The Cross, The Lynching Tree, and the Crosshairs: Racial Violence and American Christianity

Rev. Dr. Joanne Marie Terrell
Associate Professor of Theology, Ethics, and the Arts
Chicago Theological Seminary

April 10, 2018
Grawemeyer Award in Religion

(Dr. James Cone's book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, won the 2018 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.  Dr. Cone was unable to present a lecture due to personal reasons.  Dr. Terrell, a former graduate student of Dr. Cone's, spoke in his place.)

Dr. Cone's book contrasts the Christian tradition regarding the Cross of Jesus with the Christian response to lynching.  White Christians murdered over 5000 black men, women, and children during the lynching era, and did not see the parallels between the persecution and murder of Jesus on the cross and the death by lynching on the tree.  Anger over this, and the continuing mistreatment of black and brown peoples, is the only reasonable response for a Christian.  The key is to use the anger to move beyond guilt to doing the work of justice and love.  Listen to the lecture.

Black Joy in the Mo(u)rning

Brandon McCormack
Assistant Professor, Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville

March 26, 2018
Black Church Studies Consultation
Psalm 30:5b

The psalmist tells a mourning story as do African Americans who carry the psychic cost of existing in America while black.  The psalmist also reminds us that while mourning is necessary, there will also be a morning when, with God's help, we can reclaim our joy.  Listen to the sermon.

The Cost to Change: What it Really Takes to BE and DO Something Different

Felicia Howell LaBoy

Associate Dean of Black Church Studies and Advanced Learning
Assistant Professor of Black Church Studies

September 8, 2016
Luke 5: 1-11
Fall Convocation

How can we, as followers of Jesus, begin the process of leaving racism behind so we can truly follow Him?  Listen to the sermon.

Choosing Life Behind the Veil

Scott C. Williamson
Robert H. Walkup Professor of Theological Ethics
February 21, 2014
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Listen to the sermon.

Contending with the Beast

Lewis O. Brogdon

Assistant Professor of New Testament and Black Church Studies
Director of the Black Church Studies Program

November 8, 2013
Revelation 13:1-10

Apocalyptic images are not just helpful for the ancients as they sought to make sense of their suffering and poverty. These images are helpful in my attempt to describe what has proceeded out of the waters of the Middle Passage, centuries of colonialism, slavery, and racism. I believe the beast re-emerged and stands before us today. This sermon explores the importance of this image for the church today in the struggle against systemic evils like racism. In the end, this text calls for three things: a realistic faith, a relevant faith, and a resistant faith.  Listen to the sermon.

Hell on Earth

Lewis O. Brogdon
Assistant Professor of Black Church Studies
Director of the Black Church Studies Program

Fall Convocation

September 8, 2011
Luke 16:19-25

In the story of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus, we are introduced to Luke’s critique of riches and his belief in hell as the final abode of the unrighteous in the afterlife. However, Dr. Lewis Brogdon brings this story to contemporary application, asking, “What would happen if the focus of this text shifted from the terrifying image of hell in the afterlife to the image of hell in this life?” Brogdon makes the case that an eschatological image of hell on earth gives the church new language to reflect theologically on human suffering, despair, and the modern crisis of nihilism, particularly in African American communities, in America.  Listen to the lecture.  Read the lecture in PDF.