Do Black Intellectuals Need to Talk About Race? (New York Times, "Room for Debate")

I had the privilege of helping to curate this ensemble of provocative essays for the New York Times' "Room for Debate" webpage. Do Black Intellectuals Need to Talk About Race? Two decades ago, The Atlantic Monthly chronicled the rise of black academics, including Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Patricia Williams, who had vigorously taken on the role of public intellectuals, stirring debate on issues of importance to African-Americans. Today, more African-Americans hold more positions at colleges, not always involving subjects that have particular relevance to black people.

Do these academics still have a special obligation to address the nation’s social and racial issues? Are there particular challenges or opportunities faced by intellectuals who talk to the public about social issues?

To read the lively dialogue, go to Room for Debate.

Generational Shift in Black Christianity Comes to Harvard (New York Times)

This post comes as a congratulatory shout out to my colleague, good friend and brother, Jonathan L. Walton, on the occasion of his installation in Harvard's Memorial Church. What follows is Samuel Freedman's coverage in the New York Times of the broader significance of Jonathan's appointment -- as tenured faculty and minister -- for the landscape of Afro-Protestantism, in particular, and American Christianity, more generally, at this moment in time. Generational Shift in Black Christianity Comes to Harvard By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN Published: November 11, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — More than 60 autumns ago, a young Atlantan named Martin Luther King Jr. arrived to start graduate school at Boston University. There, he fell under the influence of a theologian, Howard Thurman, who taught him about Gandhian nonviolence. That concept became one of Dr. King’s guiding principles in the civil rights movement.

On a brilliant fall morning this Sunday, a torch of black Christianity was passed to another minister, scholar and son of Atlanta, who was born five years after Dr. King’s death, the Rev. Jonathan L. Walton. In a combined worship service and installation ceremony, Mr. Walton took on the position of Pusey minister of the Memorial Church at Harvard, a pulpit of importance inside and outside the university.

Mr. Walton’s appointment, which also includes an endowed professorship of Christian morals, forms part of a generational transition in the African-American church. Ministers and theologians who came of age during the civil rights era are being supplanted by those, like Mr. Walton, 39, of elite universities, the diversity movement and hip-hop culture. To underscore how much else has changed at Harvard, Mr. Walton was formally given the pulpit Sunday by Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard’s first female president...

To continue reading this story, go to: The New York Times

Nuance in Black Churches’ Approaches (New York Times' "Room for Debate")

Black churches and black people, in general, continue to be portrayed as especially anti-gay, but we should remember that these organizations and individuals are not static. First, in the realm of activism, there is the stubborn idea that race and sexuality are competing or mutually exclusive. And it is certainly true that lobbyists against gay marriage (mostly white and from the right) have tried to reinforce a vision of gay rights and (presumably black) civil rights as inherently at odds with one another. But many black Christians are now having more nuanced conversations about the significance of sexual identity and expression in determining the measure of full citizenship. Some black churches are seeing shared commitments with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists, even as these churches affirm that the African American struggles of the 1960s were unique...

To continue reading this article and the debate to which it contributed, click on the following link to the: New York Times.

New Summer Institute: Religious Worlds of New York

I am excited to be on the faculty of a wonderful new Institute funded by National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which will be held on the campus of Union Theological Seminary in New York City for the first time this coming Summer (July 16-August 3, 2012). Please spread the word to educators you think might be interested - applications for this year's Summer Institute are due on March 1. What follows is an introduction and a link to the project's website.

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Explore the Religious Worlds of New York, and the Religious Lives of Your Diverse Neighbors

The religious landscape of the United States has shifted dramatically in recent years, with the arrival of new Americans from every corner of the globe and every faith tradition. If America's K-12 students are to become truly educated, fully engaged citizens of our multicultural democracy, they need to understand this rich religious diversity. The Religious Worlds of New York summer institute will contribute to such understanding by helping public, private, and parochial school teachers teach more effectively about the everyday lives of American religious communities.

The institute is a project of the Interfaith Center of New York and Union Theological Seminary, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In July of 2012, it will bring thirty teachers from throughout the United States to New York City, where they will engage with leading scholars of religious studies and a wide range of local religious leaders. The institute will introduce these teachers to six religious traditions that are part of the fabric of American life. It will help them distinguish between academic and devotional approaches to the study of religion. And it will give them the pedagogic tools they need to teach their students about "lived religion," in addition to the conventional "world religions" curriculum. This website will introduce K-12 teachers to the Religious Worlds institute, and offer them a range of resources to enrich their teaching on American religious diversity.

To apply and/or find out more about the Institute, go to: Religious Worlds of New York

http://religiousworldsnyc.org/

Black Churches and a New Generation of Protest (New York Times, "Room for Debate")

Many argue that activism within black churches has declined (if not disappeared) since the days of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But last month, on his birthday, a group of African American faith leaders called for Americans to “Occupy the Dream” with protests at Federal Reserve banks. If black churches are renewing their tradition of activism in this post-civil rights era, what are the most pressing issues for them to address? To read the debate, go to the New York Times "Room for Debate"

The Spirit of "The Harlem Renaissance" (Frequencies)

When discussing religion, today it is quite common (perhaps cliché) to hear people say, “Well, I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual.” Even in churches it is not uncommon to hear something along the lines of, “I don’t believe in religion, but I believe in a relationship with God.” A favorite at the church of my youth was, “I’m not religious, but I love the Lord!” Numerous scholars and journalists have directed energies to analyzing this phenomenon. One of the more popular interpretations attributes the emphasis on personal spirituality to novelty in the contemporary historical moment. In this view, younger generations are seen to display an increasing skepticism towards organized religion, even as they embrace an ethic of personal choice in the face of a global cultural marketplace. In contrast, others have persuasively linked this novel neoliberal spiritual impulse to a long tradition of religious liberalism. For instance, Leigh Schmidt has argued that liberalism, more generally, “was always as much a religious vision of emancipated souls as a political theory of individual rights… For religious liberals, unlike their secular cousins, a deepened and diversified spirituality was part of modernity’s promise.”

Alongside of the grand narrative of religious liberalism that has helped to produce the personal vision of spirituality so popular today, there is a vibrant tradition of African American cultural expression that has cultivated a similar concern with spirituality. In the poetry, prose, performances, visual culture and criticism that comprise this history, one can readily observe what might be called a grammar of spirit (i.e. spirit, spiritual, spirituality). That is, black artists and intellectuals—men and women, alike—have persistently engaged in spirit-talk...

To continue reading, go to: Frequencies

The Religious Right, the Religious Left (New York Times, "Room for Debate"

In recent history, the right has dominated public use of religious language, and mostly applied it to social issues, so that only hot-button topics like abortion or same-sex marriage tend to be viewed as clearly decided by religious beliefs. On such issues, Christianity and “conservative” positions often end up conflated. But neither the “pro-life” position nor opposition to gay marriage is the only viewpoint that follows from a Christian perspective. On issues like gay marriage, a Christian perspective could lead voters to conservative or liberal stances.

Christians who believe that the state should be bound to a literal reading of certain biblical passages might vote for a candidate who seems to agree. Yet there are also Christians who, for example, find in the scripture good news of a God who affirms all humanity, regardless of sexual orientation. These Christians might be more inclined to vote for a candidate who has supported legislation that seeks to protect the rights of gay and lesbian citizens. Such diverging positions are apparent on even most polarizing issues, and this holds for religious communities across lines of race and ethnicity. And there are a range of Christian perspectives on issues, including education, military and economic policies.

With the Occupy Wall Street movement looming large, more people are raising concerns about the growing divide between the rich and poor. Christians active in these protests might be taking cues from the biblical tenet that one’s faith is measured by how we treat “the least of these.” In this view, there is a religious responsibility to hold government accountable — on everything from federal budgets to corporate bailouts.

Ultimately, there is no simple or singular formula for applying Christianity such that a clear candidate emerges.

Read the entire conversation at "Room for Debate" on the New York Times website.

Webcast of "Is the Black Church Dead? A Roundtable on the Future of Black Churches"

"IS THE BLACK CHURCH DEAD? A ROUNDTABLE ON THE FUTURE OF BLACK CHURCHES" During the first few months of 2010 a new, yet familiar, debate broke out about the role of black churches in the United States.

Many of you have requested the link to the webcast of the panel I moderated last October here at Columbia, which explored the role of black churches in contemporary society. Albeit a bit delayed, it is now up and featured on the recently re-vamped website of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. I've embedded the first introductory clip here. You can find the rest of dialogue at the site, which features remarks by Anthea Butler, Eddie Glaude, Obery Hendricks, Eboni Marshall Turman and Otis Moss III. Hope you enjoy it!

Black Churches Talk Sexuality On-Line

According to popular reports, sexuality is a taboo topic in African American churches. The black church has been described as simultaneously one of the most homophobic and homo-accepting institutions. In recent years there have been numerous media stories that have centered around the intersections of black churches and sexuality, in general, and homosexuality, in particular. On one hand, black churches have figured centrally as the foil in discussions of the push for social equality on the part of LGBT persons in American society, as well as within Christian churches (i.e. same-sex marriage, “don‟t ask, don‟t tell”). On the other hand, there have been sensational accounts of sex scandals (i.e. no need to name names) in which African American preachers have been the main protagonists. In the former, black churches are typically cast as hyper-homophobic even as they are part of the larger culture of American evangelicalism that, as a rule, continues to unofficially elevate homosexuality as an ultimate “sin.” As for the latter, whether alleged or confirmed, the coverage and appeal of these stories taps into centuries-old tropes of black sexuality—both gay and straight—as defined by deviance... To read the rest of this essay and check out the dialogue of which it was a part, go to: The African American Lectionary Project

The Scandal Is About More Than Bishop Eddie Long (The Root)

The Scandal Is About More Than Bishop Eddie LongShifting sexual mores, racial anxieties and unresolved issues of gender and power are what really drive our fascination with the Georgia mega-church crisis, says a professor of religion.

Roughly 20 years ago, Cornel West -- in his best-selling book Race Matters -- argued that "it is virtually impossible to talk candidly about race without talking about sex." So it remains today: When we chatter about sex, race is always already on the table.

At the center of the Bishop Eddie Long story is a civil suit against a preacher alleged to have violated the sacred trust between pastor and congregation. Long stands accused of coercing sexual favors from several young male mentees -- this after currying favor with them by using perks from his multimillion-dollar spiritual empire, which has more than 25,000 members.

The exposure of Long's alleged same-sex erotic activities has occasioned an act of collective catharsis in a shifting sexual landscape. Sadly, if not surprisingly, we seem more concerned with sex acts than actual sins. That the alleged victims are young men rather than young women should not matter -- abuse is abuse, end of story. But it does, especially in this moment, in this country.

Our concern with Long's sexual orientation obscures the larger issue of the relationship between gender and power, which is only magnified by religion. Our society takes for granted the exchange of sex acts, both coerced and seduced, between young women and older men -- from athletes to CEOs to clergy. Rather than deal with the issue of unchecked authority, we prefer to focus on who's touching whose … well, you get the picture.

The core of our attraction and repulsion to this affair -- what turned the event from pastoral scandal into public spectacle -- is about much more than Long...

To continue reading, go to: The Root

*A Quick Update: This story was also picked up the next day by the Washington Post's On Faith column, with a link back to the story's original home at The Root. To view it there, go to: On Faith

Black Church: A Mix of Faith, Entertainment (CNN Opinion)

I'm lucky enough to have a job that requires me to think, read, write, teach and speak about the intersections of religion, entertainment and popular culture in American society. However, long before I began work as a college professor, I attended a church that placed as much emphasis on entertainment as instilling faith. There was a shared sense that the latter goal (i.e. instilling faith) depended upon an ability to perform the former task (i.e. entertaining). I vividly recall the Sunday in 1985 my father took me to the church bookstore after service to purchase a copy of the first Christian rap CD, "Bible Break" by Stephen Wiley, an Oklahoma-based youth minister/rapper who became a recurring guest at my church's annual youth retreats. By all accounts, my youth leaders sought to "keep it real" even as their real goal was to keep us "saved."

To continue reading, go to: CNN Opinion

Visions of Liberation (ABC News' Spirituality Page)

As of late liberation talk seems to have entered into the lofty ranks of a "top ten list" of public enemies in American politics and popular culture. This development began roughly two years ago, during the most recent presidential election. It was then that Sen. Barack Obama publicly severed ties with the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, as the former pastor of Chicago's Trinity UCC Church was reduced to angry, out-of-context, sound bites on countless cable television news shows. More recently, however, this phenomenon reemerged in a concerted effort by Fox News' Glenn Beck to attack Dr. James Cone, the academic father of black liberation theology. Cone is a longtime member of the faculty at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he has trained scores of dedicated religious leaders over a period of several decades. Together Wright (a preacher) and Cone (a professor) are two of the most prominent proponents of liberation theology in their respective professions. Yet despite long track records of quality service, both men were all too quickly cast aside as the embodied relics of the radical ethos and racial excess of the 1960s, aka, the decade of "black power."

Sadly, some readers probably clicked away from this reflection the moment they saw the words "liberation" in its opening sentence. Liberation has, unfortunately, become a code word for "communism," or "social justice," and countless other presumably undesirable ideologies. However, to relinquish the language of liberation from our religious lexicons would be to rob our spiritual lives of one of its most valuable resources...

To continue reading, go to: ABC News.com

Forecasting Black Church Futures (Washington Post's "On Faith")

Although we are only about halfway into 2010, it has already been a year full of rich public conversations about religion in America. Much of the credit can be given to the emergence of several new blogs and web portals that direct concentrated attention to the topic. Indeed, there is much material to mine as we think about "The Future of Religion," in general, and of The Black Church, in particular. With regard to the latter, to restate a common theme this year, it must be acknowledged that such a conversation can move once and for all from the singular to the plural. There has always been a range of black churches, in terms of theology, polity, politics, aesthetics, etc. So it is also impossible to speak of any one future for the array of institutions lumped together under the rubric, "The Black Church." That said, there are several things that should be considered in efforts to forecast the futures of black churches...

To continue reading, go to: Washington Post's "On Faith"

Also, check out the series of essays from which the above was selected, at: Patheos