The Augsburg Interfaith Fellows are charged with deepening and extending Augsburg’s calling to interreligious engagement, preparing students to live and serve in contexts of religious pluralism. Their work is coordinated by the newly created Interfaith at Augsburg: An Institute to Promote Interreligious Leadership and includes participating in classroom and campus discussions and events; working with students named as Interfaith, Christensen, and Sabo scholars; and engaging with Augsburg’s Interfaith Coordinating Committee and various religious groups on campus.

Busshō Lahn is a Senior Priest at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and is on the leadership team of Aslan Institute in Eagan, MN. Busshō came to Zen Buddhism in 1993, was ordained in 2009, and received dharma transmission in 2015. He is a certified spiritual director, connecting with and walking with those who wish to deepen an intentional and contemplative spiritual life. He sees the intimate connection between our deeply held spiritual beliefs and the workings of our day-to-day mind and heart. The connection between spirituality and psychology is the area Bussho loves to explore, as well as encouraging and supporting spiritual lives, regardless of faith tradition.

Bussho is grounded in contemplative spirituality, interfaith experience, addiction recovery, and shadow integration. He is experienced in overseas pilgrimage and retreat facilitation, classroom education, and public speaking on a variety of spiritual subjects. His special interests include Zen ritual and ceremony, poetry, interfaith dialogue, and the works of the great mystics. He lives in Eden Prairie with his wonderful wife Karen.

• From Bussho –�� I wish to keep offering myself as a resource on Zen, Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness to classes & students in whatever capacity I can. I have a relatively flexible schedule, with normal class/working hours being especially available. I’d love to meet more Auggies!

Chris Stedman is a humanist community organizer, interfaith activist, and writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, “an intimate and deeply affecting portrait… [that] proves [he is] an activist in the truest sense and one to watch” (Booklist, Starred Review). Chris is also the founding executive director of the Humanist Center of Minnesota, a project through which he and a group of researchers at the University of Minnesota are studying the beliefs, practices, and community involvement of the religiously unaffiliated. Formerly the founding executive director of the Yale Humanist Community and a fellow at Yale University, he also worked as a humanist chaplain at Harvard University and a content developer for the Interfaith Youth Core.

Chris has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and Fox News, has spoken at hundreds of conferences and universities, and has written for publications including The Guardian, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, BuzzFeed, VICE, The Los Angeles Review of Books, CNN, MSNBC, USA Today, Salon, The Washington Post, and others. Details magazine named him one of “five next-gen gurus who are disrupting religion’s status quo” and Mic called him “the millennial who’s busting every stereotype about atheists.” He is currently finishing work on his next book, IRL: Finding Realness, Meaning, and Belonging in Our Digital Lives (forthcoming from Fortress Press), which examines what it means to be human in the age of social media, and he also writes THREAD, an occasional newsletter exploring the threads that connect online and offline life. Chris holds a summa cum laude B.A. in Religion from Augsburg (with minors in English and Social Welfare) and an M.A. in Religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, for which he was awarded the Billings Prize for Most Outstanding Scholastic Achievement. In 2018 Augsburg selected him for their annual First Decade Award, which recognizes alumni “who have made significant progress in their professional achievements and contributions to the community” ten years after graduating. Learn more at .

• From Chris – “I’m thrilled to start my third year as an interfaith fellow at Augsburg and can’t wait to continue learning from and with this wonderful community. I especially love visiting classes and engaging in conversation with students about humanism, secular worldviews, interfaith work, and my own undergraduate experience at Augsburg. Please reach out if you have any ideas or questions about ways we might work together.”

To invite Bussho or Chris to your speak with your class or connect with your group, please contact interfaith@augsburg.edu for their contact information.

Batalden interfaith Fellow

Ger Vang��is��Hmong Shaman currently living in Saint Paul. He is��from a family and culture with long history of shamanism��and��spiritual healers. His late father was a gifted healer;��his grandfather was also a shaman. Ger��began his��own��spiritual journey as a healer six years ago. The Power of Spiritual Healing chose him. The spiritual guides, the source of his healing gift, provide��him with��the necessary spiritual training in diagnosing illnesses and healing practices. Besides being a��spiritual��healer, he is a musician. He is also the Vice President of Training and Development for��the��Generational Financial Group, a local insurance firm. If you’re interested in having Ger visit your class, please contact him at gervang2222@gmail.com. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Bibiana Koh, Batalden Scholar in Applied Ethics, at koh@augsburg.edu.

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Christensen Interfaith Fellows – Wendy Goldberg, Busshō Lahn and Chris Stedman ’08

Batalden Interfaith Fellow – Ger Vang

The Christensen and Batalden Interfaith Fellows are charged with deepening and extending Augsburg’s calling to inter-religious engagement, preparing students to live and serve in contexts of religious pluralism. Their work will be coordinated by the Christensen Center for Vocation and Batalden Professor in Applied Ethics. It includes participating in classroom and campus discussions and events; working with students named as Interfaith, Christensen, and Sabo scholars; and engaging with Augsburg’s Interfaith Coordinating Committee and various religious groups on campus.

Christensen Interfaith Fellows

Wendy Goldberg��came to Augsburg from her position as Director of Spiritual Engagement at Shir Tikvah Congregation in Minneapolis. A veteran Jewish educator, Wendy served in a pastoral role at this progressive congregation and enjoyed returning to academia last year. She is also serving an administrative role at Heilicher Jewish Day School, an elementary school in St. Louis Park. Wendy’s mission at Shir Tikvah has been about accessibility, engagement, and enrichment, through leading the musical aspects of prayer and guiding congregants in deep explorations of their spirituality. Many Augsburg students studied with Wendy Shir Tikvah when researching other faith traditions.

Wendy is a native Minnesotan, and a graduate of Hopkins High School, Brandeis University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She loves languages and speaks Hebrew and Spanish. Her classes are engaging and experiential, and she encourages students to ask “those awkward questions, the ones you think you shouldn’t ask.” Wendy also leads a Shir Harmony, a Jewish women’s a capella group who describe themselves as “troubadours at meaningful moments.” Wendy’s multicultural work began in 1988, serving as a community liaison and guidance counselor for the Latino community at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.

Busshō Lahn is a Senior Priest at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and is on the leadership team of Aslan Institute in Eagan, MN. Busshō came to Zen Buddhism in 1993, was ordained in 2009, and received dharma transmission in 2015. He is a certified spiritual director, connecting with and walking with those who wish to deepen an intentional and contemplative spiritual life. He sees the intimate connection between our deeply held spiritual beliefs and the workings of our day-to-day mind and heart. The connection between spirituality and psychology is the area Bussho loves to explore, as well as encouraging and supporting spiritual lives, regardless of faith tradition.

Bussho is grounded in contemplative spirituality, interfaith experience, addiction recovery, and shadow integration. He is experienced in overseas pilgrimage and retreat facilitation, classroom education, and public speaking on a variety of spiritual subjects. His special interests include Zen ritual and ceremony, poetry, interfaith dialogue, and the works of the great mystics. He lives in Eden Prairie with his wonderful wife Karen.

Chris Stedman is a humanist community organizer and writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the founding executive director of the Humanist Center of Minnesota, a project seeking to explore the idea of a center for humanist life in Minneapolis, through which he and a group of researchers are currently studying the beliefs, practices, and community involvement of the religiously unaffiliated. Formerly the founding executive director of the Yale Humanist Community and a fellow at Yale University, Chris also worked as a humanist chaplain at Harvard University and a content developer for the Interfaith Youth Core. He currently serves as a fellow at the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University, and previously served as a fellow at Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship.

Chris is the author of Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, “an intimate and deeply affecting portrait… [that] proves [he is] an activist in the truest sense and one to watch” (Booklist, Starred Review). He is currently writing a book exploring what it means to be “real” in the digital age and writing a monthly column on the same topic for INTO. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and Fox News, has spoken at hundreds of conferences and universities, and has written for publications including The Guardian, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, BuzzFeed, VICE, The Los Angeles Review of Books, CNN, MSNBC, USA Today, Salon, The Washington Post, and others. Details magazine named him one of “five next-gen gurus who are disrupting religion’s status quo” and Mic called him “the millennial who’s busting every stereotype about atheists.” In 2018 Augsburg selected him for their annual First Decade Award, which recognizes alumni “who have made significant progress in their professional achievements and contributions to the community” ten years after graduating.

Batalden interfaith Fellow

Ger Vang��is��Hmong Shaman currently living in Saint Paul. He is��from a family and culture with long history of shamanism��and��spiritual healers. His late father was a gifted healer;��his grandfather was also a shaman. Ger��began his��own��spiritual journey as a healer six years ago. The Power of Spiritual Healing chose him. The spiritual guides, the source of his healing gift, provide��him with��the necessary spiritual training in diagnosing illnesses and healing practices. Besides being a��spiritual��healer, he is a musician. He is also the Vice President of Training and Development for��the��Generational Financial Group, a local insurance firm.��To learn more about Ger, please visit��www.Hmonghealer.com.

All are welcome to meet this year’s fellows at a reception on September 20, 2018 from 5:30-7:00pm in the Marshall Room.

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The following three individuals have been appointed as Augsburg’s inaugural��Christensen��Interfaith Fellows for the 2017-18 academic year: Abdisalam Adam, Wendy Goldberg, and Chris Stedman ’08.

The Interfaith Fellows are charged with deepening and extending Augsburg’s calling to inter-religious engagement, preparing students to live and serve in contexts of religious pluralism. Their work will be coordinated by the��Christensen��Center��for��Vocation��and includes participating in classroom and campus discussions and events; working with students named as Interfaith,��Christensen, and Sabo scholars; and engaging with Augsburg’s Interfaith Coordinating Committee and various religious groups on campus.

• Abdisalam Adam –��Abdisalam has worked as an English Language Learner teacher and Somali community specialist for the St. Paul Schools for more than 20 years. He currently teaches at Central Senior High School in St. Paul and will serve in an administrative role at St. Paul’s Highwood Hills Elementary School this coming school year.
  
  Abdisalam immigrated from Somalia to the United States in 1991 and moved to Minnesota in 1996. He is a board member of the Islamic Civic Society of America (Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque) in Minneapolis. He also serves on the advisory boards of Augsburg’s EAST (East African Student to Teacher) program and the��Center��for Muslim-Christian Dialogue at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Abdisalam currently is pursuing an Ed.D at Bethel University. He earned his master’s degree from St. Cloud State University and his bachelor’s degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  
  

• Wendy Goldberg��– Wendy comes to Augsburg from her position as director of spiritual engagement at Shir Tikvah Congregation in Minneapolis, where she promoted accessibility, engagement, and enrichment through leading the musical aspects of prayer and guiding congregants in deep explorations of their spirituality. A veteran Jewish educator, Wendy encourages students to ask awkward questions — the ones they think they shouldn’t ask. Many Augsburg students studied with Wendy at Shir Tikvah when researching diverse faith traditions.
  
  Wendy is a native Minnesotan and a graduate of Hopkins High School; Brandeis University in Boston; the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York; and Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. She speaks Hebrew and Spanish. She also leads a Shir Harmony, a Jewish women’s a capella group aimed at heightening spiritual experiences at lifecycle events. Wendy has created an innovative Bar/Bat Mitzvah program called, “Beyond the Barchu: What it Means to Be an Emergent Adult in the Jewish Community.”��Wendy’s career in multicultural work began in 1988, when she served as a community liaison and guidance counselor for the Latino community at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA.
  

• Chris Stedman ’08 –��Chris is the founding executive director of the Humanist��Center��of Minnesota. Formerly the founding executive director of the Yale Humanist Community and a fellow at Yale University, Chris has also worked as a humanist chaplain at Harvard University and a content developer and trainer for Interfaith Youth Core. In addition to being named a Christensen��Interfaith Fellow, Chris is serving as a fellow in Augsburg’s Martin O. SaboCenter��for Democracy and Citizenship, where he will facilitate and build new community partnerships for non-religious and interfaith civic engagement.��
  
  Chris is the author of��Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious; has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS; has spoken at hundreds of conferences and universities; and has written for publications including The Advocate, CNN, Huffington Post, MSNBC, The Rumpus, Salon, USA Today, and The Washington Post. He earned a master’s in religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s in religion from Augsburg.

Augsburg is blessed with the talents and experience of these community and faith leaders!

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