Thursday, May 14, 2026
5 pm Pacific/6 pm Mountain/7 pm Central/8 pm Eastern
Co-sponsored with CLGS, The Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion 
Join us to hear Bernard Schlager interview Steven Law on his newly published The Story of Bob: The Life & Times of Robert W. Wood (Pilgrim Press). Robert Wood (1923-2018), World War II veteran and ordained Congregational Christian (later United Church of Christ) minister, was a trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Active in the Mattachine Society, he published his book Christ and the Homosexual in 1960 under his own name at great risk. Wood participated in protests against the federal government's ban on gay employees. He pushed the United Church of Christ to embrace the cause of gay rights.
Law conducted a series of interviews with Wood from which he has written a captivating story of a man before his time who strove to live and love authentically and advocated for the gay community in church and society.
Steven Law is a writer whose work bridges faith and cultural engagement. His commitment to compassionate storytelling enriches The Story of Bob with insight and empathy. Steven Law holds degrees from Campbell University and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where his focus was Christian ethics and social policy. As an ordained pastor, he served rural and urban churches before studying creative writing with C. Michael Curtis. He is the founder and president of the Law Stroud Foundation (lawstroudfoundation.org).
Bernard Schlager, PhD is Associate Professor of Historical and Cultural Studies at Pacific School of Religion (PSR) and Executive Director of CLGS, PSR’s Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion. Schlager received his doctoral degree from Yale University in the history of medieval and Latin American Christianity. His research interests include the history of Christianity, LGBTQ pastoral care, queer studies, and medieval social and religious history. Dr. Schlager has published numerous articles in the areas of church history, medieval hagiography, the history of sexuality, and the history of education. He is co-author with David Kundtz of Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk: LGBTQ Pastoral Care (Second Edition: Cascade Books, 2019).