Dr. Reggie Williams, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary, will deliver the annual University Scholars Lecture on Monday, March 13, at 7 p.m. in Demaray Hall 150.
His lecture, titled “The Black Jesus of Harlem and Howard Thurman: The Implications for Christian Ethics Derived from Valuing the Body of Christ as Black,” draws on his research in working with black churches in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. This time was critical in shaping Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology in his books Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship.
It was during these years that Bonhoeffer found the vibrancy of the black church, in a time of great international turmoil, to be a location of prophetic hope and deep resistance to the idolatry of nationalism. His experience helped frame Bonhoeffer’s resistance to national socialism in his native Germany during World War II.
Admission to Dr Williams’s lecture is free and open to everyone.