Teaching Inside the Prison Walls 

It would be impossible to talk about religion and politics in the U.S. without talking about systems of control, race, and movements of liberation, said Griffith. In reading Sojourner Truth’s biography, students were faced with a text by an enslaved Christian woman, facing challenges to her dignity and authority, who still engaged in church and movements for reform. 

The texts themselves would bring up topics of power and confinement, even when “prison wasn’t on the agenda,” said Griffith. While an incarcerated student might discuss relating to Truth’s enslavement and loss of control, another student might develop new questions about morality. 

Likewise, Griffith said, “To read the Bible well means that you have to know something about prison. Much of the New Testament is written inside a space of confinement. Moses is on the run. Jesus is someone who is executed by the state.”

The readings raised topics for students around systems of oppression and Christian calling. With a variety of perspectives in the community of learning, conversation was thoughtful and substantive. “There’s something refreshing about the classroom,” said Griffith, “where all the students come to encounter and wrestle with the unique stories and context that everybody brings with them.”

Learning Together Through Project TURN

For many Duke Divinity students, this course marked their first experience learning through Project TURN. Elia Zonio, M.Div. '26, said the course appealed to her because it brought together several areas of interest, including American history, political theology, and embodied learning. “I was excited to think about Christianity and politics as more than just a simple, clear-cut, black-and-white endeavor,” Zonio said. 

Zonio noted that reading primary sources across historical periods revealed both continuity and complexity. “Though circumstances changed, I was surprised by how similar many of the conversations were to those happening today,” she said. “The biggest thing I am taking away from the course is reality of all of the gray.”

“People often have different definitions of moral and just,” said Zonio. The course compelled her to think about which voices are given authority over those topics. “Hearing from my inside classmates brought into focus just how much we as a society miss when we refuse to listen to a large group of people.”

Annie Anderson, M.T.S. '27, also was impressed by how the Project TURN course expanded the typical classroom conversations. She described the classroom as a space marked by careful listening and respectful disagreement. “We discussed challenging and divisive topics,” Anderson said, “yet our conversations were grounded in grace and a shared commitment to seeking what is good and true.”

Moving forward, when she thinks about what political engagement entails, Anderson says, “In the church, in our art and our liturgy, our gathering and our teaching, our prayer and our action, our lives must be oriented toward the Spirit,” she said, “because it is the character of God to be love and peace.”

Studying Across Difference and Context

Drawn to the course by both its historical focus and its setting, Ruthie Owens, M.T.S. '27, said she was interested in better understanding “the water she swam in” by stepping outside of it to take class inside a prison. “The discussions were honest and substantive,” she said. “People showed up fully—as thoughtful, faithful, and engaged students.”

Owens said the semester sharpened her ability to evaluate how Christian language has been used in American public life. “The Christian label has been placed on so many movements and ideas; getting to spend a semester asking ‘how’ and ‘to what effect’ articulated my own questions and doubts,” Owens said, particularly around claims that the U.S. is a “Christian nation.”

Despite the controversial discussion topics, like nationalism or feminism, Owens said the students all spoke freely with perhaps less tension than one might find elsewhere. “The prison was a remarkably generative place for learning and discussion.”

For Kaylin Verbrugge, M.Div. '27, the location of the course reinforced a growing conviction about theological education. “I believe profoundly that where we learn shapes what we learn,” Verbrugge said. “As my time in seminary progressed, I found myself eager to learn in spaces that differ from traditional academic environments.”

Conversations about religion or politics tend to be some of the most polarizing conversations to navigate, Verbrugge pointed out, but through the various course readings and conversations she began to see how critical those conversations were to faithful political action. 

“Dr. Griffith often reminded us that this very act of gathering powerfully serves as a form of political resistance and Christian witness,” she said. “We were learning from one another across difference, which is the greatest expression of theological education.”

Formation for the Church and the World

Students emphasized that the course was not designed to resolve debates about Christianity and politics, but to form habits of careful thinking, listening, and discernment.

Zonio said the course challenged students to reconsider how moral authority is defined. “It pushed me to think about whose voices are considered credible and how disagreement can be navigated without destroying relationships,” she said.

But faithful political action still involves action and advocacy as “we seek to promote like on earth as it is in heaven,” said Zonio. “What sets faithful political action apart is the element of compassion it requires—learning to coexist and have conversations with those we disagree with, while also being unafraid to speak against what is immoral or unjust and finding ways to make even the smallest change.”

Griffith hopes that perspective stays with students beyond the course. “Christian faith is not a private spirituality detached from the world,” he said. “It has everything to do with how we live together, how we understand power, and how we bear witness to God’s work.”