We are pleased to announce Augsburg’s Interfaith Fellows for the 2019-20 academic year: Busshō Lahn, Chris Stedman ’08, and Ger Vang
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 chrisstedmanwriter.com.
- 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.