Responding Faithfully: Racial Justice
As the U.S. has grappled with racial injustice, the Duke Divinity community has engaged in theological reflection and conversation about faithfully responding to this challenge. Faculty, alumni, and students have contributed articles and other content in a range of publications that offer ministerial perspectives and spiritual hope.
Duke Divinity Faculty
How an Open Bible Should Dismantle White Supremacy
J. Ross Wagner, associate professor of New Testament, writes about how white followers of Jesus must live in keeping with the gospel story and oppose the persistent, systemic racism in American society.
Finding Hope in the Fragments
In an essay adapted from his remarks at a Duke Divinity town hall meeting, Dean Greg Jones argues that the current challenge of the pandemic, which has exposed underlying systems of injustice, is a pivotal moment that requires a response centered in the story of the gospel.
Will Willimon: Preaching Grace for an Anti-racist Church
"Wesleyan grace is the power of God working in you to give you a more godly life than the one you were bred (by structures of white supremacy) to live," writes Professor Willimon in his blog.
David Emmanuel Goatley: Enough Conversations; Let’s Do Something about Racism
Professor Goatley writes in Good Faith Media about the need to start working for liberation before we can work on reconciliation.
Luke Powery on Racism and Injustice: Navigating a Time of Turmoil and Pain
In a video Q&A, Powery, dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity, and Kim Hewitt, vice president for the Office for Institutional Equity, talk about next steps and navigating the pain of racialized incidents.
Voices From the Fellowship Speak Strongly for Racial Justice
Professor Goatley spoke at an event for the Voices from the World Council of Churches Global Fellowship, speaking out against racism and for justice.
Duke Divinity Students
My White Coat Feels Heavy
"I yearn to provide a practice where the Black body is protected, advocated for and celebrated...It is this hope that keeps me buoyed against the grim realities of our world," writes Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow Kirsten Simmons.
The Church is Sick — It’s Time to Heal
Writes Theology, Medicine, and Culture Fellow Danielle Ellis, "I want to ask [white Christians], how can you earnestly hope and pray that we might be healed if you let the invisibility of racism keep you from acknowledging that it is killing us?"
Duke Divinity Staff
Protecting the Vote is One Way to Show Black Lives Matter
The new threat posed by COVID-19 joins the ongoing threat against Black lives from police violence and a criminal justice system that protects white supremacy, writes Mycal Brickhouse, assistant director of alumni affairs in Sojo.net.
Aleta Payne: To My White Sisters in Christ
Payne, the senior associate editor of Faith & Leadership, challenges white women to move beyond silence or tepid, timid outrage to work for a world in which all of God’s children can live more fully and fairly.
Alumni
William H. Lamar IV: It's Not Just the Coronavirus -- Bad Theology is Killing Us
The Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C, and Duke Divinity graduate, on white evangelicalism and COVID-19.