From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education and Public Ministry
Shows the clear connection between justice and religious education in the Black experience.
The resource sets forth the cultural imperatives of ministry and the contextual nature of a public theology of religious education that connects faith formation and action in addressing profoundly difficult, unjust, and wounding experiences of Black people in society. The book begins with the, often neglected, practice of lament as a necessary first step in vital public theological reflection and action. The book proceeds with meanings and ways of equipping persons within and beyond church settings to critically reflect on life and leadership in the throes of present-day social and political realities. It further provides practices for forming skills and shows how to partner with the spiritual guides needed to shape a just public arena and fruitful individual lives.
Contributors: Joseph V. Crockett, Sarah F. Farmer, Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, Cynthia P. Stewart, Nathaniel D. West, Nancy Lynne Westfield, Richelle B. White, Anne E. Streaty Wimberly, Mary H. Young
Anne E. Streaty Wimberly, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Christian Education at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a renowned African American researcher, scholar, professor, advocate, and champion of black youth. A leading Christian educator rooted in The United Methodist Church, Wimberly has inspired students, colleagues, pastors, church leaders, and countless admirers to pursue education with a “zest to know.” She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Youth Hope-Builders Academy at ITC and founder and coordinator of the Annual Youth and Family Convocation.
Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Christian Education and Practical Theology, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, OK.
Nathaniel D. West, PhD, is Director of the Masters of Arts in Christian Education, the Director of Formation and Counseling, and an Assistant Professor of Christian Education at the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, in Richmond, VA.
Praise for From Lament to Advocacy
“From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education as Public Ministry provides an architect’s vision and a contractor’spracticality that bridges the false divide between personal piety and public faith. This volume reclaims and reframes Religious Education as a necessary voice in the choir of public theologians singing God’s song of justice in a strange land. Between the covers of this book, religious educators will find theology, theory, and pedagogies that nurture prophetic participation in our common life. . . While this impressive collection of authors and perspectives on the formation and integration of faith and the public life of faith is purposefully written for the Black Church, its insights are themselves a prophetic call to all religious educators and communities of faith.”
—Rebecca Davis, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Education, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Charlotte, NC
“This book not only provides a valuable historical and theoretical framework but offers practical tools and models for religious educators to best engage Black religious education and public theology. It presents clear connections to articulate how justice movements are interrelated to religious education and even how outsiders of specific moments can process, respond to, and support public phenomena or movements that they may not fully understand or relate to. Religious educators will find this resource as beneficial to their work as a scholar and/or practitioner.”
—Darius M. Benton, PhD, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Department of Arts and Communication, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Houston–Downtown, Houston, TX
