HESED at Austin Seminary

Daniel Bannoura is a Palestinian theologian and podcaster, and postdoc at the University of Notre Dame, where he received his PhD degree in Qur'anic Studies. His research focuses on the history and redaction of the Qur'an, Christian-Muslim relations, and Palestinian theology. Daniel is the U.S. advocacy coordinator of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice and is also a co-host of “Across the Divide”, a podcast that provides a space for thoughtful conversations about Palestine-Israel through the lens of faith and peace-making.

Dr. Karma R. Chávez (she/her) is the Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor and Chair of the Department of Mexican American and Latino Studiesat the University of Texas, Austin. She is the author of The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance and Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities.

Rev. Dr. Dominique A. Robinson is the John E. Hines Assistant Professor of Preaching at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, where she is the first full-time African American scholar on the theology faculty. She also serves as Grant Manager for the AME Zion Church’s Lilly Endowment–funded Compelling Preaching Initiative. Robinson earned her Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary, where she developed the groundbreaking digital preaching method iHomileticTM. She is currently completing a PhD in African American Preaching & Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary, focusing on Black Methodist womanist homiletics and depression among African American clergy. An ordained itinerant elder in the AME Zion Church, Robinson is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is widely recognized as a preacher, professor, and justice advocate committed to the intersections of faith, mental health, and the flourishing of Black communities.

About the Workshop: Preaching for Social Transformation (Social Justice to Purple Churches) is a practical preaching workshop designed to equip attendees to proclaim justice-centered sermons with pastoral clarity, theological grounding, and emotional intelligence in politically diverse congregations. Through guided reflection and role-play, participants will practice responding to common forms of pushback from parishioners while remaining faithful to the gospel, their vocation, and the pastoral relationship.  

Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) Beyond Borders policy attorney Danny Woodward, Texas law 23', will host a workshop about immigration issues one year into a second Trump administration term. The workshop will cover the Trump administration’s actions to deport millions from our communities, the rapid response attempts to pull people out of cruel immigration detention facilities, and the effort to peel away immigrant communities’ access to public services and affordable education.

The purpose of HESED at Austin Seminary is to promote awareness and church involvement in the area of social justice, thus enabling hesed, which is Hebrew for love in action. The HESED lectureship was a grassroots effort started by Austin Seminary students of the (then) African American Student Group and Hispanic Student Association in 2014 to bring scholars from black, LatinX, and other marginalized communities to Austin Seminary’s campus, in hopes that their voices would deepen the community’s conversations in response to issues of justice as faced by these students and their communities.

The HESED experience has created community and formed leaders that have helped transform Austin Seminary and the communities the students have entered after graduation. Since its establishment in 2014, HESED organizing committee members and chairs have gone on to serve as student body presidents, student senators, and in other campus leadership capacity, as well as numerous recipients of graduate fellowships and awards. HESED leaders are also hard at work in their communities: leading congregations, advocacy organizations, working as chaplains, and even continuing to serve as employees of Austin Seminary.

Sponsored by the LatinX and African and African Diaspora Student Groups

We'd love for you to be involved with HESED! Contact the HESED Organizing Team at hesed@austinseminary.edu with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

View lecture recordings from past HESED Lectures on the official HESED YouTube page: www.youtube.com/@HESEDatAustinSeminary