Event Schedule

Wednesday, March 26th

Thursday, March 27th

If attending virtually, please join using the following Zoom link: https://lstc-edu.zoom.us/my/lstc.chapel

Event Details

Historically Women’s History Month celebrates the contributions of women across  multiple professions and platforms. This year, LSTC will celebrate Women History month by lifting up Women in Ministry. The voices of Women Theologians have historically been muted, unheard and unacknowledged. More often than not women are treated as ghosts moving about within the church without acknowledgement of their contributions. This year, LSTC will celebrate the work of Women in the church by honoring the voices of those women who have been silenced for far too long. The theme for this year is “Muted Theologians: The Voices of Native and Latina Women.” And “Feminist Theologies and Luther.” The theology of Native and Latina Women is seldom recognized for its contributions to the development of the church body. Additionally, the contributions of feminist and their respective theologies are seldom heard, or even acknowledged, in the Lutheran church.

Hence, this year LSTC will celebrate Women by lifting up their historic contributions to the body of Christ. The LSTC Women’s History celebration is a two-day event beginning with worship service on Wednesday March 26, 2025. Worship will be led by McCormick Seminary professor Dr. Lis Valle at 11:30 am. Following worship, a panel discussion will be held virtually on the theme: Muted Theologies of Native and Latina Theologians.

The panelist will include Native Activist and Scholar Rev. Aja Martinez and Latina theologian Rev. Angela Trejo. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Lis Valle of McCormick Seminary. On Day Two, Thursday, March 27, at 1:00pm, we will host a lecture and discussion with Lutheran scholar, Dr. Caryn Riswold who will share Perspectives on Feminist Theology. A Q&A will immediately follow each presentation.

You don’t want to miss these exciting conversations.

Panelists

Rev. Angela Trejo

coordinacion@semla.org

Minister Ángela Trejo Haager is the Coordinator of the Lutheran Seminary Augsburg as well as one of the Coordinators of the Women’s Network of Gender Justice for Latin America, the Caribbean and North America, of the Lutheran World Federation. She has collaborated in historical research for the Jalisco area and has written several articles in relation to feminist biblical hermeneutics. She is the author of the book “Hagar, corporal memory of an encounter with God”, and her work focuses on gender, and History of Christianity researching the voices of women throughout the Christian period.

Minister Trejo Haager is one of the first women ordained to the pastorate in Mexico by the Mexican Lutheran Church, she was also the first woman to hold the position of President of the Board of Directors of the Theological Community of Mexico. She holds a degree in History from the University of Guadalajara, a degree in Theology from the Lutheran Seminary Augsburg and a master’s degree in biblical sciences from the Theological Community of Mexico.

Aja Martinez

aym@illinois.edu

Aja Martinez is a Native American and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is known for her multi-award-winning book, Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory (2020). A critical race theorist and storyteller, her work resonates with both public and academic audiences, bridging critical conversations on race and writing. In collaboration with Robert O. Smith, Aja also co-authored The Origins of Critical Race Theory: The People and Ideas That Created a Movement (2025), further contributing to the discourse on this vital subject. Moreover, she is a co-editor and co-founder, alongside Michele Eodice and Sandra Tarabochia, of the journal Writers: Craft and Context, which supports the exploration of diverse topics and writing genres. Additionally, Aja co-edits the University of Pittsburgh Press’s series Composition, Literacy, and Culture with Stacey Waite, amplifying the voices of scholars and practitioners in the field of writing, rhetoric, and composition studies.

Dr. Caryn Riswold

caryn.riswold@wartburg.edu

Dr. Caryn D. Riswold is currently Professor of Religion and the McCoy Family Distinguished Chair in Lutheran Heritage and Mission at Warburg College in Iowa. Dr. Riswold joined the Wartburg College faculty in 2018 after teaching Religion and Gender & Women’s Studies at Illinois College for sixteen years. Prior to that she was a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the Lilly Fellows Program at Valparaiso University. As both a champion and a product of Lutheran higher education, she earned her B.A. from Augustana College, an M.A. from the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif. And she earned her Th.M. and Ph.D. at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. In addition to her years of teaching experience, Riswold is an accomplished scholar in Lutheran and feminist theologies as the author of three books, including Feminism and Christianity: Questions and Answers in the Third Wave (2009) and Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians (2007). In addition, she has authored multiple chapters, articles, and essays in various publications. Riswold has distinguished herself as a scholar in vocation and higher education. An avid writer, Dr. Riswold, regularly writes for online publications as well as local and regional newspapers on topics at the intersection of religion, politics, social justice, and pop culture.

Dr. Lis Valle

Rev. Lis Valle-Ruiz is the Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship and the Director of Community Worship Life at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL. She earned her PhD in Homiletics and Liturgics from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, where she studied gender and sexuality. Her research interests lie at the intersection of preaching, worship, and performance studies from queer and decolonial perspectives. Dr. Valle-Ruiz has researched and taught digital mediations of worship and preaching, artivism and proclamation, and different ways of worship and preaching that are trauma-responsive, decolonial, and intersectional. Rev. Valle-Ruiz received a ThM in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary and an MDiv from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She holds a JD and a BA in Education from the University of Puerto Rico. Theater is her life-long passion.