, Putting On Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices, and Religion and Faction in Hume’s Moral Philosophy
Shane McCrae is the author of In the Language of My Captor, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award, The Animal Too Big to Kill, Forgiveness Forgiveness, Blood, and Mule, as well as three poetry chapbooks and one nonfiction chapbook. His poems have appeared in the Best American Poetry series, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, and other anthologies and journals. He teaches at Columbia University.
About the Roots: Dialogues for the Common Good series:
What is the spark of human cooperation? How does beauty bind its beholders? Why do we read, write, and seek the truth together—even if our search never ends?
The current cultural moment is marked by polarization, distrust, and a breakdown in civil discourse, which combine to limit opportunities for the kind of meaningful conversations vital to flourishing human relationships and the health of society. But even amid the soundbite-and-spectacle quality of public discourse today, we perceive a latent desire for depth, dialogue, and critical thinking. We believe we can contribute to meeting this desire, both by hosting intelligent exchanges on fundamental questions with renowned speakers and by challenging our audiences to practice a posture of open-minded dialogue while they participate in these convenings.
This project, a collaboration between Columbia’s Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary and Commonweal, convenes a range of thinkers for a series of public discussions grounded in philosophy, theology, and the humanities. The aim is not to defend specific positions or provide inarguable conclusions. Instead we seek to invite reflection, provoke conversation, and inspire action—a mode of meeting the political, moral, and existential challenges of our time.
RSVP required for all attendees (for those without CUID registration required by 11:59pm day before the event)
