This event is sponsored by the Shrewsbury Public Library Foundation.

Dr. Russell Johnson teaches religious studies at the University of Chicago. He studies the philosophy of communication and Christian ethics, with a specific focus on disagreement, antagonism, and how groups imagine and treat their enemies. His book, Beyond Civility in Social Conflict: Dialogue, Critique, and Religious Ethics, is about the ethics of communication and how to challenge people's views in a compassionate and disruptive way. The book seeks to get past the impasse in polarized societies like the contemporary United States, in which people have a difficult time persuading others to see the world differently and work for justice, peace, and freedom for all people.