For about two years this page included links to the CCCU Racial & Ethnic Diversity Resources page, and in particular to the CCCU Anti-Racism Education page which has a lot of troubling content. These links have recently been removed from this GCTS page. See the next item for more details.

This was linked from the main DEI page, but that link was quietly removed after two years. Lots of very concerning Woke resources shared here. From CCCU page directly:

• Pondering Privilege: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Whiteness, Race, and Faith by Jody Fernando
• White Lies by Daniel Hill
• Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
• Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel
• White Awake by Daniel Hill
• They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie Jones-Rogers
• The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality by Thomas Shapiro
• Race in America by Phil Vischer

From An Essential Reading Guide for Fighting Racism:

• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
• American Lynching by Ashraf H.A. Rushdy
• Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• Racism Without Racists by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
• Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• And many, many more...

Video also posted to Facebook

• "Evangelicalism has been a very white and Western phenomenon. It is no longer this way, and, frankly, it never should have been identified as such."
• "In terms of outcomes, all students who graduate from Gordon-Conwell in the future will develop a theological understanding that is not bound to white Western culture/s."

• The President's Cabinet read and discussed The Color of Compromise by Jamar Tisby, chapter by chapter
• The President's Cabinet read and discussed Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley, chapter by chapter
• The President's Cabinet consulted with two black scholars on issues of race and justice: Anthony B. Bradley and Vincent Bacote
• All members of the President's Cabinet have taken a cultural assessment and are currently in the process of independent review of cultural competency
• Dr. Sunquist will focus his President's Blog on issues of race and justice
• The faculty adopted a statement/guideline on diversity in syllabi: "In recognition of the global church and the rich diversity of the kingdom, we aspire to equip our students to minister effectively in a multicultural world. Therefore, in each course, whenever feasible, faculty will include one or more of the following: reading(s) by scholars from the global church, and/or lecture units, assignments, discussions, case studies, interviews, videos, etc., that incorporate topics related to the global church."
• Harassment training required for all faculty and staff
• Lots of other CRT inspired initiatives

• A list of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives
• Like all Woke arguments there is an implicit assumption that nothing has changed since slavery. They point out injustices in the past, and the implicit assumption is that those things are still going on. And that is maybe the biggest lie of the Woke.
• Wokeness teaches that racism is always present (at a systemic level). "[Brenda] reminds us that in our concern for reconciliation we must remember that we live in a world of racism." It's history completely out of context.
• Endorses Brenda Salter McNeil and her book Roadmap to Reconciliation

This flyer was posted in the mail room of the GCTS Hamilton campus (photo taken on 9/28/2023). It is for a "Conversation Group on LGBTQIA+" led by the GCTS Student Association Justice Ambassador.

Quotes from the section "God In Male and Female Imagery":

• "So far we have referred to God as 'He' and 'Him' because most of us are used to employing these terms when we think of the Holy One. Indeed, it is sometimes asserted that those in holy office should be male to represent the Deity who is male. This is to ignore what the Bible has to say, for God is pictured as both male and female."
• "There is good biblical reason, then, to speak of God as both Father and Mother, both 'she' and 'he'."

• What History Tells Us About Women in Ministry
• Dr. Mimi Haddad (MATS '91), President and CEO, Christians for Biblical Equality International
• The Fall 2023 Research Seminars on History were convened by Dr. Gordon Isaac, Berkshire professor of church history and Advent Christian studies.

• The Gordon-Conwell Women in Seminary group invites you to a virtual Fireside Chat with other female seminarians! We will hear from Dr. Mimi Haddad (MATS '91) about her vocational journey and have space for question and discussion afterwards.
• Gordon-Conwell alumna Dr. Mimi Haddad currently serves as president and CEO of CBE International.
• She holds a PhD in historical theology from the University of Durham, Durham England and has taught as an adjunct associate professor of historical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Olivet University, and other institutes and organizations worldwide.
• She was a founding member of the Evangelicals and Women Study Section at the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and Evangelicals for Justice.
• Dr. Haddad is an award-winning author and has written more than one hundred fifty academic, popular, and blog articles. She has also contributed to over fifteen books and co-hosts CBE International's Mutuality Matters podcast.

• So much linguistic and historical eisegesis here!
• The point is to reject the clear gender roles established by God in Scripture
• "So, the point of silence is to listen. It's not so much - you are being punished, so shut up!"
• "So, what kind of "submission" should women have? Wouldn't it make sense and fit in the context if it refers to listening when it is time to listen? To be submissive in the New Testament often means to be cooperative."
• "What should we do instead? We need to be guided by love and work cooperatively on building up each other in a structured, mutually submissive way when we get together. All spiritual gifts help us build up the church, but we need to be able to listen to each other to make such upbuilding possible."
• "My own conclusion is that 1 Timothy is primarily about right knowledge, salvation, and submission to truth, not eternal gender roles."
• "Reminiscent of Eve in Eden, the Ephesian women were learning and teaching a body of heretical beliefs to others, in an autocratic manner, submitted to heterodox teachers that brought spiritual death to its listeners. Thus, Paul began a process to address the cultural limitations on women, especially in the area of Ephesus in the syncretistic Greco-Roman world, by commanding that the women learn the truth so they could understand fully the Christian message, not be deceived, and, then, when they taught, they would bring spiritual life and salvation to their listeners."
• "Therefore, what do women want? What should women and men want? Women should be preaching partners in service with men in the church. They were in the past, they should be now, and they will be in the future in the new Jerusalem!"

Aida Spencer, Senior Professor of New Testament, shared on "Must Christian Women be Silent?" during this Women's Forum in Alumni Hall (South Hamilton Campus) on October 8, 2019.

"Examines Christian attitudes and teachings about women, argues that women are equal partners in ministry, marriage, and parenting, and describes feminine metaphors used in the Scriptures to define the church and society"

• Aida and William Spencer created the publishing series House of Prisca and Aquila (HPA)
• House of Prisca and Aquila Facebook page
• Why the White American Church Needs to Promote More Multicultural Church Leadership
• The Christian World Liberation Front
• "We heartily endorse the work of Christians for Biblical Equality."
• The stated mission of CBE: "We are an international organization working to educate, advocate, and liberate women and men from Christian patriarchy"

Developing Female Leaders: Navigate the Minefields and Release the Potential of Women in Your Church Paperback (March 5, 2019)

• Gina A. Zurlo, Adjunct Faculty of World Christianity & Mission and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, delivered this message titled "A Prophetic Vision from Mary's Magnificat" in the Kaiser Chapel (South Hamilton campus) on March 28, 2023.
• Women's Chapel

• Dr. Gina A. Zurlo, Adjunct Faculty of World Christianity & Mission and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity
• Rev. Cindy M. Wu, co-founder and Managing Director of Mosaic Formation
• Shared on "Women in World Christianity Facts, Figures, Challenges, and Opportunities. during the Spring Forum in Alumni Hall (South Hamilton campus) on March 28, 2023.
• 15:05 structural barriers in place to prevent women from doing everything, need to dismantle structures

• Jeanne DeFazio earned her Master of Arts in Religion from GCTS in 2004 and has worked at GCTS since 2009
• She serves as an Athanasian Teaching Scholar at Gordon-Conwell's Campus for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) in Boston
• Athanasian Scholar to Dr. William David Spencer's Systematic Theology Courses 1, 2, 3
• "I help the English Learning graduate students in the class to write their essays."
• Posts videos from the Spencers and their House of Prisca and Aquila on her Jeanne DeFazio YouTube Channel
• She is actively involved with the Africanus Journal from writing reviews to having her books reviewed
• Wrote "The Christian World Liberation Front: The Jesus Movement's Model of Revival and Social Reform for the Postmodern Church"

• Rejects the clear God given roles for men and women
• Deeply influenced by radical Feminist ideology
• Aida Besancon Spencer and William David Spencer have a publishing series specifically on this topic
• "This book is published by the Spencers through their publishing series House of Prisca and Aquila (HPA). The mission of HPA, included in the book's introduction, outlines the Spencer's position in Christian Egalitarian Leadership: House of Prisca and Aquila refers to Acts 18:2 where Prisca and Aquila more accurately expounded to Apollos "the Way of God." HPA's mission is "to produce quality books that expound accurately the word of God to empower women and men to minister together in a multicultural church.""
• "By contrast, blind dependence on the visions and commands of only a few produce truncated results and believers who have trouble with the critical thinking of genuinely free people."
• Clear rejection of God's clear gender roles given in the Bible: "An authoritarian/hierarchical model of church, which is not approved in the Scriptures, contributes to factions, divisions, vying for power and subterfuge"

• Donna Hailson praises this book: "I recommend the book and believe Buried Talents would serve as a useful text in pastoral leadership and psychology courses."
• "In her book, Buried Talents, Susan Harris Howell (EdD, University of Louisville), provided answers to my questions as she revealed the subtle forms of socialization that had shaped and pushed and pulled me into gendered roles and identities."
• The problem is men/androcentricity: "Howell begins by exploring how - from our childhood through adulthood - parents, teachers, churches, the English language, and media socialize us in gender-specific ways."
• Rejects the God ordained roles of men and women: "Nearly twenty years of conditioning, Howell suggests, takes us into adulthood with gendered expectations in leadership roles. Men lead. Women support. Women sacrifice so men can succeed."
• And even rejects the God ordained roles in the church: "Howell's focus, on how some women may hold back on responding to God's call to leadership in the church, reminded me of my own experience."

• Full of Woke Critical Feminism
• Trying to break down God's clear design for the roles of men and women and the patriarchy God established
• "Her solid scholarship and accessible writing style make her a welcome breath of fresh air for those who want to see sisters grow as church leaders, pastors, and co-heirs of grace in their homes. Lee senses an urgency to her message in light of the recent resurgence of "male headship" in the home and growth of churches restricting the role of pastor to men. She regrets that such practices deny the church of the gifts of sisters, and I would add reflect poorly on the God of the Scriptures who created men and women equal."

Course Description: "Reconciliation is a term and a process that is often misunderstood and minimized to deal solely with race. Yet, there are many more intersectional areas that demand individual, institutional, congregational reconciliation. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil suggests, "Reconciliation is an ongoing spiritual process involving forgiveness, repentance and justice that restores broken relationships and systems to reflect God's original intention for all creation to flourish" (Roadmap to Reconciliation, 22). Beyond learning about the historical, theological, cultural and sociological necessity for reconciliation, this course challenges students to emerge as leaders in the Project of Reconciliation."

Course Textbooks:

• Emerson, Michael O. and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
• Lee, Deborah Jian. Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism
• McNeil, Brenda Salter. Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness and Justice
• Rah, Soong-Chan. The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity
• Shin, Sarah. Beyond Colorblind: Redeeming Our Ethnic Journey
• Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe and assess the significance of her or his own racial identity as a starting point in race and gender conversations.
• Examine the challenges and opportunities facing women in the church throughout history and in the present.
• Assess and outline the historic and systematic nature of racism and its impact on the American Church.
• Develop a Biblical framework for reconciliation, equity, and justice.
• Work with others to construct ways to talk and lead more redemptively in diverse contexts.

Required Reading:

• Lee-Barnewall, Michelle. Neither Complementarian Nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Gender Debate.
• Rah, Soong-Chan. The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity.
• Salter McNeil, Brenda. Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness and Justice.
• Soerens, Matthew and Yang, Jenny. Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate
• Tan, Jonathan. Introducing Asian American Theologies.
• Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited.
• Tisby, Jemar. The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism.

DESCRIPTION: "The story of humanity (thus far) is a complex narrative that cycles through riveting victories while also plagued with the vicious wounds of sin. From the days of the Old Testament into the New Testament and beyond, humanity has challenged itself with racism and ethnic division. This course will challenge students to explore the history and theology of race with an eye towards the historical, theological, cultural, sociological and spiritual necessity for reconciliation."

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The student who successfully completes this course should be able:

• To articulate a theological understanding of the challenges of racial and ethnic division.
• To survey the origins and history of racism and ethnic division within and beyond the Church.
• To effectively read, understand, learn from and engage texts in theological studies.
• To have a deeper appreciation for theology as it relates to preparation for ministry in the context of the local church, the global church, and the broader contemporary culture.
• To make a personal commitment to the project of reconciliation.

REQUIRED READING:

• Carter, J. Kameron. Race: A Theological Account
• Emerson, Michael O. and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
• Hawkins, J. Russell and Phillip Luke Sinitiere (editors). Christians and the Color Line: Race and Religion After Divided by Faith.
• Jennings, Willie James. The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origin of Race.

Course Textbooks:

• Cone, James. The Spirituals and the Blues
• Jones, LeRoi. Blues People: Negro Music in White America
• Price, Emmett. The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture: Toward Bridging the Generational Divide
• Reed, Teresa. Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music
• Thurman, Howard. Deep River and The Negro Spiritual Speaks Life and Death

Description: "Of all of America's current problems, there is perhaps none older, and none more morally troubling, than the problem of racism in its many forms. Racism of white Euro-Americans towards Native Americans, then towards black Africans imported as slaves, toward darker-skinned (and Catholic) Mediterranean Europeans, towards Jews, towards immigrating Latin Americans and Asians..., is all well documented. Many believe the gradual diminishing of overt, and even covert, individual prejudice and systemic discrimination in the United States has brought us to a color-blind society. Events in the past year deny any such conclusion. And... when personal stories from ethnic minorities are elicited, even in the Christian Church and its seminaries, underlying pain is poignantly revealed. This course attempts to address such wounds and point toward processes of reconciliation."

Selected course objectives:

• To become familiar with, and able to teach, historical roots of several varieties of ethnic discrimination as measured by critical papers.
• To learn to listen to one another's stories as a necessary prelude to reconciliation and to facilitate future discussions as evidenced in discussions and personal journals.
• To exegete ourselves and make progress in dealing personally with the impact of all kinds of ethnic prejudices as they affect our identity and feelings, as displayed through class probing and personal journaling.
• To understand ethnic privilege and isolation from a Christian perspective and develop viable strategies for combating such injustice (or unrighteousness) as evidenced in discussions and written work.
• To develop a theology of reconciliation and personal strategies of response and be able to preach and teach such theology and strategies for reconciliation as measured through written work.

The following required texts are in suggested order of your reading:

• E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro Church in America/ C. Eric Lincoln The Black Church Since Frazier
• Alex Haley, ed. (1966, 1992) The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Debby Irving, Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race
• Michael Emerson & Christian Smith (2000) Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
• Cannon, Harper, Jackson, Rah, Forgive us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith

Recommended for Further Reading and Study

• Michelle Alexander (2010) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
• Christena Cleveland (2013) Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That keep Us Apart
• Maria Hong, ed. (1993) Growing Up Asian American: Stories of childhood, adolescence and coming of age in America from the 1880s to the 1990s
• Elizabeth Conde-Frasier, Soochan (Steve) Kang, and Gary A. Parrett (2004) A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation
• Brenda Salter McNeil (2015) Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities Into Unity, Wholeness and Justice
• Manuel Ortiz (1996) One New People: Models for Developing a Multiethnic Church
• Soong-Chan Rah (2015) Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times
• Miroslav Volf (1996) Exclusion&Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation
• Will Willimon (2017) Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism

Required Reading:

• Arbinger Institute. The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2016
• Chabris, Christopher and Daniel Simons. The Invisible Gorilla - How Our Intuitions Deceive Us. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2009
• Corbett, Steve and Brian Fikkert. When Helping Hurts. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012 edition
• Hall, Douglas A. The Cat and the Toaster: Living System Ministry in a Technological Age. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010
• Meadows, Donella H. Thinking in Systems. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008
• Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday, 2006 edition
• Stroh, David Peter. Systems Thinking for Social Change. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015

DESCRIPTION: "The subject of this course is the cultural anthropological and missiological study of culture. It is designed to both challenge and support students to grow in their cultural awareness and to develop cross-cultural competence for building healthy and God-honoring relationships within diverse communities. Lectures, guided by the Bible and theories and data of anthropology, will help students understand that Christianity must be translated into each culture where it abides and that Christ rectifies what is broken and reinforces the sacred in each respsective culture."

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to

• Explain how one's cultural assumptions can be incredibly useful in one context while incredibly misleading in another.
• Apply Hofstede's 6 Dimension Model of national culture to the understanding and analysis of the given culture.
• Frame an effective cross-cultural ministry strategy.

REQUIRED READING:

• Eberhardt, Jennifer L. Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We See, Think and Do
• Hofstede Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind
• Lingenfelter, Sherwood G. and Marvin K. Mayers. Ministering Cross-Culturally
• Livermore, David A. Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World
• Rah, Soon Chang. Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church
• Sanneh, Lamin. Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West

From the course description: "Preaching Reconciliation is a course designed to help aspiring leaders construct multiethnic churches, through preaching that is aware and sensitive to the ways various ethnic groups hear and receive the Bible. Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the theological and sociological need for preaching reconciliation. Opportunities will also be given for the student to model preaching reconciliation within the class."

Required Textbooks:

• Evans, Tony. Oneness Embraced
• Loritts, Bryan. Right Color/Wrong Culture
• Mitchell, Henry. Black Preaching
• Smith, Robert. The Doctrine that Dances

• What History Tells Us About Contextualization, Fall 2023
• Dr. Vince Bantu (MDiv '08), Assistant Professor of Church History and Black Church Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary
• Vince Bantu Fuller Faculty Page

Required Reading:

• Gilson, Rachel, Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next
• McCaulley, Esau, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
• Rah, Soong-Chan, Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times
• Smith, James K.A. You are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
• Vanhoozer, Kevin J. Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine

Course Description: "The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) has been hailed as the most effective social and spiritual movement in the history of the United States. Grounded within the Black Christian Experience and sustained by the Black Church, the Civil Rights Movement continued generations of fighting against social injustice, economic despair and political oppression. This course will examine the Civil Rights Movement through the contributions of ten prophets who were committed to the pursuit of "liberty and justice for all" by speaking "truth to power." Using theological reflection, the prophetic voices of Martin Luther King, Jr., Septima Poinsette Clark, Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian, Ella Josephine Baker, James Arthur Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, Gardner Calvin Taylor, Dorothy Irene Height, Bayard Rustin and Anna Pauline Murray, will be revealed, analyzed and interpreted through their leadership in the fight against segregation, jim & jane crow and the sins of racism, prejudice and discrimination. Further, we will explore the impact and influence of these prophets beyond the United States and beyond the 20th century movements such as #BringBackOurGirls, #BLM and others."

Course Textbooks

• Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time
• Clayborne Carson, David J. Garrow, Gerald Gill, Vincent Harding, and Darlene Clark Hine. The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle
• Dupont, C. R. Mississippi Praying: Southern White Evangelicals and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1975
• Lischer, R. The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America
• Olson, L. Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970

Course Textbooks

• Carter, Anthony J. On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience
• Daniels, Robin. This Holy Seed: Faith, Hope and Love in the Early Churches of North Africa
• Gonzalez, Justo L. and Ondina E. Gonzalez. Christianity in Latin America: A History
• Lampe, Armando (editor). Christianity in the Caribbean: Essays on Church History
• Sanneh, Lamin. West African Christianity: The Religious Impact

Required Reading:

• Barnes, K. Light from the Dreaming Spires
• Collins-Mayo, Sylvia, et al. The Faith of Generation Y
• Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene
• Ecklund, Elaine Howard. Why Science and Faith Need Each Other
• McCaulley, Esau. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
• McGrath, Alister. The Dawkins Delusion

Description: "This course provides a foundation for engaging issues of race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status within a counseling context. A theological framework for developing self-awareness and engaging diversity will be emphasized, along with the roles, structures, functions, systems, behaviors, values, and environmental factors that affect individual and family systems. Students will be encouraged to engage in self-exploration around their own cultural/racial identity and their responses to issues of diversity including bias, oppression, discrimination, and the role of privilege. Consistent with the mission statement and goals of the Master of Arts in Counseling (MACO) Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, students will be trained to become effective, multi-culturally competent, reflective, and ethical counselors who pursue social justice."

Required Reading:

• Robinson-Wood, T. L. (2017). The Convergence of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Multiple Identities in Counseling
• Priest, R & Nieves, A. (2007). This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith
• McGoldrick, M., Pearce, J.K., & Giordano, J. (2005), Ethnicity and Family Therapy, 3rd Edition

Required Textbooks:

• Matthew D. Kim, Preaching with Cultural Intelligence: Understanding the People Who Hear Our Sermons
• Patty Lane, A Beginner's Guide to Crossing Cultures: Making Friends in a Multi-Cultural World
• E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Barriers to Better Understand the Bible

Recommended Textbooks:

• Paula Harris and Doug Schaupp, Being White: Finding Our Place in a Multiethnic World
• Alice P. Mathews, Preaching that Speaks to Women
• Kenneth A. Mathews and M. Sydney Park, The Post-Racial Church: A Biblical Framework for Multiethnic Reconciliation
• David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church
• Soong-Chan Rah, Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church
• Andrew Carl Wisdom, Preaching to a Multi-Generational Assembly

Purpose: "To consider the structural as well as the moral failures that led to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, see how it affects the lives of ordinary people, and ultimately ask the questions: is Postmodern Capitalism redeemable?"

Prescribed Texts:

• Weber, Max. (1904) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
• Smith, Adam. (1776) An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
• Marx, Karl. (1883) Capital (Das Kapital)
• Barnes, K. (2018) Redeeming Capitalism

Full of flagrant support for Critical Race Theory. Davis goes point by point through the definition of CRT and affirms all of them as if CRT is a good thing.

• Rodney Petersen praises this book: "His superb work provides a road map for understanding the emergence of Liberation Theology and mision integral. Brown Church not only provides the reader with a general understanding of Latina/o church life in the Americas but can serve to be a textbook for seminarians and guide to the kind of community in which we will hopefully choose to live."
• Praises Liberation Theology and Gutierrez: "Since 1492, those of Spanish descent had controlled the land and stolen or controlled the natural resources. Liberation theologians of the Brown Church such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Meguez Bonino, and Leonardo and Clodovis Boff reminded others of the biblical preferential option for the poor."
• "A central question for Latina/o theology, according to Romero, is how to read the Bible. Liberation Theology puts forward the importance of teologia en conjunto, or collaborative communal theology. Its aim is not individualistic acclaim, but a communal endeavor produced from mutual dialogue of pastors, theologians, and lay folk."
• The way this book is described it sounds completely racist. The Gospel message is White and needs to be "reframed" for non-Whites to understand it: "He reframes the message of Christianity so that it can be heard by Latina/o academics and activists."
• "Brown Church sets out the wider vision. It begins with the stories of three young adults and their encounter with discrimination, poverty, and issues of immigration status in the U. S. as they struggle with a life of faith and justice. They make immediate the emotional damage and clinical depression resulting from the tendency to ignore community cultural wealth and the teachings of Critical Race Theory."
• Glorifying Cesar Chavez: "As Martin Luther King dealt with the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and gave leadership to the African American community, Cesar Chavez inspired a Mexican American movement working to end Manifest Destiny and the legitimacy it appeared to offer to Anglo American theology"
• Speaking of immigration: "Political culture in the United States will either be defined by fear of those "outside the gate" (using words of Orlando Costas) or by an inclusive welcome to all to the Beloved Community or Kingdom of God."
• Theology is white: "The interests of Anglo American theology and its emphasis on entitlement mark modern mainline and evangelical church communities"

• "All over the United States there are protests, and then there are the mass shooters, mainly Caucasian males who run amuck, killing strangers they never met."
• "Some evangelicals might be surprised that we find a basis for various liberation theologies in the Beatitudes. We need to remember that Moses's calling was one of liberation of God's people from Egypt"
• "I have been in churches where we hid illegal aliens (the biblical term is "stranger"). They needed letters of sponsorship from a church. We gave such letters."

• Full of Woke Postcolonial Theory
• "My premise is simply this: as strangers and sojourners in a foreign land, Hispanics in America have challenges, but we also have an essential function and a unique theological voice that we must share for the good of all. This is similar to the story of Abraham who is a model of the immigrant and sojourner in ancient times. I write this article in light of my own Hispanic and Native American, bilingual and multiracial background."
• "Babylon, Rome, and Colonial America all forced the natives they conquered to assume new names and take on the conqueror's language, customs, and religions."
• "A disproportionate number of Hispanic immigrants, through no fault of their own, come to the United States with disadvantages. Poverty, poor education, different culture, a history of oppression, and language may all be impediments. Natives of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean suffered much under colonialism. It has given us a kind of racial post-traumatic stress which still affects us today."

• "Jeanne DeFazio, a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and editor of several books ... She also serves as an Athanasian Teaching Scholar at Gordon-Conwell's Campus for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) in Boston."
• "The book begins with a foreword by Julia Davis, an African American educator, who writes about the importance of peer learning (xi) and illuminates the effects of structural racism."

• The last two paragraphs feel extremely out of place. It doesn't sound like Jacobson's book has much to do with Woke issues but Borgman seems to tie it all back to oppression and recommends Jemar Tisby's Woke book!
• His transition is this, where he claims Jacobson missed the main point, how ridiculous: "How can the important vision of Jacobsen, in his three books, miss our national economic injustice affecting the poor - and particularly our racial injustice against people of color?"
• "Such studies must include Jemar Tisby (2020) The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism and its excellent (2020) Study Guide."
• "Finally, all Christians who are awake to Scripture's prophetic critique of our current political and civil unrest should demand our seminaries training pastors mention not only the above books in their curriculum, but to offer entire courses on the Bible's emphasis on the poor and marginalized"

• "The authors define a sexual minority as "a person who experiences same-sex attraction" regardless of whether the person labels him or herself as gay (p. 11)."
• "This is an important book. How Christians show love to sexual minorities is the "social-justice issue of this generation" (p. 304). Christian educational institutions cannot sidestep this call to love all our sexual minority neighbors and to avoid micro-aggressions against them."

• This is specifically to rid White people of Whiteness/racism
• "We focus on coming alongside white evangelicals who believe racism is a problem and that Jesus is a part of the solution. We provide biblically-based discipleship so white evangelical communities can experience - and contribute to - healing from the sin of racism. We also work with BIPOC Christians who desire to see transformation in white evangelical communities and the body of Christ at large."
• "White evangelicals are often unaware of racial realities and unsure of how to engage well in issues related to race. When they try to reach across racial lines - even with good intentions - they can do things that contribute to the problem. They have work to do to engage issues of race in ways that are respectful, responsible, and supportive to communities of color. They need to develop the knowledge, skills, and posture to be engaged and effective members of a reconciled and reconciling community."
• "White evangelicals can grow with the guidance, encouragement, and accountability of learning and acting in Christian community. We provide a space where they can explore hard truths with love and grace. We walk with them as they learn to respond to these realities as an outworking of their faith and open themselves up to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit."
• "Action Communities: RCCI hosts collective action communities for white evangelicals that aim to increase their capacity for anti-racist action and following the leadership of people of color. All action opportunities serve leaders of color building shalom across racial lines."
• "Learning Communities: RCCI hosts cohorts for white people shaped by the evangelical tradition to help them learn about and engage in self-work related to race. This offers the knowledge foundational to more effective action taking."
• "RCCI focuses on nurturing transformation within white evangelicals in Greater Boston. We do this primarily through white affinity groups. Just as women's and men's ministries or youth groups contextualize ministry to nurture growth, white affinity groups offer a space where white people can grow in their understanding and capacity to experience and participate in God's redemptive work."

• Race & Christian Community Initiative Newsletter Issue 5, February 2019
• "With RCCI being a ministry that works towards racial healing, and especially one that focuses on doing self-work among White evangelicals, it is critical that we be under the accountability and leadership of people of color. This is a foundational value of our ministry."
• "From its inception, RCCI has been under the supervision of women of color at EGC and we intentionally invite people of color to speak into and shape the vision and programs of our ministry."
• "Because if pastors and ministry leaders do their own work and sacrifice their own time to engage in racial healing, they can prioritize and nurture this all the more effectively in their communities."

• RCCI Advisory Board
• Boston Black Church Vitality Project (BBCVP) at the Emmanuel Gospel Center
• Systems Practice
• Origin Story: How RCCI's first cohort took shape

• Boston Black Church Vitality Project (BBCVP) at the Emmanuel Gospel Center
• Something New! event
• RCCI Advisory Board

• Systems Practice
• Why I Love CUME

• "For 50 years, Doug and Judy Hall served as leaders of EGC until their retirement in 2014. They also taught urban ministry classes for four decades at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, starting in 1973"

• "Affordable housing. Systemic racism. Urban education. Refugees and migrants. These are just a few of the pressing issues that persist in Boston despite long, hard work by many people. Why?"
• "Over decades of ministry, EGC has found that systems thinking and practice can address these problems. 'Systems thinking' provides concepts and tools that expand our understanding of complex social issues."
• "Systems thinking and practice are central to EGC's approach to ministry in Boston ... You will gain a transformed outlook and develop effective approaches to challenge systems burdened by trauma and injustice."
• Welcome to Systems Practice in Christian Ministry

• By Megan Lietz, Director of RCCI
• "She holds a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell's Campus for Urban Ministerial Education and a Master of Sacred Theology from Boston University, where she studied power dynamics in multiracial congregations." (From Meet the Team)

Recommended Reading & Resource List

• "There is a Balm in Gilead: A Call to Lament Together" by Dr. Emmett Price.
• The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby.
• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• "The Color of Wealth of Boston" by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• Race & Christian Community Initiative
• Public Square Forum

Video also posted to Facebook

Panelists & Moderators:

• Sean Michael Watkins, M.Div. Director of Training and Strategy at Be the Bridge; Former Associate National Director of Digital Spaces at InterVarsity
• Dr. Nicholas Rowe, Gordon College, Associate Vice President, Student and Global Engagement and Associate Professor of History; Conflict resolution consultant
• Rev. Kenneth Young, Pastor & Director of External Relationships for the Mass. Council of Churches; Gordon- Conwell alumnus
• Dr. Jim Longhurst, Pastor & Executive Director of The Public Square Forum; Gordon- Conwell alumnus
• Dr. Sara Lawrence Minard, Founder and CEO of Manarine, LLC; Adjunct Professor at Babson College; Content Curator for Faith+Finance: Reimagining God's Economy

Recommended Reading List:

• A Many Colored Kingdom by Elizabeth Conde-Frazier
• Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
• Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience by Sheila Wise Rowe
• How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• More than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith edited by Nikki Toyama and Tracey Gee
• Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles and Soong Chan Rah
• White Awake: An honest look at what it means to be White by Daniel Hill
• Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley
• Additional authors: James Cone, Howard Thurman, Miguel de la Torre, Gustav Gonzalez

Video also posted to Facebook

Dr George Yancey is a sociologist and professor of sociology at Baylor University

• At Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Dennis Hollinger, Mark Harden, and Emmett Price talk about race relations following the Ferguson debate.
• Hollinger discussed systemic racism

• Sheila Wise Rowe, Spiritual Director and Author of "Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience", delivered this message entitled "The Gospel of Sustenance" in the Kaiser Chapel (South Hamilton campus).
• At 6:28 defines racial trama similar to microaggressions
• At 9:20 says that Black, indiginous and other people of color know that racial trama is real because they face it every day!

• GCTS students discuss the Church's response to hatred and bigotry in this forum sponsored by the Student Association at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
• Student Panelists include Frank Robinson, Katherine Hampson, Benedict Gambino, and Catherine Cook. The discussion is moderated by Kenneth Young.
• In response to Charlottesville, VA and protests in Boston
• Student panelist wearing a Black Lives Matter T-Shirt

• Virginia Ward, Dean of the Boston Campus and Executive Director of the Northeast Region, delivered this message entitled "To Become" in the Kaiser Chapel (South Hamilton campus).
• Starting at 20:38 she quotes from Jemar Tisby and the Color of Compromise!
• Starting at 21:23 she talks about how we need to address the hatred for other ethnic groups within the church

• Dr. Riggens R. Earl Jr. is professor of Ethics and Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center of the Atlanta University Center.
• Dr. Emmett G. Price III is Dean of Chapel, Professor of Worship, Church and Culture, and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at GCTS.

• Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant who recently moved to Washington DC from the Navajo Reservation. Mark shares with the student body during Justice Week at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
• About Native American History (or the retelling of history)
• America is evil and only for white, land owning man
• So full of CRT!
• Need dialoge on race, reconciliation and class
• Conciliation is the right word, because "reconciliation" assumes a previous harmony which we never had!

• This student message was part of the chapel program at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
• At 17:00 talks about how the Blank Panthers are misunderstood

• Human Rights Advocate Ewelina Ochab shares at the Religious Diversity Forum Series, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
• "But it has to be emphasized that Saddam Hussein was a very strong leader, and had also Christian advisors, and that helped religious minorities and especially Christians to have decent life under his reign. Unfortunately afterwards, when he was gone, there was nobody who would be the strong leader in the region and that also resulted in many Christians being targetd by others". (ending 7:34)
• Strange response around 48:50, about the dictator in Syria and justifying keeping him in power?

• Recorded at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
• Intro by Dennis Hollinger
• Story about the woman at the well
• At 6:45 mentions Black Lives Matters protestor, in a positive way. Attacks the Bible's position on homosexuality.
• This one seems extra crazy
• Around 13:45 uses the standard attack on men and the church
• Around 18:00 she say that Jesus condemns her sin only after protecting her, like a mama bear!
• The church has stripped people of dignity, around 22:00

• Ben Lowe, author and advocate for Creation Care and green initiatives, speaks with the student body at a forumat the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
• "Creation Care" is a way to Christianize the climate change agenda
• At the 12:20 mark says he can't love God and his neighbor with all his heart if he doesn't care for nature
• 28:56 says that whites can't think beyond the individual, and why racial reconciliation is so difficult!!

• Interesting comment from Dr. Lints about how this session was funding by Llyod ?
• "Life partner Gene"???
• I wonder if this was a pivotale moment for GCTS going woke?
• Board Member Samuel Rodrigez interesting in migration reform
• Capture quote from the introduction with great history for GCTS

• Dr. George Yancey & Dr. Nicholas Rowe shared "Racial Struggles on the Christian Campus" during a Dean's Forum in Alumni Hall (South Hamilton campus).

• Canon Esau McCaulley, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College / Anglican Priest & Author of Best Seller Reading While Black, delivered the Homily for Gordon-Conwell's chapel service.
• At 12:15 talks about the African American tradition
• At 19:00 sees so much hatred!
• At 21:30 says that what plagues the church is that we can see and diagnose someone's sin. In our advocacy for justice we can loose our minds (in other words we can be too good)

• Leads World Vision and weeks before they approved same-sex marriage and then took it back, and apologized
• Cried about how much he loves the poor
• Normalizing homosexuality
• In 32:45 says that Israel is the oppressor nation and the palestinians are the oppressed!!

• Race, Gender & Ethnicity: The Impact on Theology is part of the Dean's Forum series at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

• Starting at 29:26, summarizes what he learned from some guy/group, not the Bible!
• Can only have peace when the city has peace
• Grew up thinking justice was being fair, but now realizes its an act of corporate responsibilty
• Not a defense of individual rights, but righteous obedience

• Jen Keifer delivered this sermon in the Kaiser Chapel (South Hamilton campus) on March 14, 2023.
• So full of woke language/ideology!
• This is an unbelievably bad sermon

• Kelly Fassett (Executive Director of UniteBoston) shared this message titled "Christian Unity: Transforming Hospitality into Enemy-Embracing Love" in the Kaiser Chapel (South Hamilton campus).

• WOW! Scott says that we need "to add civil rights to atonement, and to add advocacy to salvation"! This is exactly where Wokeness leads, to elevate (lies) about social conditions to the very nature of salvation.
• "It is time to add the beautiful language of justice and equal opportunity to our language of authority of Scripture; to add civil rights to atonement, and to add advocacy to salvation. Evangelicals have hesitated too often to speak about and live into the very theology we espouse."
• He equates justice with socialism/communism: "As Gordon-Conwell student Frank Robinson said, 'Not being killed is far too low a standard to call justice-and we have not even attained this. The right to simply not be killed. Justice might look like equal lending, housing, education and employment opportunities, proportionate representation in congress, equal protection under the law, unbiased sentencing...' Evangelicals have seldom used such clear language."
• About the completely unjustified murder of Ahmaud Arbery. But every one of these truly rare situations is jumped on by the Woke Left to push their narrative of systemic racism.
• "It is both unbelievable what has happened, yet all too believable that such violence against a black man has happened again."
• "Our recent history has, once again, given lie to the concept of progressiveness and social evolution. This cold-blooded murder is not the only issue, it is just an eruption of the larger cultural virus of American racism." So much wrong here.

• Big focus on the dangers of "Christian Nationalism" here, which is a lie that is deeply rooted in CRT
• Compares Bible believing Christians to Fascists, exactly as the Left does (see Biden's speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday, Sept 1, 2022 for the exact same thing)
• "Another way to critique our impure religious predisposition is to remember the history of countries that have bowed at the altar of religious nationalism: Japan from the 1890s to 1945; Germany under the Nazis; Italy under Mussolini, Rios Montt in Guatemala, and we can even reach back further and remember Persia under the Zoroastrian priests."
• "And can we recognize that as American Christians we have, at times, been a little too zealous about our nation? Can we recognize that we have thought of ourselves as God's special children? Haven't we at times thought of ourselves as God's new Israel? And can't we also recognize that, this misplaced or divided loyalty (sharing singular honor of Jesus with our nation) has often become an ethnocentrism and even racism toward others? You see, if we are special, then others are not. It is a side of U.S. history that is at least unfortunate, and at most turns violent and oppressive."
• Wow, that last quote is wrong (and confused) on so many levels. It's just a standard attack against God and His Word under the guise of "Christian Nationalism".
• "One way we can revise our Christian nationalism is to imagine joining in prayer every day with a Nigerian friend, or Chinese colleague, or Pakistani believer." This is nonsense.
• "I believe we have become confused by power, politics, lies, accusations, identities, and strong statements about 'God's will.'" Ironic since he has become confused by these things, not the Conservatives that he is accusing.
• "The only two purposes we have in this world (and it is more than enough for us) is to worship "the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world," and to witness to his love for others." And both of those include standing up for the Truth! Also note how he defines our core mission as "love" for others, but it's not love as defined by the Bible but rather love as defined by our culture (which is actually the opposite).

• About January 6th, 2021 which Scott claims was an assult on the Gospel itself!
• "Our nation is in turmoil. Christian leaders have spoken up about the tragedy of January 6th. Most have spoken against violence. That is a good place to start, but that is only the start. Many have observed four issues coming together that we must speak against. All are an affront to the Gospel."
• Scott had a vision from God here!
• "Yesterday, I had a vision, one of only three or four I have had in my life. They have always started out a little thin. Then, there is clarity and an unambiguous and strong word. This time, I was standing before Jesus. Jesus looked me in the eye and simply said, 'What were you thinking? Why didn't you speak up? Your black brothers and sisters were struggling, and you didn't bear their burdens. You knew my Word, and you cowered because you were afraid people might criticize you. How do you think I felt?'"
• He then received two unsolicited emails to help confirm the vision. One was from a new Black GCTS student and the quote Scott shared was just an unsubstantiated attack on White Christians.
• The 4 issues Christian's must oppose are: Violence, Racism, Christian nationalism, and Overturning the democratic process.

• Teaching implicit bias and systemic racism.
• Endorses and quotes from Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise; The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism
• "[F]riendships and conversations are necessary, but they are not sufficient to change the racial status quo. Christians must also alter how impersonal systems operate so that they might create and extend racial equality." (from Tisby)
• "Evangelicals have been focused on the heart and personal sin, often ignoring systemic sins, what we might call a matrix of sinful patterns and relationships. In our society, and in our seminary, we have an opportunity to participate more intentionally in repenting of racist patterns and ideas and living more fully into the heavenly vision, a vision of all equal and equally blessed before the Lamb."
• "Jemar Tisby, in his best seller, The Color of Compromise; The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism, provides a healthy place to start: history. We cannot fix what we do not understand has been wrong. And we cannot face up to this unjust past unless we have a history that fills in the gaps." Tisby, like the 1619 Project and other Left re-interpretations of the past, are not trustworthy sources of truth.
• "Tisby's book is persistent in showing again and again when Christians had an opportunity to be courageous, but they mostly compromised, allowing black lives to be valued less than white lives, often as nothing more than as possessions." This is such a lie. Who was it that ended slavery? It was Christianity. The Left lies about everything, including the true Christian past.
• "We must change how we teach and what we teach, but recognize that racism, like bamboo, is an invasive plant that just keeps coming back. Its roots look for new places to sprout and take over the garden. 'An honest assessment of racism should acknowledge that racism never fully goes away; it just adapts to changing times and contexts.' (p. 154)"
• "Institutionally, both the Board of Trustees and the President's Cabinet are on the long road of culture change at Gordon-Conwell. The Chairman of the Board has led the Board in personal sharing about 'Awareness' (of our past), 'Ownership' (our personal responsibility) and 'Agency' (what we can do to make things right). The Cabinet has begun by reading and discussing Tisby's book. Next we will read a book by one of our own graduates, Esau McCaulley's Reading While Black."

• About George Floyd
• Like the 1619 Project, Alexander and Sunquist, are re-writting human history to support their Woke agenda. This is the heart of Wokeness.
• "The difficulty is rooted in the fact that there has never been a time when race and racism did not exist in America. Race and racism are the amniotic fluid out of which America as a nation was born. This past August commemorated the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the English Colonies. That is one year before the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, 113 years before the birth of George Washington, 157 years before the formation of our republic. Race and racism are within the ground of our democracy and the text of our Constitution with the 3/5 Compromise designating the African slaves and their descendants to be 3/5 human. The denial of essential personhood and the denial of place and belonging are inherent within America."
• We need to repent. And by we I mean White Evangelical Christians.
• "American racism is deeply rooted, and the church has too often been complicit."
• "Upon realizing this, we must conclude that America must be recreated into a nation that is antiracist. We need a rebirth. Such a rebirth calls for conscience, conviction, and courage. More specifically, it calls for whites to assume a leadership and responsibility that has never been assumed before."
• "In this hope, the burden is especially on white evangelicals, who have been far too complicit, to take leadership in the struggle for an antiracist America. But let's not point fingers as a way of dividing Christians." These are literally the people who are dividing us! When will we realize it?

• All about January 6th, which repeats so many of the lies of the Left
• This shows how once you start embracing Wokeness it colors everything, and spills into many other areas
• "January 6, 2021 was one of the worst days of the United States in my lifetime." Really?! Worse than all the days were Black people were killed?
• "Racism is a systemic problem in the United States, and the Church must recognize this and work together to show a better way for church and for society. The images of rioters in the Capitol make this undeniable." The rioters are racist too?
• "Our nations' distrust, racism, violence, unequal application of law, and temptation to raise party and personal loyalties over our loyalty to society were all exposed on this one day." (Scott means that the Right are guilty of this, but the opposite is primarily true)
• "Many of us do not realize this, but a number of nations and peoples of the world have looked to the United States to provide moral leadership." It's funny how at times the Left wants to be a moral compass but most of the time they argue that we should spearate church and state. Which one is it?
• "We must also affirm the counter-cultural identity of those who are 'in Christ.' Jesus resisted temptations to power, popularity, and anger." So which is it? Moral leadership/power or not?
• "The national illness is severe, and, let's be honest, it is also in the Church, and it is not over."

• Uses Thanksgiving as a cover to push critical theory and post-colonial studies.
• This entire article is steeped in Critical Theory. The point is to criticize and tear down America, even/especially on Thanksgiving.
• It may not have been his intention, but this article betrays the American-hating ideology of Critical Theory.
• Scott clearly states that critical theory and post-colonial studies help us better understand history, but that is completely false. It's precisely critical theory that is spreading the lies about history: "We all know, on the other side of critical theory and post-colonial studies, that U.S. history, in fact all history, is much more complex and has involved more violence than we have been led to believe."
• Any version of American history that doesn't conform to the Woke ideology of oppressed and oppressors is a lie: "American Thanksgiving, however, is rooted in national identity, Christian history, and intercultural encounters and covenant. It is a myth (in the technical sense[1]) with much history-the unique Puritan history of New England-and a degree of romanticism.[2]"
• Urges American Christians to view their history through the power stuggle lens of Critical Theory, while claiming that is how Jesus would view it! "However, despite the complexity and contradictions, as Christians, it is important that we can still see our history, our country, and our civic lives with the eyes of Christ."
• The true hero of the story of America's founding is Squanto: "A Patuxet young man, who had been enslaved by the Spanish (and later escaped to England) and who ended up as a peacemaker between the English and the Wampanoags (as well as other indigenous groups)."
• The American colonizers were terrible: "It is the only covenant with indigenous peoples that we know of that was not broken during the lifetimes of the signatories."
• At the end of the day it's all about minorities and the oppression they face from their white oppressors. Here's how he ends the article: "Enjoy your time with friends, family, and the "pilgrims" in your life."

• This is just crazy. No one belives this! No one believes that social engagement is a denial of the gospel. Many conservative Christians do think that Woke "social justice" is a denial of the gospel and harms real people. But that's what GCTS is now teaching.
• "Very simply, we are going to break away from the either/or Evangelicalism that often removed our churches from engagement in cultural and social issues during the 20th century. Either/or Evangelicalism always chooses to hold to strict views of evangelism and the Bible but thinks that social engagement is less important or even a denial of the gospel."
• "We will recover our concern for issues of racial discrimination, poverty and the suffering of immigrants." Defined how? It's not about actually helping people (which Christians have always led the way in) but about embracing a Woke secular social vision of Communism and central planning (which has proven itself the most desctructive idea in all of human history).
• Name drops Esau McCauley's Reading While Black and Barbara Peacock's Soul Care in the African American Tradition as examples of the way forward.

• Conflates cultural practices (relative) with Biblical theology (absolute)!
• Adopts Post-colonial theory from Critical Theory
• "The incarnation reveals to us that when 'the Word became flesh,' it took on a particular culture, not a universal culture. Therefore, the Gospel, Christianity, theology, hymns, sermons are all culturally embedded."
• "Our imposition of European and North American forms of theology on other cultures is inappropriate: a type of cultural imperialism."

• Like all Woke Christian rhetoric this article is vague and shaming. What exactly needs to be redeemed and what type of justice needs to be administered?
• It's entirely unclear what Scott is calling for here and this is a very common Woke tactic (being vague and shaming)
• This article reflects a misundertandings of the spiritual battle in our present age, and repeats the Woke lies being pushed on us by the Left.
• "The justice needed by our larger society must be seen in the church. I believe it is our high and holy calling to show the world what justice and unity look like. This will not happen without intentional, willful, humble decisions of relocation (John Perkins has been right all these years)."
• "A church that is segregated, that refuses to be reconciled with those who are different, cannot know (actually, feel may be the right word), the pains, losses, and injustices of others."
• "However, our present age seems to be especially divisive and contentious." Maybe there's a good reason for it, and not just that conservative Christians are guilty of unfriendly.
• "The evil one would spread suspicion and separation. Even our civil government, who implements this imperfectly, knows that segregation is not good for society." Apparently he government is better at resisting division than the church.

• All theology must best subjected to the Woke ideology of implicit bias and systemic racism
• "And this brings me to racism and evangelism. Our public and private struggles against injustices rooted in systemic racism must not be divorced from our other areas of theology. Just as justification must not be separated from sanctification, and the incarnation must not be divorced from the crucifixion, so the specific concern that black lives matter, must not stand alone from the Christian duty as ambassadors for Christ."
• "But it is a matter of intellectual humility to be able to say that we will NOT see racism as an issue separate and unique from all other issues. It is related to our general fallenness, our fear of others, and our own insecurity. Therefore, we will work to think and act by the integration of our theology of God and creation to better understand solutions that have Christian integrity."
• The problem is that we're being lied to on a scale never seen before, from our politicians and the mainstream media, about everything. And Christians are unwittingly accepting these lies and then trying to "Christianize" them.

• We need to repent. And by we I mean White Evangelical Christians.
• Like Wokeness teaches, Racism in endemic and will never be gone. Not just in our hearts, but in systemic/cultural ways. Racism and oppression is what creates all disperate outcomes. Of course, that's all a lie, but it's what Scott is teaching here.
• "I lead a seminary that has been guilty of racism."
• "We will not 'fix' racism, either in our society, or in our own lives, or in our seminary or (most sadly of all) in the Church. It will not be ended until Jesus returns and His Kingdom is fully revealed."
• "Again, we will not solve the problem of racism. It is a universal human condition."
• "Rooted in the very nature of God and of God's message, we can begin to create an anti-racist culture in all of our worship, prayer, and classroom interactions." Anti-racism is an incredibly loaded term, and rooted deeply in CRT. See the recent news from the huge grifter Ibram X Kendi, who started the whole "anti-racist" trope.

• Steeped in post-modern, deconstructionist language and thought
• "We now live in a new century, and it is necessary to re-center or re-view Christianity today as we understand it in historical perspective. In light of the presence of Christianity today as mostly a non-Western religion (roughly two-thirds), and in light of the errors of the past in equating human technology, social progress, and empire with Christian mission, meaning must now come out of three sources . . . history must be told by weaving together three strands: the biblical story, the experience of the global church, and its founder. It would be good to reread that last sentence before you go on: biblical story, global church, and Jesus. These three voices or threads will help prevent us from repeating the imperialistic and ethnocentric histories of the past."
• "Dr. Sunquist breaks away from a purely Enlightenment approach to historical studies and outlines how Christian history can be, even should be, studied on its own terms. These terms include the concept of time, cross, and glory. He argues that Western approaches need correction by the global and intercultural nature of Christianity." (from blog post)
• "He argues that the common historical frameworks of the past are not adequate for understanding history today and that they may even hinder our full participation in God's global mission. Through personal and historic stories and case studies, he guides the reader in reframing history-from the first century to the present day- through the lens of Scripture, the Church, and Jesus." (from blog post)

• About the Tops Friendly supermarket shooting in Buffalo on May 14, 2022 which left 10 dead and 3 wounded
• This was, of course, an evil event. But what it was not is proof that our nation is systemically racist, which is what Scott and others on the Left are trying to turn it into.
• "White supremacy is an evil ideology, as is the conspiracy theory of 'replacement' which we are reading more about in the aftermath of May 14" A very common Left talking point.
• "This is why theological education is important: it sharpens our ability to be attentive to heretical and evil developments in ideas and theologies." Ironic, as GCTS has is actively teaching heretical Woke ideologies.

• About the 3/16/2021 deadly shootings at Atlanta area spas when a man killed eight people, six of them of Asian descent
• As a side note, when searching for a shooting in March of 2021 I also came across a shooting at King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado on 3/22/2021 (which happened after this blog post). But what's really interesting is that as far as I know Scott did not cover that event (certainly not in his 3/30/2021 post). Why not? Because it didn't fit the narrative? It's appalling how one sided the Left can be.
• The two lessons here are that "we live not only in a violent racist nation, but also in a hyper-sexed nation" (the second is way more true than the first)
• "'Why do so many people in America have guns?'" Guns are always the problem
• "We seem to be a very violent nation, killing people in our neighborhood, our own family members and now, once again, people who are different."
• Quotes Esau McCaulley from his book Reading While Black. It's CRT that is creating the division!

• About George Floyd
• Wow, this is so deeply rooted in CRT. Racism, and all associated deaths, is the fault of white Americans. White Americans need to repent.
• "First, as a community, and speaking from the office of President, we denounce racism, for it is a deeply rooted disease that infects the soul of America. We denounce it as Christians first and then as human beings, and finally as Americans. Those of us who are white Americans confess that we have not been vigilant in naming the disease, and we have not been persistent in working to eradicate it from our institutions. People die because we do not act decisively against a corona virus. People die because we do not act decisively against racism."

• An attempt to elevate Black History Month to liturgical status
• Conflates remembering Jesus with remembering Black History Month: "Remember. Remember Jesus, and those who courageously followed him."
• "Approximately 165 times in Scripture God tells us to remember"
• Gives lip service to remembering the saving work of Jesus
• "Like all liturgical remembrances, Black History Month is a reminder of our national identity."
• Mentions many black people he admires

• Repent of your racism!
• "Secondly, we must recognize that our future must be one that recognizes our racist context and the need in all of our planning to make it less likely that our future will be so racist"
• Wokeness, like Scott, teaches that racism will never go away and is endemic to White people (implicit bias).

• A very interesting question
• "Seminaries must ask, "How and why have we failed?" Why is it our leaders, with the best of modern theological education, have not been able to guide churches to resist cultural trends that erode Christian faith? Why is it Christianity continues to decline in North America?"
• "In summary, we forgot that preparing Christian leaders is more about sanctification and formation than about objectivity and information."

• "'Why is Christianity in decline in North America?'"
• "Honestly, seminaries have failed to even preserve or conserve Christian communities in North America."
• "The statistics are condemning of the work of seminaries, especially Evangelical seminaries."
• "In the meantime, I do think we need to repent of our confidence that we know what should be done and prepare to restart theological education."
• Everything is about repenting.

• See the Twitter post from Evangelicals for Harris
• All speakers for the Evangelicals for Harris Zoom call are competely woke
• See the Evangelicals for Harris website
• Crazy stuff on the Evangelicals for Harris website claiming Harris is a Christian!

• From the Evangelicals for Harris Zoom call
• Advocates for abortion (murdering a baby) in cases of rape and incest: "I believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare in the cases of rape, incest, and in threat to the life of the mother"
• Says that socialism is as important as not murdering people: "But that is not the whole of pro-life. To stop there would be pro-birth. To be pro-life I also need to advocate for adequate prenatal care for the mother while she is caring for the baby, and after she has had the baby, postnatal care. I need to advocate for nutrition, I need to advocate for adequate housing for the mother and the child, substantive preschool and early childhood education programs. To be prolife is to give myself to the concerns that effect the continuum of life from the cradle to the grave."
• Perpetuates the lies of Jan 6th: "I further believe that as we think about the status of our democracy, the threats to it, and our need to protect it ... I believe that this election is a referendum on January 6th, the insurrection and the forces underneath it."

• Screenshot taken from The Park Church Leadership page on 12/6/2023
• Claude Alexander has been the Senior Pastor at The Park Church since 1990!
• He has zero White people on staff!
• Does this reflect the Kingdom of Heaven? Or diversity only count when you're Black?

• Screenshot taken from The R-400 Movement Leaders page on 8/11/2024
• Claude Alexander is the founder and CEO of R-400!
• He has zero White people on staff!
• Does this reflect the Kingdom of Heaven? Or diversity only count when you're Black?

• All about how slavery was bad (which it obviously was), but accourding to Alexander and CRT we can never move beyond that because that same racism will never go away (it's endemic to all white people)
• Says that it's a sin not to vote (ala James 4:17)
• Super vague sermon on "voting", but definitely encouraging people to vote for the Left
• Alexander joined the Evangelical for Harris call on 8/14/24, giving his full support for the Left and Harris
• "Do we see ourselves completing the revolution of 1776 by extending the blessing of freedom, equality and justice to all Americans? Or do we see it as continuing the Civil War and battling against the forces that seek to exert and assert white supremacy and nationalism? Does America see itself open-handedly embracing a future whose challenge is to leverage its racial and ethnic diversity to its advantage? Or with closed fists, clinging to a past where racial and ethnic minorities were relegated to the periphery with neither place nor voice? Does America see itself as a nation governed by distraction, gripped by fear? Or as a nation governed by focus, galvanized by purpose and a sense of shared destiny?" (starting at 25:40)

• Article by Julie Zauzmer Weil
• "'The church gave spiritual sanction [to racism], both overtly by the things that it taught and covertly by the critique that it did not raise,' said Bishop Claude Alexander, who leads Park Church in Charlotte."
• "'There's no quote-unquote 'theology' that's not shaped by context,' he said. And racialized violence is the context that has always shaped America, and the American church, Alexander said. 'It was the amniotic fluid out of which our nation was born,' he said."
• Also mentioned by Timothy Dalrymple in his CT article

• Article by Morgan Lee
• About racism and the Peanuts cartoon
• Claude Alexander led CT to launch the Culture, Diversity, and Innovation (CDI) taskforce
• "In the case of the evangelical movement its "failure ... to embrace diversity from the beginning severely compromised the integrity of its proclamation," Alexander told Christianity Today later. "It set an opening for people to dismiss the sincerity and validity of its claims about Christ due to its omission, and in some cases, its intentional exclusion of whole populations of believers.""
• ""A diverse Christianity Today would be one wherein the extravagantly diverse tapestry of evangelical thought and expression is reflected in those who staff CT, those who produce content for CT, and in those who read CT. It is one where, together, we are able to better apprehend the complete measure and fullness of the Christ who saves us all," said Alexander."
• "Led by Andy Crouch, Alexander's presence at Christianity Today was part of a CDI initiative that has invited the ministry's four board members of color to speak to staff in 2016"

• The Holy Post podcast is super woke and was started by Phil Vischer and Skye Jethani
• The Holy Post has podcasts with all the leading woke Christians, including Claude Alexander, Esau McCaulley (lots), Latasha Morrison, Nancy French, N.T. Wright, Nijay Gupta (multiple), Brian Zahnd, Rob Reiner, John Mark Comer, Scot McKnight, Tim Alberta, Jemar Tisby, Russel Moore, Kristen Du Mez, Karen Swallow Prior, Beth Moore, Beth Allison Barr, Albert Tate, Tish Harrison Warren, Francis Collins, Ed Stetzer, A.J. Swoboda, Francis Chan, Lecrae, Preston Sprinkle, Jemar Tisby, Jen Hatmaker
• He's a true politician, doesn't say anything clearly. Speaks in vague, generic terms.
• "What would you love to see the white evangelical church in America learn from the black church in America? What wisdom does the black church have for the rest of the church in America that we may not be listening to but desperately need to?"
• "Perhaps the most important for the time in which we currently live is what it means to be faithful on the margin. How to live faithfully and powerfully when you are not at the center of power, but when you are on the margin. That I think is the most important thing for the white evangelical church to learn because there is this desire to reclaim the space and place of the 1950s. That's gone. That's not coming back. As a matter of fact, if we believe scripture it can't come back, right? So we have to learn what it means to be a people who speaks with power and authority and lives faithfully on the periphery, with God as its center." (ending around 1:20:26)
• And the other way around, the what can the black church learn from the white church?
• "So one is the commitment to the globe. The locating itself outside of the narrow confines of community locally, but seeing itself globally engaged. That would be one. And the second would be the ability to steward relationships that create a greater level of generosity for the fulfillment of the mission task." (ending around 1:22:14)

Notes

• "For at least 350 years of our 400 years of being in America, the official role of law enforcement was to keep negroes in place. That was the official role of law enforcement." (Claude Alexander)
• "Science itself was started by white men for white men to address problems about white men." (Dr. Lynette Strickland)
• "For us in the science and faith conversation, it has been a very white and I'll also say very male conversation, historically, and it really needs other voices, especially for questions of what does it mean to be made in the image of God." (Deborah Haarsma, President of BioLogos)

• From YouTube description: "On Wednesday, February 1, the Reimagining America Project hosted a discussion of the groundbreaking book on race and faith called "Required." This conversation was be led by its co-author Bishop Claude Alexander, and explored the ways we can show up to work for racial justice in this world."
• Discussion about the book "Required"
• Part of Reimagining America Project (RAP)
• See also RAP's YouTube Channel

Crazy woke list of principal contributors, including David French, Karen Swallow Prior, Russell Moore, Tish Harrison Warren

• At a 2015 BioLogos gathering, Claude Alexander shared some of his reflections on the ways that the science conversation plays out in the African American church.
• BioLogos was founded by Francis Collins who is very concerning! See How The Federal Government Used Evangelical Leaders To Spread Covid Propaganda To Churches for a starting point.

• Wrong on the Three-Fifths Compromise, see Voddie Baucham's Fault Lines for one discussion of this. "So much so that, the legal justification for slavery was etched in the Constitution with the Three-Fifths Compromise declaring Africans and those of African descent three-fifths human."
• Claims that the Church did nothing to help blacks, which is completely false as it was precisely the Church which ended slavery! "This was made possible in large part due to the doctrine and silence of the Church. For roughly 350 of those 400 years, much of the Church was complicit either by doctrine or by silence in the system that fostered the enslavement and subsequent discrimination of the descendants of those first slaves."
• Endorses the Woke lies systemic racism and implicit bias: "Undiscovered or unexamined, we often find ourselves unwittingly shaped, informed and influenced by forces and factors in our past. While they are not matters of our choice, they are matters of our inheritance ... What is true of us individually is also true of us institutionally and nationally. In order to properly address the health of our nation, we must come to terms not just with what's in our hearts, but also what is in our bones. Race and racial injustice are in the bones of America..."

All kinds of CRT inspiried DEI initiatives outlined in this strategic plan. See these also:

• Information About Biola's Institutional Diversity Strategic Plan
• A Letter from President Corey on Racial Injustice and Our Commitment to Action (even quotes David French here!)
• Unity Amidst Diversity: Institutional Diversity Strategic Plan Launch

• Including an Chief Diversity Officer
• See also A Message from President Barry H. Corey

Recommended Resources includes many of the standard Woke books and, no surprise, it doesn't include a single non-Woke resource! So much for diversity of thought.

Books:

• The Cross-Shaped Gospel: Reconciling Heaven and Earth by Bryan Loritts
• Right Color, Wrong Culture: The Type of Leader Your Organization Needs to Become Multi-Ethnic by Bryan Loritts
• One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race & Love by John Perkins
• Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
• Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World by David Livermore
• Leading With Cultural Intelligence by David Livermore
• Insider/Outsider by Bryan Loritts
• A Many-Colored Kingdom by Elizabeth Conde-Frazier
• Beyond Colorblind by Sarah Shin
• The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
• Roadmap to Reconciliation by Brenda Salter-McNeil
• United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity by Trillia Newbell
• Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley
• The Little Book of Biblical Justice by Chris Marshall
• Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience by Sheila Wise Rowe

Websites and Articles:

• Being White: Finding Our Place in a Multi-Ethnic World
• A Conversation With Bryan Loritts
• A Conversation with David Benavides
• Diversity in Evangelical Higher Education
• The Ministry of Reconciliation, with Brenda Salter McNeil
• Our Place At The Table, with Doug Schaupp
• A Time To Dream
• Cultural Intelligence Center
• Key Step Media: Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence & Diversity Institute
• How I'm Talking to My Kids About the Derek Chauvin Verdict (Esau McCaulley)
• How Research Can Help Us to See Someone Else's Point of View (Biola Board of Trustee Member David Kinnaman)
• Biblical Justice (Tony Evans)
• Six Ways the Bible Changed My Perspective on Ethnic Diversity (J. Daniel Hays)
• George Floyd, a Central Park 911 Call, and All the Places Without Cameras
• A Christian Response to Racism in the Year of Coronavirus (Professor Allen Yeh's article)
• Principles and reflections in the midst of the global pandemic by COVID-19 (Professor Octavio Esqueda's Good Book Blog article)
• Oh God, Make Us Angry (The Gospel Coalition)
• We Need to Be Uncomfortable (The Gospel Coalition)
• An Asian American Guide to Dismantling Anti-Blackness (Asian American Christian Collaborative)
• A Framework for Understanding Race Riots
• Six Ways the Bible Changed My Perspective on Ethnic Diversity (article)
• Diverse Theologians to Read (article)
• Weep With Me - Lament and Racial Reconciliation (Think Biblically podcast, with Mark Vroegop)
• Race and the Church - Part 1 (Think Biblically podcast, with Mark Vroegop)
• From White Supremacist to Racial Reconciliation (Think Biblically podcast, with Tom Tarrants)
• The Healing Power of Justice and Longing for Eternity (Woodside Bible Church, by Pastor Chris Brooks)

Videos:

• Confronting Bias: Thriving Across Our Differences (Lynda.com course - login through Biola's institutional account)
• The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Black Parents Talk To Their Kids About How To Engage Cops (Note: The views of these authors are from non-Christian resources and may not fully reflect the views of Biola University)
• The Danger of a Single Story (Note: The views of these authors are from non-Christian resources and may not fully reflect the views of Biola University)

• It's all about the bogeyman of white supremecy, although you'll notice the Woke will never define it, only use it to call the right names: "We march, literally and in spirit, with those who continue to challenge the demonic spirit of Racism and its twin sister, White Supremacy."
• Systemic racism is the problem and must be rooted out: "The Boston TenPoint Coalition and the BMA pledge to work with those willing to collaborate to tear down these Racism and White Supremacy, as well as the systems that support them."
• Repeats the lies that America was founded on and for racism: "The recent killings ... are only the most recent reminders of the historic and systemic racism that has infected this land since before America's founding."
• Claims its systemic racism in policing and Donald Trump that are dividing us: "Instead of uniting to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the improper actions and inactions of law enforcement officials, further fueled by threats of violence from the Oval Office, have further divided this nation."
• Implicitly support riots, while saying they don't: "The Black Ministerial Alliance and the Boston TenPoint Coalition stand with those who protest the continued aggression against and murder of Black citizens." and "Neither the BMA nor Boston TenPoint condone the violence in the streets of our cities, although we certainly understand it." and "The protests are the beginning, but only the beginning."
• What exactly is "language of violence"? Disagreeing with the Left? "We unequivocally condemn the language of violence against those who have already been violated by the systems of Racism and White Supremacy."

Author bios:

• Amy Peeler is Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church (USA). She is the author of Women and the Gender of God (Eerdmans) and a commentary on Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation, Eerdmans).
• Osvaldo Padilla is professor of New Testament and theology at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, where he has taught for the last fifteen years. He has published on the Acts of the Apostles and Paul. He is a member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.
• Esau McCaulley is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. He is the author of many works including Sharing in the Son's Inheritance and Reading While Black. He is a contributing opinion writer for the The New York Times, and his writing has also appeared in places such as The Atlantic and The Washington Post.
• Janette H. Ok is associate professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the author of Constructing Ethnic Identity in 1 Peter (T and T Clark). She is currently writing a commentary on the Letters of John (NICNT, Eerdmans) and To Be and Be Seen, coauthored with Jordan J. Cruz Ryan (Baker Academic).

Endorsed by:

• Scot McKnight, author of The Second Testament: A New Translation and Julius R. Mantey Chair of New Testament at Northern Seminary
• Nijay Gupta, professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and author of Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church
• Eric Barreto, Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary
• M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas), Scripture Press Ministries Professor of Biblical Studies and Pedagogy, Wheaton College
• Kara Lyons-Pardue, professor of New Testament, Point Loma Nazarene University
• Soong-Chan Rah, Robert B. Munger Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary and author of The Next Evangelicalism
• Mary Foskett, Wake Forest Kahle Professor of religious studies and John Thomas Albritton Fellow at Wake Forest University
• Max J. Lee, Paul W. Brandel Professor of biblical studies at North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois
• Lynn H. Cohick, distinguished professor of New Testament and director of Houston Theological Seminary, Houston Christian University
• Caryn A. Reeder, professor of New Testament at Westmont College

• Defending Democracy from it's Christian Enemies by Davi Gushee
• Recommended by Dr. Dennis Hollinger: "Gushee provides an account of growing authoritarianism, not only in the United States, but in various countries throughout the world. He ably shows that authoritarian reactionary Christianity, and accompanying nationalism, is a significant threat to democracy."
• Faithful Anti-Racism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change by Christina Barland Edmondson and Chad Brennan
• Recommended by Dr. Nicholas Rowe: "Edmonson and Brennan have a long pedigree in racial conflict resolution, especially in the church and Christian institutions. This is a well-balanced and biblical work of praxis, leading readers in the hard work of the discipleship of loving your neighbor as yourself. I endorse this work highly for those who are serious about the witness of the Body of Christ in our culturally and ethnically disputatious times."
• Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin
• Recommended by Dr. Dennis Hollinger: "Watkin insightfully analyzes the shape and power of modern cultural forces through a perceptive combing of biblical theology. This award-winning book enables critical analysis through a probing of cultural contradictions, but more importantly through a rich application of the comprehensive biblical story."
• Creation and Christian Ethics by Dennis Hollinger
• Recommended by Dr. Ken Barnes: "A Christian ethicist of the highest order, Dr. Hollinger rightly corrects the church's over-emphasis on the Fall, by properly viewing the study of ethics through the prism of the entire biblical meta-narrative. Beginning instead with Creation, he examines everything from sexual ethics to creation care, not merely from the perspective of human frailty, but from the perspective of God's original design and intent."
• After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity by David Gushee
• Recommended by Dr. Gordon Isaac: "In this work, David Gushee sets out what he sees as being the necessary adjustments given the fact that the term "evangelicalism" has been co-opted by forces (including the southern Baptist convention) that have taken us in a direction that is no longer sustainable. Not everyone will agree with his findings but it is an instructive book to read to help pastors shepherd their own flocks. His other recent books, Changing our Mind and Still Christian are more personal accounts of his changing view of Christian expression in our time."
• Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
• Recommended by Dr. Gina Zurlo:: "Jesus and John Wayne is a cultural history of white evangelicalism from the mid-20th century to today, where du Mez argues that the evangelicalism that has dominated the United States since the 1970s is much more about culture than theology. It's an important book for Christians to read in light of the many challenges faced by the Evangelical movement related to racism, sexism, and abuses of power in American churches."
• Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry
• Recommended by Dr. Gordon Isaac: "Using the tools of sociology, Whitehead and Perry explore the dynamics of the growing phenomenon of Christian Nationalism. They point out that Christian Nationalism uses the music, symbols, spaces, and rhetorical style of conservative Christianity. This is done to accomplish certain political goals that make it less than Christian. This analysis is worth reading to understand the schizophrenic religious/political world in which we live."
• America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee
• Recommended by Dr. Todd Johnson: "Xenophobia is often loosely characterized as individual prejudice, animosity, or bias toward foreigners; it is in fact much more. It is an ideology: a set of beliefs and ideas based on the premise that foreigners are threats to the nation and its people. It promotes an irrational fear and hatred of immigrants and demonizes foreigners, a far cry from the biblical mandate to 'welcome the stranger.'"
• Plantation Jesus: Race, Faith, and a New Way Forward by Skot Welch and Rick Wilson
• Recommended by Professor Dean Borgman: "Plantation Jesus uncovers biblical and historic truth and provides practical resources toward needed reconciliation in these days. Plantation biblical hermeneutics allowed the Euro-American slave trade to continue for far too long, and it is necessary for us to correct our traditional reading of the Bible in many things-for example the conception of a white Jesus as a baby or on the cross. Welch and Wilson guide us in an exploration of the roots of many of the issues that have plagued our nation, throughout our past and up to our present time, and show us a 'new way forward.'"

• "In fact, one of the most meaningful ways for us to get to know Jesus better in this generation is to go deeper with him into our racial challenges, such as the documented racial disparities that persist in areas such as education, employment, healthcare, wealth, and so many others."
• "Actually, you have already been racially discipled. We each have already been shaped and formed by the racial dynamics of our society. We have all been subtly conditioned by the culture, practices, and perspectives of the family we were reared in and the era that we find ourselves in. The question is not if we have each been racially discipled; the question is how."
• "When it comes to race, most of us need to be "re-discipled.""
• "As fallen creatures in a fallen world, we have all been infected with sinful inclinations and wedded to imperfect perspectives on race whether we realize it or not. We all need awakening, transformation, healing, and fresh vision for a new day."
• "For each person, this journey might involve engaging Scripture and church history in new ways, learning to prayerfully lament with brothers and sisters of color, going on pilgrimage to Civil Rights sites of significance, or giving sacrificially to support Christ-centered racial reconciliation ministries - just to name a few examples"

• The Bible and Sustainable Land Use, Spring 2023
• Dr. Sandra Richter, Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies (Westmont College)
• Sandra Richter Westmont Faculty Page

• From "church leaders and academics"
• Jeff Bass, first signer, is also a teacher at CUME and Executive Director of the racist Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC)
• Also noteworthy is Rev. Kenneth Young, a Gordon-Conwell alumnus and Associate Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches
• Posted on Massachusetts Council of Churches site
• Google Form for petition

Can't find this anywhere online

Signatory Stats:

• 160 students/alumni
• 155 other
• 17 faculty (including some alumni)
• 13 people from EGC
• 13 students from student association

Other notes:

• Signed by 17 current and former faculty including Quonekuia Day, David Wright

Seems to be good summary of the events

"Daniel Montanez is a GCTS Admissions Representative and an alumnus ('17) of the seminary. Daniel delivered this sermon in the Kaiser Chapel at the South Hamilton campus on September 25, 2018."

Notes

• This is overtly Marxist ideology, shrouded in Biblical language!
• "Therefore, what does this mean for today? It means that we must loosen the grips of our Christian Nationalism lest we forget that we were once foreigners in the land of Egypt."
• "Let us not be coerced by our capitalistic compulsions and instead make policy decisions that are beneficial for the global common good, and not just ourselves."
• "Let us not be led by the invisible hand of the market, but by the visible hand of the Spirit of God. Because when we do that, we restore the Imago Dei upon all people, on all flesh."
• "And finally, let us extend our hearts beyond borders. Care for the most vulnerable of our society, whom Christ died to save, and live in the pre-fall blessing that is migration."

• The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) is a super left leaning, open-borders, political action group funded by George Soros
• See False Prophets of Open Borders by James Edwards for more details on the NIF and EIT
• See Chapter 2 in Megan Basham's book Shepherds for Sale (31-50) for many more details on the NIF and EIT

• The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) is a super left leaning, open-borders, political action group funded by George Soros
• See False Prophets of Open Borders by James Edwards for more details on the NIF and EIT
• See Chapter 2 in Megan Basham's book Shepherds for Sale (31-50) for many more details on the NIF and EIT

Samuel Rodriguez

• See Samuel Rodriguez's personal website for more details about him
• Board member at GCTS through 2016
• Became board member of National Associations of Evangelicals (NAE) in 2006
• Board member of Christianity Today from 2009-2018
• He was also explicitly mentioned in Basham's book, see link above
• Met with Obama to push political action like the Gang of Eight bill, see Faith Leaders to Obama: "Time Is Now" for Immigration Reform (3/8/2013)

• The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) is a super left leaning, open-borders, political action group funded by George Soros
• See False Prophets of Open Borders by James Edwards for more details on the NIF and EIT
• See Chapter 2 in Megan Basham's book Shepherds for Sale (31-50) for many more details on the NIF and EIT

• Daniel Montanez GCTS Adjunct Faculty page
• Daniel is the founder of the Mygration Christian Conference. See the resource below for more details.

Daniel Montanez, GCTS Adjunct Faculty, is the founder of the Mygration Christian Conference. Here are some additional links:

• Mygration Christian Conference Books
• Mygration Christian Conference YouTube Channel
• Mygration Christian Conference Facebook Page

Recommended Woke books on immigration:

• The Bible and Borders: Hearing God's Word on Immigration by M. Daniel Carroll R.
• Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity by Robert Chao Romero
• The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong by Karen Gonzalez
• Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism by Nicholas T. Pruitt
• Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora by Joao Chaves
• Church at the Wall: Stories of Hope Along the San Diego Tijuana Border by Seth David Clark
• The Church and Migration: A Theological Vision for the People of God edited by Daniel Montanez & Wilmer Estrada Carrasquillo
• Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration by Karen Gonzales
• Listen to the Children: Conversations with Immigrant Families by Elizabeth Conde-Frazier
• Far From Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth by Mabel Ninan
• Start With Welcome: The Journey Toward a Confident and Compassionate Immigration Conversation by Bri Stensrud

See also the Mygration Conference Book Launch Webinars YouTube playlist

2024 Speakers

• Justo L Gonzalez, Keynote Speaker, Historian & Theologian
• Daniel Yang, Keynote & Session Speaker, National Director of Churches of Welcome at World Relief
• Melinda Priest, Session Speaker, Pastor at Awaken City Church
• Ahida Calderon Pilarski, Session Speaker, President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS)
• Monique Tu Nguyen, Session Speaker, Executive Director for the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement - Boston (MOIA)
• Kristen E. Heyer, Academic Panel, President of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA)
• Glenn Butner, Academic Panel, Professor of Theology & Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
• Daniel Montanez, Academic Panel, Founder & Director of Mygration Christian Conference

Part of the Think Biblically Biola Blog

Dennis Hollinger: "Well, I think there are a number of things. I think a part of it, one of the things they find in this study is that whites in general have more hesitancy about immigration and refugee access. And evangelicals, they are studying really the white evangelical movement, they point out when you look at Hispanic and African American churches, the responses are very different. And of course we have to remember in our history, another sad part is we had a forced immigration of African slaves to this country. All of that colors the background in many ways for us."

Session from the Mygration Christian Conference, held at GCTS

• Don't focus on legal and illegal! (around 14 min by Daniel)
• The Bible is a story about migration
• Scott Sunquist: "As soon as we begin to identify to much with our place it tends towards a kind of local idolatry which can be nationalism, ethnocentrism, etc." (17:42)
• Says that Ex 12:49 about their being one lay for the native and alien means we should care for everyone as if they are our family (starting 17:55)

Chapel session by Ruth Melkonian-Hoover

• Author of Evangelicals and Immigration, Fault Lines Among the Faithful
• "Dr. Ruth Melkonian-Hoover, Gordon College Professor of Political Science & International Affairs, & Co-Author of 'Evangelicals and Immigration: Fault Lines Among the Faithful', delivered this message titled 'God, the Immigrant, and Us' at the South Hamilton Campus chapel for our Justice Week celebration on March 10, 2021."

"Daniel Carroll Rodas, Ruth Melkonian Hoover, Damaris Velasquez and Samuel Tsoi discuss The Role of Evangelical Churches on Immigration as part of a Missions Emphasis Week forum, sponsored by the J Christy Wilson Center for World Missions at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. October 9, 2013"

"Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and one of the leading Christian voices today. Rev. Rodriguez is on the Board of Trustees at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and speaks here on the Church's role in immigration reform in the United States. The Lloyd and Jean Kalland Faculty-Student Forum was established in 2000 with the objective of promoting healthy Christian dialogue over issues important to the Christian faith. February 4, 2014"

"Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and one of the leading Christian voices today. Rev. Rodriguez is on the Board of Trustees at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and here answers questions at this community forum. The Lloyd and Jean Kalland Faculty-Student Forum was established in 2000 with the objective of promoting healthy Christian dialogue over issues important to the Christian faith. February 4, 2014"

"This Researcher Update Forum was sponsored by the J Christy Wilson Center for World Missions at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Recorded March 8, 2016."

"Daniel Carroll Rodas speaks at chapel during Missions Emphasis Week, sponsored by the J Christy Wilson Center for World Missions. October 8, 2013"

"Steve Haas, Vice President and Chief Catalyst at World Vision United States, participates in the 'People on the Move' missions forum series in chapel at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His message is entitled 'How Will the Church Respond to the Refugee Crisis?' Recorded March 16, 2016."

Required Text Books

• Hope in the Age of Climate Change: Creation Care This Side of the Resurrection by Chris Doran
• Collapse by Jared Diamond
• Earth-Wise by Calvin B. DeWitt
• For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger
• Green Revolution by Ben Lowe; Shane Claiborne
• Let's Restore Our Land by Dan Fountain (Editor); Evelyn Brown Mayes (Illustrator)
• Our Father's World by Edward R. Brown
• Planetwise by Dave Bookless
• Redeeming Creation by Fred H. Van Dyke; David C. Mahan; Joseph K. Sheldon; Raymond H. Brand
• Serve God, Save the Planet by Richard Cizik (Foreword by); J. Matthew Sleeth

Articles on Creation Care

• Creation Care and the Gospel: Jamaica Call to Action
• The Whole World (LOP 65) By: Lausanne Theology Working Group

Bibliography on Creation Care

• Between Heaven and Earth by Fred Van Dyke
• Creation Care by Douglas J. Moo; Jonathan A. Moo; Jonathan Lunde (General Editor)
• The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson
• Greening spaces for worship and ministry : congregations, their buildings, and creation care by Mark A. Torgerson.
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
• The Nature of Environmental Stewardship by Johnny Wei-Bing Lin
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• Planetwise by Dave Bookless
• True North by Mark Liederbach; Seth Bible
• The Care of Creation by R. J. Berry
• Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough; Michael Braungart
• Creation by E. O. Wilson
• Creation Care and the Gospel by Colin Bell (Editor); Robert S. White (Editor)
• For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger
• God's Stewards by Don Brandt (Editor)
• Green Revolution by Ben Lowe; Shane Claiborne
• Our Father's World by Edward R. Brown
• Plan B 2. 0 by Lester R. Brown
• Pollution and the Death of Man by Francis Schaeffer
• Redeeming Creation by Fred H. Van Dyke; David C. Mahan; Joseph K. Sheldon; Raymond H. Brand
• Remember Creation by Scott Hoezee
• Saving God's Green Earth by Tri Robinson; Jason Chatraw (As told to)
• Serve God, Save the Planet by Richard Cizik (Foreword by); J. Matthew Sleeth
• Stewards in the Kingdom by R. Scott Rodin

Part of the Hamilton Campus Dean's Forum.

Notes:

• Part of the Fear, Facts & Faith livestream series
• Video also posted on Facebook

Panelists & Moderators:

• Dr. Sandra Richter, Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Harvard University's Near Eastern Language and Civilizations Department. Author of Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Has to say about the Environment and Why it Matters (IVP 2020).
• Dr. Mick Pope, Theologian and Professor of Meteorology at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Author of several books on Creation Care, including: All Things New: God's Plan to Renew Our World (Morning Star 2020).
• Christine Seibert, Steering Committee Chair for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. Seibert holds a B.S. in Biology (with a double minor in Environmental Outreach and Sustainable Development) from Gordon College and is currently working on a Masters Degree in Sustainability at Harvard University.
• Dr. Jim Longhurst, Pastor and Executive Director of The Public Square Forum; Gordon-Conwell alumnus
• Dr. Ken Barnes, Director of the Mockler Center & Professor of Workplace Theology & Business Ethics at Gordon-Conwell; Author of Redeeming Capitalism

Recommended Reading & Resource List:

• Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why It Matters by Sandra L. Richter
• A Climate of Justice: Loving Your Neighbour in a Warming World by Mick Pope
• All Things New: God's Plan to Renew Our World by Mick Pope
• Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World by Douglas J. Moo and Jonathan Moo

• Sara Minard is an economist, founder and CEO of international consulting firm Manarine, and Associate Director of the Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Public Square at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She teaches impact investing and social finance at Babson College
• Linked from Dr. Sara Minard Presents a Faith-Driven Investment Model in New Article
• Original article on Impact Alpha

• Part of the WM 760 Readings in World Missions: Creation Care course at GCTS
• See the Lausanne Global Classroom: Creation Care YouTube Playlist

Course List

• An Introduction to Creation Care
• Creation Care as a Gospel Issue
• The Biblical Foundations of Creation Care
• The Radical Renewal of Creation and the New Earth
• Critical Issues Facing Creation Today
• Climate Change and the Problem of Human Greed
• What Science and Faith Can Teach Us About Creation Care
• Creation Care and the God of Hope
• The Role of the Church in Creation Care
• Caring for Creation One Church at a Time
• Creation Care Wherever You Are
• Caring for Creation for Tomorrow Starts Today

• Quotes from Douglas J. Moo and Jonathan A. Moo, Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World, Biblical Theology for Life

Ben Lowe, author and advocate for Creation Care and green initiatives, speaks with the student body at a forum on February 15, 2018 at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Edward R. Brown (CEO, Care For Creation) shares a message titled "I Will Heal Your Land" in chapel at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on March 27, 2019

• Gordon-Conwell Adjunct Professor of Missions Dr. Brent Burdick
• With over twenty years of experience as a missionary in the Philippines, Dr. Burdick also currently serves as the director of the Lausanne Global Classroom

• Gordon-Conwell Adjunct Professor of Missions Dr. Brent Burdick
• With over twenty years of experience as a missionary in the Philippines, Dr. Burdick also currently serves as the director of the Lausanne Global Classroom

Here GCTS is platforming Francis Collins, who is very concerning:

• How The Federal Government Used Evangelical Leaders To Spread Covid Propaganda To Churches
• Christian Leaders Complicit in Covid Propaganda Machine - Part 2

Video also posted to Facebook

Video also posted to Facebook

Here GCTS is platforming Francis Collins, who is very concerning:

• How The Federal Government Used Evangelical Leaders To Spread Covid Propaganda To Churches
• Christian Leaders Complicit in Covid Propaganda Machine - Part 2