Interfaith at Augsburg is pleased to announce that Chris Stedman ’08 will serve as Inter-Religious Resource Coordinator for the upcoming year. In this position, Chris will help Interfaith at Augsburg: An Institute to Promote Interreligious Learning and Leadership position itself to enhance interfaith leadership on campus and nationally, a goal identified in the Augsburg 150 strategic plan. His work will include the creation of teaching modules on “interreligious knowledge, skills, and leadership” that can be used in courses such as Augsburg’s professional graduate degree programs. He also will assist in strengthening Augsburg’s Interfaith Ally training.
Chris is not new to the Augsburg community. In addition to being an alumnus, he has served in a number of capacities since 2016, when he joined Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship as a fellow. Following his time at the Sabo Center, Chris served for two years as an interfaith fellow at Augsburg. Last year, he joined the Department of Religion and Philosophy as an instructor, where he teaches multiple sections of Religion 200.
Outside of his work at Augsburg, Chris is a nationally-recognized writer, speaker, and activist. He is the author of 2020’s IRL (“Essential.” —The AV Club) and 2012’s Faitheist (“Exciting and boundary defying.” —Houston Chronicle). Chris has also written for publications including The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. Most recently, his narrative podcast Unread (“Best Podcasts of 2021.” —Vulture) was released in June. It quickly found an audience around the world, including in Canada, where it hit number one on Apple Podcasts’s Society & Culture chart just a month after its premiere. Previously the founding director of the Yale Humanist Community and a fellow at Yale University, Chris also served as a humanist chaplain at Harvard University and a trainer and content developer for the Interfaith Youth Core. In recognition of his groundbreaking leadership in interfaith activism and humanist community building, Augsburg selected Chris for their annual First Decade Award in 2018.