KINSLER INSTITUTE 2019

2019 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute:


Indigenous Justice and Christian Faith:

Land, Law, Language

Feb 18-22   2 0 1 9

Image: Wowasake kin slolyapo wowahwala he e “Know the power that is peace”  Diptych icon of Black Elk, Robert Two Bulls. More information about this piece is on our Images + Art page.

BKI 2019 "Class" Photo

2019 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute

Indigenous Justice and Christian Faith:  Land, Law, Language

The 2019 BKI theme was “Indigenous Justice and Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language.”  The week featured a great line up of indigenous resource people, the acclaimed theater production “Discovery,” workshops, art, music and more.  Scroll down this page for speaker. If you have any questions, please contact us.


Registration is CLOSED


We have now posted our Basic Schedule and 10 Suggested Resources for Preparing for BKI 2019 at:

2019 BKI Schedule and Reading Resources


If you have registered or are planning to, please read our Transport Guide for details on how to get to the 2019 Kinsler Institute - please note this has recently been updated (mid Jan 2019)


Whether you are able to attend or not, please consider making a donation to our Scholarship Fund. This fund will be used to help cover the expenses of our larger resource team this year. Please indicate the amount (in $US) on your registration, or make an online donation here (please indicate it is for the Kinsler Institute Scholarship fund) or you might also like consider sponsoring someone you know to attend the Institute.

Confirmed speakers for BKI2019

  • Edith and Randy Woodley - Lead Animators

    Edith Woodley is a speaker/mentor on issues concerning Native American Spirituality and Creation. As a full-time mother, grandmother and farmer, she has developed a unique relationship with the land and insights concerning how to raise a family on a small farm. Edith is an Eastern Shoshone tribal member who was raised on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. She is co-founder of several organizations with Randy, with whom she serves on the Greater Portland Native Climate Council.


    Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley is a public theologian, activist-scholar, ecologist-farmer, story-teller and wisdom keeper who addresses a variety of issues concerning American culture, faith, justice, race, our relationship with the earth and Indigenous realities. Dr. Woodley is Distinguished Professor of Faith and Culture and Director of Intercultural and Indigenous Studies at Portland Seminary. His books include: The Harmony Tree: A Story of Healing and Community (Friesen, 2016) and Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision (Eerdmans, 2012). He is a legal descendent of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.  


    In 2004, the Woodleys became co-sustainers of Eloheh Farm (elohehfarm.com), a permaculture, regenerative teaching farm, school and community in Newberg, Oregon that propagates Open Pollinated, non-GMO, Farm-Direct Seeds (elohehseeds.com). See more on their podcasts, ministry nonprofit, and Facebook page


    You can also learn more about the Woodleys in our free webinar from 2017 when we discussed The Columbus Quincentenary as Turning Point in the Decolonization Struggle with Randy.

  • Rev. Robert Two Bulls - Institute Artist and Chaplain

    Bob Two Bulls is director of Indian Work for the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and a second-generation Episcopal priest (Lakota). The Vicar of All Saints Indian Mission in Minneapolis, Co-Director of First Nations Kitchen and founder of the Red Shirt Project, Bob will again serve as Institute Artist and chaplain. Hear him talk about his artwork here.

  • Julie Tumamait-Stenslie

    Julie traces her Chumash ancestry through her father, a leader or paha among the Chumash until his death in 1992. Her family’s Chumash lineage extends throughout Chumash historical homelands, from the villages of Hichimin, Lu’upsh and Swaxil on Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, to as far north as San Luis Obispo County and as far south as Humaliwo (Malibu), and throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties (including Mishopshno, or Carpinteria, and Matilija here in the Ojai Valley). She has traced her family to at least 11 known Chumash villages, as far back historically as the mid-18th century, before the Portolá Expedition of 1769 into Alta California. She has worked as a cultural resources consultant, providing guidance for private groups and state, county and city regulatory agencies, including the U.S. National Parks Service. She is Tribal Chairperson for the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians (Chumash) formed in 2003, which is seeking federal tribal status. She grew up in the Ojai area and currently owns a home in Meiners Oaks, very near the birthplace of her great, great grandmother, Maria Ricarda Alulalmeque, who was raised in the Chumash village of Matilija.

  • Jonathan Cordero

    Dr. Cordero (Chumash/Ohlone) is assistant professor of sociology at California Lutheran University. As a cultural sociologist, Jonathan studies aesthetics in contemporary culture, social geography, and contemporary California Indian identity. As an ethnohistorian and Native Californian, he studies California Indians during the Spanish Colonial and Early American periods. He is founder/chair of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (www.ramaytush.com). Jonathan will talk about the California missions legacy at the BKI. 

  • Brooke Prentis

    Brooke is an Aboriginal Christian Leader, a descendant of the Waka Waka peoples who resides in Brisbane, Australia. She is Aboriginal spokesperson for Common Grace, and has been collaborating with fellow research scholar for the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre Rev. Dr. Geoff Broughton . Geoff is a senior lecturer in Practical Theology at St Mark's National Theological Centre, and Rector of Paddington Anglican Church in Sydney. 

  • Jim Bear Jacobs

    Healing Minnesota Stories is now a program of the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC), expanding its reach and opportunities for transformation. Begun in 2011, Healing Minnesota Stories is an effort to create dialogue, understanding and healing between Native peoples and Minnesota’s faith communities and their individual members. The initiative grew out of a Saint Paul Interfaith Network (SPIN) conference on racism in the church. SPIN has supported Healing Minnesota Stores over the past seven years. Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs (Mohican), Healing Minnesota Stories founder, will now serve as the Director of Racial Justice at MCC, continuing to lead Healing Minnesota Stories and other initiatives. “I’m excited for this opportunity with MCC as we begin to dream how we might continue and expand the work of Healing Minnesota Stories on a larger scale,” Jacobs said (see here).  

  • June Lorenzo

    June s a lawyer and a member of, and in house attorney for, the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. She is a member of the Laguna Presbyterian church, where she is an elder and currently the clerk of Session, and a member of the PCUSA General Assembly Committee that presented the report on the Doctrine of Discovery (of which she was the primary author) to the General Assembly last June

Other Resources at the 2019 BKI:

  • Discovery: A Comic Lament

    Starring Ted Swartz and Michelle Milne, is a play about the Doctrine of Discovery, the legal framework that justifies theft of land and oppression of Indigenous Peoples. It finds unexpected humor at the crossroads of justice and land use, offering both comic and challenging glimpses into the absurdity of white settler oppression of Indigenous Peoples and the land we live on. A show about love, and loss, of land, Discovery nudges us to question our stories with honesty and integrity. The play is written by Alison Brookins, directed by Phil Weaver-Stoesz, and produced by Ted & Co. Created in partnership with the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition. For a preview: www.tedandcompany.com/shows/discovery-comic-lament/.  

  • Tevyn East and Jay Beck

    Carnival de Resistance lead animators Tevyn East and Jay Beck


We are proud and privileged to be featuring the art of BCM friend Rev. Bob Two Bulls, who will be in attendance at the 2019 BKI.


Image: “Buffalo” by Robert Two Bulls

Our southern California resource team members are helping BCM plan for the 2019 Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute (l to r: Josh, Hyun, Sue, Art, Ched, Elaine and Grecia - Chris is pictured below). Also joining the planning team in 2019 are Bob Two Bulls from Minneapolis and Joshua Grace (below) from Philadelphia.

  • Joshua Grace


  • Chris Wight