he 98th Annual Convocation, Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregational Life, will be held October 14-16, 2014 at the Howard University School of Divinity. Based on research conducted by Howard University School of Divinity’s Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregational Life research project, the convocation will address “wholeness and well being” within the context of The Preached Word, Gentrification, Economics and Health, Youth and Family Services, and Openness and Inclusion. Streaming by KineticsLive. Broadcast live streaming... Read more

This past weekend, protesters and activists, including students, clergy, and concerned citizens descended on Ferguson, Missouri, for a weekend of marches, protests, sit-ins, and civil disobedience billed Ferguson October. Yesterday as one activist, Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, an organizer with Black Lives Matter tweeted exultantly from the inside of a St. Louis County jail cell about having taken over a Wal-Mart, I waited to hear news of her safe release alongside rapper-activist Tef Poe, attorney and legal observer Justin Hansford, and Palestinian activist Bassem Masri,... Read more

The 98th Annual Convocation, Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregational Life, will be held October 14-16, 2014 at the Howard University School of Divinity. Based on research conducted by Howard University School of Divinity’s Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregational Life research project, the convocation will address “wholeness and well being” within the context of The Preached Word, Gentrification, Economics and Health, Youth and Family Services, and Openness and Inclusion. Streaming by KineticsLive. Broadcast live streaming... Read more

By Edward BlumR3 Contributor Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. At 7 p.m., thousands of individuals will gently sway lit candles to remember those lost girls and boys. The day came from one of Ronald Reagan’s last acts as president. The proclamation for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in 1988 was one of those compassion-meets-control conservative items. While drawing attention to the pains of those who have lost children, it also made sure to emphasize selected abortion... Read more

Happy Anniversary to us and thank you for helping us usher in two years of blogging! When we launched our blog on October 15, 2011, we wanted to highlight some of the best work that examined the nexus between Rhetoric Race and Religion and with over 2000 posts and over 503,000 page views, we believe we have.During this past year, we continued with our much talked about Rhetoric Race and Religion “Readers.” We did Readers on the Renisha McBride tragedy and the... Read more

The 107th Holy Convocation of the Church of God in Christ will be held from November 3-11, 2014 in St. Louis, Missouri and as a concerned progressive Christian of the millennial generation, I implore you that during this week of meetings, worship services and workshops that you lead this aggregation of people outside of the Edward Jones Dome toward the seats of governmental power in the city of Ferguson, the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri and demand justice... Read more

I’ve always been torn between academia and the church. On the one hand, I love to study. I love books, theological discussions, books, Greek, reading, books, and teaching in an academic setting. In many ways I feel like I was made for the classroom. Yes, I’’m a geek. But I like to surf, so back off! But on the other hand, I love the church. I probably love to preach more than teach, and I love trying to live out my... Read more

Two days after she officially assumed the mantle as the senior minister of Riverside Church, the Rev. Dr. Amy K. Butler, the first woman to hold the job, was chuckling on the couch of her 19th-floor office in the church’s Gothic tower in Morningside Heights. War stories? Does she have any war stories? Well … There was the man in New Orleans who, after hearing Ms. Butler’s first sermon, announced that watching a woman preach was akin to watching a... Read more

Frustration and anger among young black Americans at an older generation’s apparent failure to adequately respond to the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson upended a key event at a weekend of mass protest on Sunday. The showdown exposed a generational divide over how best to confront police racism, brutality and use of excessive force as organisers of the“weekend of resistance”, which has drawn activists from across the US, plan to stage mass civil disobedience... Read more

In the tradition of the civil rights movement, noted public intellectual Dr Cornel West will keynote a mass meeting – an evening of reflection and resistance. The event will call on the nation to repent for the sin of police brutality and support a new generation of youth activists.It will feature St Louis rapper-activist Tef Poe and Millennial Activists United founding member Ashley Yates, poet and activist Suheir Hammad, Rabbi Susan Talve of Central Reform Congregation, Rev. Jim Wallis, Sojourners,... Read more