Dr. Courtney Goto & Lakisha Lockhart: Holding Lightly

This lecture, entitled, "Holding Lightly: Cultivating Playfulness in Youth," was delivered by Dr. Courtney T. Goto and Lakisha Lockhart on February 1, 2017 at Yale Divinity School as part of the Joy and Adolescent Faith & Flourishing free monthly Lunch & Lecture Series.

Lecture Abstract:
In this presentation, we explore playfulness as holding lightly, a spiritual practice that is both purposeful and necessary for the faith and flourishing of adolescents. We investigate what playfulness means and how the practice can help young people cope with everyday challenges and reflect deeply on questions such as: who am I, what are my gifts and passions, who has God created me to be, and what is my purpose. We will offer ways in which, we, as ministers and educators can provide adolescents spaces that not only allow for playfulness but welcome it.

Dr. Courtney T. Goto is an Assistant Professor of Religious Education and a co-Director of the Center for Practical Theology. Her research interests include aesthetic teaching and learning; imagination, creativity, and embodied knowing in adult religious education; and intersections of power, privilege, and culture in practical theology. Her most recent book is The Grace of Playing: Pedagogies for Leaning into God’s New Creation (2016). Her current book (in progress) is a moral project on dynamics of power and oppression in discourse, research, and teaching in practical theology. Goto is a third generation Japanese American United Methodist.

Lakisha Lockhart is the Director of the STREAM Youth Theology Institute at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and a doctoral candidate at Boston College in Theology and Education researching womanish modes of play as a pedagogical tool for theological education. This southern lady received her B.A from Claflin University, M.Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary, M.A. in Ethics & Society from Vanderbilt University and has been a Zumba instructor since 2013. She served as youth minister at Sightseeing Road Chapel in Columbus, GA where she was able to discover and live into one of her passions of helping young people find God for and within themselves and see how their own gifts and talents not only matter but can transform the world. She believes in the power of play and embodiment in theological education for adults and adolescents alike.

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This lecture is now availble on Livestream for playback: http://livestream.com/yaledivinityschool/YMI