Duke Divinity School is committed to being an anti-racist and culturally competent community. This work is ongoing as we reckon with a complex, 90-plus year history of faithful witness alongside painful injustice. As we move toward a more faithful future through repentance and reform, we endeavor to be transparent and timely in sharing information about anti-racism efforts, events and programs aimed at fostering racial justice and cultural competency, and the systemic impact of this ongoing and critical work.
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"It is fitting that the annual observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity occur around the same time. For the church and its institutions, being racially just and being ecumenical are inseparable commitments. Isaiah says “Learn to do good. Seek Justice” (Is 1:17). Seeking social justice and seeking Christian unity go together when we follow the way of mercy. It is mercy that offers hope for diagnosing sinful structures and healing wounded histories."
Racial Justice Action Plan Summary
In early 2021, Duke Divinity School announced a new Racial Justice Action plan that emerged from the yearlong efforts of three task forces working on systemic racism and injustice. Focused on Witness, Study, and Self-Examination, the three task forces sought to identify issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the school. That action plan is linked below.
To provide support, accountability, and transparency for the action plan, the dean of the Divinity School convenes each year a Racial Justice and Cultural Competency committee with representatives from the Divinity Student Council, faculty, and staff. The committee meets regularly to review progress and developments and to set priorities for each academic year.
This agreement supports the creation of pathways for the exchange of students, faculty, and academic programming and is part of Duke Divinity School’s broader commitment to cultivate a global and intercultural community that contributes to theological scholarship at Duke Divinity and abroad.
The grant will be used to recruit and support a senior faculty member specializing in Black church studies to foster research and field-defining work in an academic, theological context.
The grant from the Office of the Provost will support Dr. Wilson's project, which addresses the Black maternal health crisis in North Carolina by engaging bioethics, healthcare, and Black churches. Read more from the Duke Office of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Join Dr. Wylin Wilson for the launch of her new book, "Womanist Bioethics: Social Justice, Spirituality, and Black Women's Health." The event will include conversation with fellow scholars, faculty, and students: Marc Anthony Neal, Valerie Cooper, Quinton Dixie, and Jilian Palmer.