“Dr. Robyn’s deeply contextual, embodied work as an activist theologian brought necessary depth to our conference. As a panelist for “Bridging Communities: Faith-Based Leadership,” Dr. Robyn’s engaging humor and rigorous imagination expanded the conversation, calling the audience to “hold curiosity for borderlands as places to sit rather than bridges to be crossed.” Dr. Robyn’s attention to intersectional liberation and thoughtful engagement across faith traditions was instrumental, and the panel was consistently ranked a conference highlight in our post-conference survey.”
- Andrew An Westover, Programming Chair, Pan-Harvard LGBTQ Conference 2018
"Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza brings insight, compassion, and a remarkable ability to connect with students. Dr. Henderson-Espinoza engages the audience with keen intelligence and a candid, compassionate dialogue that challenges concepts of social justice and human rights work."
- Mark Rasdorf, Associate Director, LGBT Resource Office, East Carolina University, Greenville NC
“Robyn brings dynamic, prophetic possibilities to life, whether in an academic lecture, a blog post, or from a protest megaphone. They bring a unique blend: grounded, activist-informed, and community-engaged human, who is deeply philosophical and theological. They weave humor, story-telling, passion, and personal vulnerabilities with analytical critique and lived practice to imagine new ways of being and becoming in the world that dismantle white supremacy and liberate those most oppressed.”
- Lyndsey Godwin Assistant Director, Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality, Vanderbilt Divinity School
“As this year's Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium unfolded the emerging meaning of "Trans," we enjoyed as featured guest Robyn Henderson-Espinoza. Their contribution of opening keynote address one day, and public interview the next was a dazzling gift of intellectual depth and imaginative creativity, and generous conversational engagement. Dr. Robyn left us not just aglow with edgy insight but provoked to fresh action.”
- Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew University, Graduate Division of Religion
“As a scholar, writer, and speaker, Robyn is laying the foundation for an Activist Theology that must accompany today’s movements for justice, if we’re to sustain ourselves and each other long enough to realize a world in which individual and collective liberation are possible. With wit and charm and a laser-like capacity to name bullshit, Robyn rejects the simple narratives that would have us turn “community” into a mere buzzword and spiritual practice into another consumerist fad. They possess that rare capacity to name complexity without being paralyzed by it, attacking white supremacy and its effects with a ferocious intelligence while continuing to expand who’s at the table and to work across difference, and rejecting bad theology while lifting up the radical principles that underpin history’s most powerful wisdom teachings and religious texts. For anyone interested in liberation theology and deep community building, their teachings are mandatory listening.”
- Lennon Flowers, founder of The Dinner Party
"The work of Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is important not just to theologians or clergy, but to anyone who desires to understand the overlapping strands between theology, activism, and intersectional liberation. In a moment when Americans urgently need to consider not just what we believe, but what belief looks like when it’s out on the streets and in our communities, Dr. Robyn is a prophetic voice."
- Kaya Oakes, College Writing Programs, UC Berkeley
"Wow, Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza's presentations deeply expanded my thinking, theological vocabulary, and understanding of theory-practice connections, and energized my spirit in ways I could not have imagined would be possible at an academic conference. In question and answer sessions, Dr. Robyn brought a model combination of candor, graciousness, attentiveness, and an invitation to think and dialogue with them in politicized, honest, theoretically generative exchanges."
- Rev. Traci West, PhD, Professor of Ethics and African American Studies, Drew University Theological School
“Weeks later, students at Hollins are still talking about Dr. Robyn’s lecture, describing it as: “balm for our weary souls.” Seamlessly weaving personal story together with theory and theology, Dr. Robyn spoke about strategies for surviving and resisting supremacist ideologies and institutions. They suggested we start by answering two basic questions: “Who am I?” and “Who are my people?” I have rarely witnessed such an elegant blending of theory, practice, and personal narrative. Dr. Robyn’s lecture was so much more than an academic presentation; it was a gift of spiritual activism at work.”
— Darla Schumm, PhD, John P. Wheeler Professor of Religious Studies, Chair, Global Politics and Societies Department, Hollins University, Roanoke VA
