Can the Ancestors Speak? Religious Education, Who and How

Abstract

Can the ancestors speak? For the 2022 annual meeting of the Religious Education Association (REA), themed “Becoming Good Ancestors,” an essential question is, “can the ancestors speak?” To answer this question, the presidential address seeks to uncover: who are the REA’s ancestors? Where are they speaking? What is the guild’s role in forming good ancestors? The address claims that not all ancestors can communicate their knowledge in the guild’s current form, ways of gathering, or ways of forming scholars. Yet, there is potential in the REA’s work to be more inclusive of our many ancestral lineages.