A full list of speakers (since the beginning) can be found on this page.
YEAR | NAME | ORGANIZATION | PRESENTATION TITLE |
2020 | Najeeba Sayeed | Chicago Theological Seminary | Angelic Troublemakers: Interfaith Collaboration in Human Rights |
2019 | Rev. Maurice Charles | Rockefeller Chapel | Grateful Service |
2018 | Elizabeth Davenport | Rockefeller Chapel | Listen to them Grow |
2017 | Eboo Patel | Interfaith Youth Core | Sacred Ground: Prejudice, Pluralism and the Promise of America |
2016 | Dr. Robert Henderson | Baha’i Community | |
2015 | Rabbi Frederick Reeves | KAM Isaiah Israel | Authentic Voices in Respectful Multicultural Settings |
2014 | Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell | Chicago Theological Seminary | The Gift of Each Other |
2013 | Taigen Dan Leighton | Ancient Dragon Zen Gate | The Synergy of Thanksgiving |
2012 | Rev. Freddy Washington | St. Ambrose Catholic Church | |
2011 | Rev. Shanta Premawardana | Urban Pastoral Education | |
2010 | Rev. Celeste A. Frazier | Power of Oneness Spiritual Ctr | More than Meets the Eye |
2009 | Rabbi Batsheva Appel | KAM Isaiah Israel | Serving God with Gladness |
2008 | Rev. Deborah Derylak | Spiritual Care, U of C Hospitals | Seeds of Hope and Change |
2007 | Ken Dunn | Resource Center | |
2006 | Rev. Calvin Morris | Community Renewal Society | |
2005 | Rev. Leroy Sanders | Kenwood UCC | |
2004 | Eboo Patel | Interfaith Youth Core | Saving Others, Saving Ourselves |
2003 | Rev. Daphne Burt | Rockefeller Chapel | Love One Another |
2002 | Rev. Nina Grey | First Unitarian Universalist | Our World is One World |
2001 | Rabbi Elliot Gertel | Rodfei Zedek | |
2000 | Swami Varadananda | Vivekananda Vedanta Society | |
1999 | Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr. | Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken | |
1998 | Rev. Susan Thistlethwaite | President, CTS | |
1997 | Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf | KAM Isaiah Israel | |
1995 | Father Jack Ferry | St. Thomas the Apostle | |
1994 | Dean Bernard O. Brown | Rockefeller Chapel | Always having before our eyes our… Community |
1993 | Rabbi Daniel I. Leifer | Hillel Jewish Center | Giving Thanks: Keeping Company with Jacob on the road to Israel |
1992 | Rev. David Ramage | Cn. Parl. of the World’s Religions | Looking for a Rainbow! |
1991 | Father John Boyle | Archdiocese of Chicago | Living Thanks |
1990 | Thomas Chulak | Unitarian Universalist Assn. | Thanks Giving |
1989 | Rev. Susan B.W. Johnson | Hyde Park Union Church | Yet Shall We Tread Upon High Places |
1986 | Susan Lockwood Wright | Cornell Baptist Church | Remembering Where We Came From |
1985 | Dean W. Clark Gilpin | U of C Divinity School | Quiet Revolutions |
1984 | Vernon Kurtz | N. Suburban Synagogue Beth El | |
1983 | Dean Bernard O. Brown | Rockefeller Chapel | Connections |
1982 | C. Harvey Lord | Villa Park Christian Church | Our American Experience of Grace |
1981 | Joseph Stitler | U of C Divinity School | Reflections on Being Thankful |
1977 | Rev. Charles Shelby Rooks | President, CTS | |
1976 | Rev. Gordon A. Humphrey | Shiloh Missionary Baptist Ch. | |
1975 | Rev. Emery A. Percell | United Methodist Church | |
1974 | Jack Mendelsohn | First Unitarian Church | |
1973 | Rabbi Philip N. Kranz | Temple Sinai | |
1971 | Rev. James V. Lyles | United Methodist Church | |
1969 | Rev. Thomas J. Fitzgerald | St. Thomas the Apostle | |
1968 | Rev. Edgar H.S. Chandler | Church Federation of Gtr. Chicago | The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land |
1967 | Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter | KAM Isaiah Israel | |
1966 | Rev. Jack A. Kent | First Unitarian Church | |
1965 | Rev. Joseph A. Buckles | Hyde Park Methodist Church | |
1964 | Rabbi Ralph Simon | Rodfei Zedek | What is an Authentic Thanksgiving? |
1963 | Rev. Samuel L. Gandy | Kenwood Ellis United Ch. Of Chr. | Covenant and Renewal |
1962 | Rabbi Samuel E. Karff | Sinai Temple | The Grounds for Gratitude |
1961 | Rev. Keith L. Pearson | Augustana Lutheran Church | Thanksgiving: Symptom or Symbol |
1960 | Rabbi Bernard Martin | Sinai Temple | The Grateful Heart |
1959 | Dean E. Spencer Parsons | Dean of Rockefeller Chapel | The Grace of Gratitude |
1958 | Rev. David Bryan | Lest We Forget | |
1957 | Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter | KAM Isaiah Israel | Thanksgiving Formula: Gratitude Plus Attitude |
1956 | Rev. W. Douglas Larson | Augustana Lutheran Church | In Community We Thank |
1955 | Rev. William D. McLean Jr. | St. Michael’s Episcopal Church | The Grace of Gratitude |
1954 | Rabbi Jacob Weinstein | Kehilath Anshe Maariv | Thanksgiving: For What and To Whom? |
1953 | Rev. E. Jerry Walker | For This, We Are Thankful | |
1952 | Rev. Paul L. Higgins | ||
1951 | Rabbi Ralph Simon | Rodfei Zedek | |
1949 | Rev. Wallace W. Robbins | The Liberty to be Thankful | |
1948 | Rabbi Louis L. Mann | When Other Virtues Cease | |
1947 | Rev. Jitsuo Morikawa | A Dangerous Trust | |
1946 | Rabbi Jacob Weinstein | Kehilath Anshe Maariv | |
1945 | Rev. F. R. Steiger | First Baptist Church | |
1944 | Rev. Leslie T. Pennington | First Unitarian Church | |
1943 | Lieutenant Julius Mark | USNR Great Lakes Naval Tr. | |
1942 | Rev. Irvin E. Lunger | Univ. Ch. Disciples of Christ | |
1941 | Rabbi Morton M. Berman | Values that Cannot Fall | |
1940 | Rev. J. Richard Drees | Hyde Park Methodist Church | A Thanksgiving Pastorale |
1939 | Rev. Thomas W. Pender | St. James Methodist Episcopal | Thank God and Take Courage |
1938 | Rev. George M. Gibson | United Church of Hyde Park | The Ancient Faith and the Modern Mood |
1937 | Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman | A Threefold Faith for a Confused World | |
1936 | Rev. F.C. Benson Bells | Trust in God | |
1935 | Rev. Thomas W. Pender | St. James Methodist Episcopal | The Guidance of God |
1934 | Rabbi Gerson B. Levi | The Thanksgiving of the Spirit | |
1932 | Rev. Norris L. Tibbits | In God We Trust | |
1931 | Rev. Douglas Horton | United Church | The Dimensions of Thanksgiving |
1930 | Rev. Albert W. Palmer | President, CTS | How Far Right Were the Puritans? |
1928 | Rev. Alfred Lee Wilson | Kenwood Church |