The Asbury Journal

published by the faculty of asbury theological seminary

S p r i n g 2 0 2 2 • v o l . 7 7, n o . 1

EDITOR

Robert Danielson EDITORIAL BOARD

Kenneth J. Collins

Professor of Historical Theology and Wesley Studies

J. Steven O’Malley

Professor of Methodist Holiness History EDITORIAL ADVISORY PANEL

William Abraham, Perkins School of Theology David Bundy, New York Theological Seminary Ted Campbell, Perkins School of Theology Hyungkeun Choi, Seoul Theological University Richard Heitzenrater, Duke University Divinity School Scott Kisker, Wesley Theological Seminary Sarah Lancaster, Methodist Theological School of Ohio Gareth Lloyd, University of Manchester Randy Maddox, Duke University Divinity School Nantachai Medjuhon, Muang Thai Church, Bangkok, Thailand Stanley Nwoji, Pastor, Lagos, Nigeria Paul Numrich, Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus Dana Robert, Boston University Howard Snyder, Manchester Wesley Research Centre L. Wesley de Souza, Candler School of Theology Leonard Sweet, Drew University School of Theology Amos Yong, Regent University Hwa Yung, United Methodist Church, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia All inquiries regarding subscriptions, back issues, permissions to reprint, manuscripts for submission, and books for review should be addressed to: The Asbury Journal Asbury Theological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Avenue, Wilmore, KY 40390 FAX: 859-858-2375 http://place.asburyseminary.edu/asburyjournal/ © Copyright 2022 by Asbury Theological Seminary

ISSN 1090-5642

The Asbury Journal VOLUME 77:1 Spring 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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From the Editor

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The Challenge of Alienation William E. Pannell

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The “Black Experience” as Preparation for Participation in Global Partnership Cynthia A. Talley

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SBMS: A Visual Exploration of Liberian Identity Gabriel B. Tait

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Don’t Touch My Hair: Examining the Natural Hair Movement Among Black Women Mercy Langat

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Women in the Early Nazarene Mission Among Spanish Speakers: Maye Reynolds and Santos Elizondo Stephanie Rountree

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The Integration of Black Students at Asbury Theological Seminary Thomas Hampton

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The Missional Colonization of Phoebe and Walter Palmer: Poetry, Letters, and the Young Men’s Missionary Society Philip F. Hardt

Features 158

From the Archives: Gilbert James and the Fight for Interracial Justice

181

Book Reviews

195

Books Received

Timothy C. Tennent President and Publisher Gregg Okesson Provost

The Asbury Journal is a continuation of the Asbury Seminarian (1945-1985, vol. 1-40) and The Asbury Theological Journal (19862005, vol. 41-60). Articles in The Asbury Journal are indexed in The Christian Periodical Index and Religion Index One: Periodicals (RIO); book reviews are indexed in Index to Book Reviews in Religion (IBRR). Both RIO and IBRR are published by the American Theological Library Association, 5600 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, and are available online through BRS Information Technologies and DIALOG Information Services. Articles starting with volume 43 are abstracted in Religious and Theological Abstracts and New Testament Abstracts. Volumes in microform of the Asbury Seminarian (vols. 1-40) and the Asbury Theological Journal (vols. 41-60) are available from University North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.

The Asbury Journal publishes scholarly essays and book reviews written from a Wesleyan perspective. reality of the Christian church, the holistic nature of Wesleyan thought, and the importance of both theory and practice in addressing the current issues of the day. Authors include Wesleyan scholars, scholars of Wesleyanism/Methodism, and scholars writing on issues of theological and theological education importance.

ISSN 1090-5642 Published in April and October Articles and reviews may be copied for personal or classroom use. Permission to otherwise reprint essays and reviews must be granted permission by the editor and the author.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 6-11 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.01

From the Editor

In Memory Dr. Gene R. Alston (1937-2005) The First African American Graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary

From the editor 7

This special issue of The Asbury Journal is dedicated in honor of all of the African American students, staff, and faculty who have been part of the Asbury Theological Seminary community, past, present, and future. It is also dedicated to the special memory of Gene Alston (1937- Feb. 14, 2005),

born in Washington D.C., where his father was a laborer for a construction company. As a child, he attended the Shelhamer Mission, an outreach of the Free Methodist Church to urban Washington, D.C. led by Julia Shelhamer, and under the oversight of the Department of Interracial Evangelism of the Free Methodist Church, led by Gilbert James (see the From the Archives in this issue for more information). At nine-years of age, Gene accepted Christ in that mission and with the encouragement of Julia Shelhamer, he stayed in school, graduated from high school, and with a scholarship from the Department of Interracial Evangelism he attended Greenville College. As a young person he often travelled and spoke with Julia Shelhamer about God’s work among African American Free Methodists.

After he graduated from Greenville College, Gene Alston became (also coming from Greenville College) to attend Asbury Theological Seminary in 1958 (see Thomas Hampton’s article in this issue for more information at the administration building and making national news in opposition to the integration of the Seminary. After graduating (Fitch transferred and Free Methodist Church, but there were few openings for a back pastor. He ended up going to Shreveport, Louisiana to work with the Free Methodist church and school there (see the From the Archives for more information on the work in Shreveport). While in Louisiana, Alston went back to school to earn a teaching degree so he could do work in educational administration.

Ultimately, he earned a Ph.D. at St. Louis University.

Gene Alston moved to St. Louis and became a school administrator in the Alton school system, where he worked for 28 years until he retired.

During all of this time he remained in a largely white Free Methodist Church. He noted in one article, “Over time my congregation accepted me so well that they lost sight of the fact that I was still an African American, with a culture distinct from theirs…they largely were unaware that their perspective was formed by a conservative, evangelical, middle class,

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white perspective- unaware of there even being another point of view.”1 Gene Alston was involved with the African American Task Force of the Free Methodist Church, constantly trying to build bridges between white congregations and the African American community. He was only 68 when graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary, it is important to recognize his trailblazing work, which opened the doors for other African American students, and so this issue of The Asbury Journal is dedicated to his memory, and in honor of those who have followed him: students, staff, and faculty who have formed a crucial part of the Seminary community.

The Asbury Seminarian, the precursor to The Asbury Journal. It was originally published in 1969, but reads as if it could have been written in 2022. Dr. Pannell has been a major voice in the evangelical world, urging the Church to deal with the issue of race. I remember as a student in the 1990s at Asbury sitting in the cafeteria with Dr. Pannell and reading his works. He would occasionally teach as an adjunct at the Seminary. When I called him to talk about Gilbert James, who is highlighted in the From the Archives began his work. Even in his 90s he still issues the call for places like Asbury Theological Seminary to do more to bring about racial reconciliation and true equality within the Church.

This article is followed by four articles written by African American students (three current and one graduate) who have all been connected to the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism. Cynthia A. Talley, a Ph.D. student, starts with a penetrating article covering the “Black Experience” in the United States, but she uses this framework not just for historical perspective, but to suggest that this history actually provides the African American Church with an assortment of gifts which can propel the African American Church into an important future in global missions. This Ph.D. graduate from Asbury Theological Seminary. His article builds off of his doctoral research and his background in photography, which allowed him to develop a method (called Sight Beyond My Sight- SBMS) for empowering the subjects of mission to become their own ethnographers through photography. This removes the usual lens of colonialism and provides a suitable foundation for missionaries to learn more about a culture from the

From the editor 9

viewpoint of the people themselves. He uses examples from his research in Liberia. Mercy Langat follows this with an article rooted in Public Theology, considering the issue of the African American women’s Natural Hair Movement. Mercy is also a Ph.D. student at Asbury Theological Seminary and brings a different perspective as someone born in Africa, but raised in the United States. Her voice carries the cultural background of Africa, but with insight gained from living within the African American community in the United States. Finally, Stephanie Rountree provides another African American woman’s voice as a MA student at Asbury. Her article engages the historic development of Spanish language missions by the early Church of the Nazarene, but especially it focuses on how a white women, Maye McReynolds fought against her own marginalization as a woman in the early 20th century, and used her position and voice to empower Santos Elizondo, a Mexican immigrant, into mission despite the gender and cultural barriers she also faced.

After these insights from African American scholars we turn to two American experience. Thomas Hampton, another Ph.D. student at Asbury Theological Seminary explores the often-shrouded history of integration at the Seminary. In particular, his interview with Rev. Douglass Fitch (Gene Alston’s classmate in 1958 who later transferred to another school) opens up by an article by Philip F. Hardt, a New York Methodist historian, who explores how Phoebe Palmer, one of the founders of the Holiness Movement used poetry to support her religious views behind the colonization effort to create a state for freed African Americans and freed slaves in Liberia (the same site of Gabriel Tait’s work with his SBMS methodology). Walter Palmer, Phoebe’s husband was actively involved in colonization work as well. While the Palmers have frequently been criticized for a lack of involvement in the abolition movements of their time, they do show an active concern for African Americans in the early 19th century and paired it with a missional concern for the evangelization of Africa.

Finally, the From the Archives essay examines the fascinating life Theological Seminary. But more than that, Gilbert and his wife, Esther, were actively involved in ministry across racial boundaries even before the Civil Rights Movement. Tying their holiness theology with a love of missions and a

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concern for racial justice, they set up a Free Methodist church and school in Shreveport, Louisiana (where Gene Alston would work for a time). From this work, Gilbert James helped found the Department of Interracial Evangelism for the Free Methodist Church and led it for a number of years. At this same time, Esther’s mother, Julia Shelhamer, would lead a young Gene Alston to Christ, the Free Methodists would educate him in Greenville College, and Gilbert James would see that the Department of Interracial Evangelism provided the scholarships that allowed Gene Alston to ultimately attend Asbury Theological Seminary in 1958. But Gilbert James did much more, and through his pedagogy inspired a group of students who would go on to areas to the suburbs, which would encourage racial diversity and urban ministry, and which would produce church leaders and scholars from the Wesleyan tradition that would help change many people’s views on social justice and the evangelical branch of the Church.

In a way, all of these stories are tied together. I remember my own experience at Asbury Theological Seminary in the late 1990s. I became active in a group at the time called Bridge Ministries, which was concerned with issues of racial reconciliation. The focus was really on intentionally building relationships with people of other races and trying to bring change. For me as a young white man who grew up in a North Florida Methodist Church (which was known locally for one member who was a former grand dragon of the KKK), this was an eye-opening ministry.

While my parents had opposed racism as much as they could (my father was placed as pastor of the aforementioned church even with his New England roots), it was the relationship I built with a fellow student, Patricia Jenkins, or “Sister Pat” as we called her, that would establish a permanent foundation for racial justice in my life. As a former missionary to Sierra Leone, and a lifelong member of the Church of God in Christ, we ate together at almost every meal in the cafeteria as she taught me about the Black Experience. We skipped classes together to attend Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Day events in the area, since at this time the Seminary did not recognize the holiday. I watched as she confronted faculty and leaders in the administration (including President Maxie Dunnam) with questions about the lack of African American professors and the lack of textbooks by African American authors. She would even do the research ahead of time and have a handy list of suggestions to meet the inevitable reply, “Well,

From the editor 11

one who would pull Dr. Bill Pannell to our table at lunch when he was on campus, and she gathered to our table anyone who she saw eating alone.

When an older single African American student became ill, she took me with her as I cleaned his apartment and she cooked a month’s worth of diabetic meals for his freezer. Sister Pat instilled in me a lifelong respect for African Americans and their history. She also taught me that as Christians we are all responsible for the well-being of others no matter what their race.

In my own little way, putting together this issue of the Journal is born from my desire to honor people like Sister Pat, as well as Gene Alston, Douglass Fitch, Gabriel Tait, Cynthia Talley, Mercy Langat, and Stephanie Rountree and all of the other African Americans who have overcome the obstacles of coming to rural Kentucky and isolated Wilmore to work, study, and live here as such a valuable part of our community.

I hope we will all take more seriously the implications of Paul, who wrote in Ephesians 2:14-16, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” As Paul worked to bridge the barrier between Jew and Gentile, let us work together to tear down any racial barriers which keep us from moving forward together as the reconciled people of God.

Robert Danielson Ph.D.

End Notes 1 “The Persistence of Gene Alston,” FMConnection, JanuaryFebruary 1998: 3-4. See also: “Gene Alston, Julia Shelhamer: Honored in Spencerville Memorial,” Free Methodist Historical Society Newsletter 7(2) (Winter 2007): 2-3.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 12-21 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.02

William E. Pannell

The Challenge of Alienation

Abstract: American scholar in The Asbury Seminarian, the precursor to The Asbury Journal. This was originally published in 1969 in volume 23, number three years ago should still hold so much truth relevant to today’s racial issues in the Evangelical Church in the United States. In a time where we are questioning racism and policing, issues of urban violence, and the politicization of the Church, it is useful to look back and see these same issues through the lens of time.

Keywords: Black Church, Evangelicalism, racism, urbanization, policing At the time of this article, William E. Pannell was an evangelistic associate with Tom Skinner Crusades (1968-1974), after serving as a director of leadership with Youth for Christ (1964-1968). He would go on to be an assistant professor of evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary (19741974), and later a Professor of Preaching (1992-2000), Dean of the Chapel (1992-1998), President of the Academy of Evangelism (1983-1984), and the author of My Friend, the Enemy (1968), Evangelism from the Bottom Up (1992), and The Coming Race Wars? A Cry for Reconciliation (1993).

He is currently Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Fuller. He was a popular speaker throughout his life and was an occasional adjunct at Asbury Theological Seminary throughout the years, especially in the 1990s. A new edition of The Coming Race Wars? was released in June of 2021.

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Whatever we mean by “new forms in the ministry,” it is evident that more care must be given to the fact that we have become an alienated society. The issue for the majority of our people is no longer an economic one, but is a desperate search for meaning. For proof, you need only project yourself into the Negro condition while attempting, at the same time, to repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. Somewhere in that recitation you will come across the words that speak of “one nation… under God… liberty and justice for all.” They will stick in your throat. For a majority of Americans these are proud words and reassuring. To others- an increasing “could have been, and should have been, but never was.”

Not all of those minority citizens are black. There are the disenchanted students, not all of whom subscribe to Students for a Democratic Society.1 They still believe in the system. Potentially. But there For these young people are more morally sensitive than the members of any other generation. So there is a widening distance between generations.

Then there are the poor among us, and not all the talk in the world about free enterprise will alleviate their situation. To declare that poor men need only rise up and work is a statement either of ignorance or immorality. Even in the homeland of the noted senator from South Carolina2 there are children who show signs of starving to death while he spends his the Senate.

There is also the issue of “law and order.” What made the term so opprobrious to black men during the recent campaign3 was its clear racist implications, especially if mouthed by the ex-governor who showed his contempt for law by defying the Supreme Court whenever he disagreed 4 The spectacle of whole police forces voting for George Wallace in the North reveals much about police-community relations.

To the oppressed the issue becomes clear: “Who will save us from those responsible for justice?”

The frightful aspect of “law and order” is that the good peoplethe nice, quiet, upright people who “believe” in law and order, liberty and justice for all- are beginning to urge repression of dissent and protest. They, like those convened in Miami during a political convention,5 like to pretend that the answers to our problems, if there are any problems, are simple

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the apple pie, and arrange another tax bill favorable to big business. To make sure your strategy works, you hire more clubs and badges, more riot equipment, and order more bumper stickers from the local chapter of the John Birch Society.6 They read, “Support Your Local Police.” The real threat to our society is that good people, peaceful people, will fail to recognize the repressive intent of those who mask their racism in patriotic rhetoric.

Our divisions are occurring at the time when our population is burgeoning and migrating to the cities. As if by magic, we have become an profess in this country will happen in the cities, like it or not. Judd Arnett, feature columnist in the Detroit Free Press, declared that “the real America is to be found in the urban areas where almost 80 percent of our total population is now huddled in one form of inconvenience or another. This is where the action is, as the saying goes; this is where freedom will be saved, if it is to be saved at all; this is where our future as a people and a society is being determined- and it may be later than you think.” He is right of course.

Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Weiner state in their book, The Year 2000, that by that date the total population in America will be 318 million.

If Arnett is right and 80 percent of our people already live in cities, then it is noteworthy that by the year 2000, nine of our ten major city-centers will have a majority population of black Americans. The inner cores of these cities will be well over one-half black. Washington will be 75 percent black.7 The point here is that there are two movements in our population.

The white “haves” are evacuating the cities, and non-white “have-nots” of the cities then, from transportation to politics to education, becomes a suburban problem. Only suburbia doesn’t want to admit it. So another division is created between the urban and the suburban, and, because of the de facto segregation in housing, results in another black versus white issue.

One of the most perceptive utterances in many years comes from the gifted pen of LeRone T. Bennett, Jr., senior editor of Ebony magazine. Mr. Bennett, speaking of the frightful alternative facing our society, declared, “This is an important moment in the history of the Commonwealth. There stretch out before us two roads and two roads only. America must now become America or something else. A Fourth Reich perhaps, or a Fourth Reich of the spirit. To put the matter bluntly, we must become what we say

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we are, or give in to the secret dream that blights our hearts” (The Negro Mood, p. 48).

The political year gives further credence to Mr. Bennett’s insight.

For if the campaign was monumentally dull, it did at least bring out into the open those underlying hostilities and deep antagonisms characteristic of our system. America is sick; we’ve “been fakin’ it, Not makin it.” Nor is the problem a matter of politics or economics. One would be naive to imagine that a change in administration would make much difference.

A basic insight would be to suggest that our society is sick in head and heart. Ours is a malady of the spirit. And “it must be of the spirit if we Walter Lippman suggests that “the country has entered a period of revolutionary change of which no one can foresee the course or the end or the consequences. For we are now living in a time when the central institutions of the traditional life of man are increasingly unable to command his allegiance or his obedience” (“The Dismal Choice,” Newsweek, September 23, 1968, p. 23). applies to the church. That the church is increasingly unable to command such allegiances or obedience is rather obvious. And even that hallowed institution referred to as evangelicalism shows signs of wear and tear. Some of us, particularly those of us who are black, spend much of our time not be so necessary if we really belonged. But from our vantage point outside the gates, this group seems monumentally inept and splendidly evangelical leadership spends much of its time in diagnosis and very little time in involvement. Even the “enemy” is always the same. Communism.

We scarcely meet the world head-on. At any point. Then, of course on the one issue that promises to destroy our society quicker than any other namely, racism, the brotherhood of conservatives seems paralyzed with fear, ignorance, and the more subtle forms of prejudice designed to maintain the system intact. One struggles to believe that we still think like Christians. must be attitudes. The issue which faces the church today is being, not doing. If that sounds academic, it must be noted that from the biblical point of view, being has always taken precedence over doing. One recalls the brilliant denunciation of Israel’s hypocrisy by an offended Jehovah,

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revealing that tradition and the forms of orthodoxy are poor substitutes for compassion upon the poor. Prayer on Saturday is obnoxious to a God who denouncing the religious leadership of His day for hardness of heart in the face of outrageous social ills. His advice to the young lawyer professedly concerned about the identity of his neighbor, was an emphasis on being.

“Be a merciful neighbor, and you’ll do…” One can only imagine what must be the indignation of God when He views the callous manner in which Bible-belt Christians quote scripture to defend gross immoralities of which they are a part. It is almost laughable to hear the suburban brother ask in pained tones what he can do about the urban crisis when he himself voted to move away from the neighborhood when it changed color. What he must We are thus led to the historic Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the Kerner Report.8 That report, all the more remarkable in that it was written for the most part by white believers who have cared enough to read it. The most sensational, and to most white people, objectionable, part of the Report is the charge that the fundamental cause for disorder among black Americans was “the racial attitude and behavior of white Americans toward black Americans… White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities since the end of World War II.” To the black man this is no new revelation; black men have been saying the same thing to America for three hundred years. Nat Turner said it. So did Frederick Douglas, W. E. duBois and Richard Allen. But secure people, those who have a stake in maintaining the system intact, will not listen to rhetoric and reason. So you have to get their attention. You are forced to throw a bomb.

It is this attitude among Americans, among the “good people,” toward anyone who doesn’t conform to acknowledged WASP tastes, that makes the word program so ineffective. What kind of program do you initiate to change the attitudes of men? The usual fundamentalist reply would be to preach the Gospel to them. But the sickness is with us, too. We are part of the problem.

Of course the answer to poor attitudes is education! In fact, if one believes the propaganda, there are no problems unsolvable if one can only pour enough “education” on them. But then, what is education? And whom do you educate? What do you teach? For instance, if the problem of

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black men is white racism, why not educate white people? If the problem Education is not the answer because it is controlled by those who are not willing to give up position and power in order to see genuine change. The educational institution has become dehumanized and has married itself to middle-class values.

Educational racism can be documented if one examines a history text. Distortion in textbooks does not occur merely in treatment of contemporary material, but in the omission of material. It is time for the Church to speak up about blatant efforts of educators to teach propaganda as American history. Assuming that there are believers who know history, it is time for them to speak out about the real contributions which minority groups have made to this country’s growth. There are abundant sources available which make ignorance a crime. Church libraries should offer several options for hungry young people whose stake in a united America is obvious. Individual believers should inquire about local texts to see if a balanced presentation of historical facts is being offered. future whether we see ourselves as churchmen or as patriots. It is that a very large number of people have a convinced attitude that they are unrepresented by anyone, that they are politically disenfranchised. I am not talking about the Yippies9 or the SDS.10 The Kerner Report cited, as one of the causes of civil disorders, the sense of powerlessness among a large number of inner-city residents. “Finally, many Negroes have come to believe that they are being exploited politically and economically by the white ‘power structure.’ Negroes, like people in poverty everywhere, traditionally have been available to ethnic minorities within the city and which enabled them- unburdened by color- to scale the walls of the white ghettos of an earlier era. The frustrations of powerlessness have led some to the conviction that there is no effective alternative to violence as a means of expression and redress, as a way of ‘moving the system.’” This sense of alienation from the system has given rise to a new cry for power among black people. It is called black power and it means the same thing to black men that Polish power means to Polish citizens and that German power meant to German immigrants, and that AMA power means to those who lobby against socialized medicine: survival.

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The challenge that black power poses is a real one, and in my view potentially wholesome. Essentially, and apart from all the violent rhetoric of Rap Brown11 and others, the concept seeks for black men a determinative role in their own affairs. It is the attempt of black men to something for themselves instead of always looking for a handout.” In short, it is a black declaration of independence; the “boy” is growing up, Massa!

What makes the concept of black power so threatening is that inherent in its assertion is the right to control those institutions which bear directly upon one’s development. The areas include economics, have systematically raped the inner city economically. At least it alters the traditional relationship. It’s rather like dumping the tea in the harbor if you want to legitimize the effort.

Whatever black power means today, or may come to mean in the near future, I consider it the privilege and responsibility of the Christian Church to understand it. It represents what is essentially a conservative solution to our long-standing racial hostility. There is here the absence of desire for white “handouts.” As Dr. Charles Hamilton has said, “If black people are simply given more handouts, this will only perpetuate the present status of ghetto colonialism.” But there is here a demand for and a determination to have the power of self-determination necessary to survive and thrive in America. If the black man succeeds, he will herald a new day in American democracy and race relations.

But understanding is not enough. If the concept of black power is right and hence applicable for other minority groups, black and white, in these objectives. For the evangelical, of course, a drastic overhaul will be required in his application of traditional theological views. He will need to

term. Something closer to our Lord’s idea is needed “to preach deliverance to the captives ... to set at liberty them that are bruised.” If I understand Him aright. He is not talking about an exchange of pulpits and choirs, nor a mere handout of gospel tracts. He is talking about radical and courageous involvement with men at the level of their primary needs. He is talking about “learning to scratch where it itches.”

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We desperately need a conference of concerned evangelicals who can grapple with the theological bases for social action. It must include black churchmen, and since most of the best trained minds are not in the evangelical camp, we must relax our biases. The truth is that many keen young men are not evangelicals today simply because there has been no room for them. But these men must be heard. We need to learn from them.

We missed our chance to discuss our problem courageously at Berlin.12 It is doubtful we will face up to the radical issues in a renewal of Berlin slated for North America. If we do not face up to our responsibility, yea, our culpability, we shall have opted for disaster in human affairs, fascism in We must recruit non-whites for faculty positions at major evangelical institutions. White youth have no opportunity to relate to nonwhite persons who occupy a professorial role. Where such a relationship is not possible (and it won’t be immediately), an effort must be made to provide suitable guest lecturers to whom our students can relate.

The employment of non-white faculty members also suggests a possible attraction by which to recruit non-white students. There are few Those that are ideally located in major cities have poor and tentative racial attitudes. Others are simply too rural in attitude and location. Or maybe the word is provincial. Scarcely any have a black faculty member.

There must be all kinds of ways to attack the ills of our great society. Instead of using them, we have squandered the time, mouthed Let’s work together as if it were not so!

End Notes 1 Students for a Democratic Society was a student led organization on the political left in the 1960s, which was centered on college campuses.

They were mostly opposed to the Vietnam War, but were particularly known for their violent confrontations of the Chicago police prior to and during the Democratic National Convention of 1968 in Chicago.

2 This is most likely a reference to Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina, who voted against civil rights legislation, but also defended John Wayne’s pro-war 1968 movie Green Berets and was a major supporter

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3 The Presidential election of 1968 was particularly contentious between Republican, Richard Nixon, Democrat, Hubert Humphrey, and Alabama Governor George Wallace running as an independent of the American Independent Party. During the primaries, Democratic frontrunner, Robert Kennedy was assassinated, and that same year Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated resulting in widespread unrest. Opposition to the Vietnam War was also prevalent. Nixon ran on a platform of restoring law and order. Humphrey was supportive of recent Civil Rights legislation, which led Wallace to enter the race in open opposition to integration and the equality of racial minorities. Wallace won the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia showing the strength of racism in the Deep South.

George Corley Wallace, Jr. (1919-1998) was a governor from Alabama (1963-1967, 1971-1979, 1983-1987) known for his segregationist views. He ran for President three times, in 1968 as a third-party candidate.

4

This is a reference to the 1968 Republican National Convention held in Miami Beach.

5

6 The John Birch Society is a right-wing political organization which is known for advocating ultraconservative, far-right political views, which at this time were primarily anti-communist, however it also openly opposed the Civil Rights movement and legislation tied to it as well.

While the numbers are slightly different in retrospect with regard to these predictions in 1969, the principles are still true. Instead of 318 million, the population of the U.S. in 2020 is 331 million. It is almost exactly correct in terms of urban and rural at 19.3% of the population living in rural areas and 80.7% living in urban areas. The inner cores of the top ten cities is nowhere near close to 50% African American, but this calculation 7

arrive after 1969. The numbers for the 2020 Census for the top ten cities (rounded off) are: New York Los Angeles Chicago Miami Philadelphia Dallas San Francisco Houston Washington D.C. Atlanta

(21% African American and 29% Hispanic) (8% African American and 47% Hispanic) (29% African American and 30% Hispanic) (18% African American and 69% Hispanic) (40% African American and 15% Hispanic) (24% African American and 41% Hispanic) (5% African American, 16% Hispanic, and 34% Asian) (23% African American and 45% Hispanic) (41% African American and 11% Hispanic) (47% African American and 6% Hispanic)

This indicates that in all of the top ten cities in the U.S. ethnic minorities makes up 50% or greater of these urban centers. So, while this prediction was not true for the African American community, it still holds true for ethnic minorities as a whole. Washington D.C. has not reached the level of 75% African American as predicted, but minorities do make up 62% of the population as compared to 38% white.

Pannell: the Challenge oF alienation 21

8 The Kerner Report was the result of a Presidential Commission by Lyndon Johnson, established in 1967 to investigate the causes of the riots of the summer of 1967 and bring forth recommendations to prevent such riots in the future.

Yippies, was the common reference for members of the Youth International Party, a countercultural offshoot of anti-war movements. It was founded in 1967 and led by Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, and they are most well-known for their protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

9

The SDS stood for the Students for a Democratic Society, a student led activist organization which grew up on college campuses in the 1960’s over issues like the Vietnam War and Black Power.

10

11

Rap Brown, born Hubert Gerold Brown in 1943, but also

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1967 when he argued for violent resistance to the government (which he called the “Fourth Reich”) and was also the minister of justice for the Black Panther Party for a short period.

12 Most likely referring to the World Congress on Evangelism, held in Berlin in 1965-1966.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 22-50 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.03

Cynthia A. Talley

The “Black Experience” as Preparation for Participation in Global Partnerships

Abstract: The lived experiences of African Americans, along with their reliance on God, serve as preparation for participation in global mission partnerships. The “Black Experience,” characterized by suffering, dehumanization, violence, and survival has provided the African American community with a toolkit that can be used to teach others how to survive their own suffering as they too rely on God. Long-term African American missionaries have sent out a clarion call requesting that the African American church step up to the plate and join them in spreading the Gospel message “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Keywords: Black Experience, Black Church, missions, partnerships Cynthia Talley is a PhD student in the Intercultural Studies program at Asbury Theological Seminary. She earned her DMin degree in Preaching and Leadership from Asbury in 2016. She is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, with sixteen years of pastoral ministry experience.

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Introduction From the time Africans were brought across the Atlantic to America against their wishes, Black1 people have been discriminated against simply because of the color of their skin. The “Black Experience” in America has been characterized by racial prejudice, dehumanization, oppression, inequality, exclusion, and violence perpetrated by the dominant White shalom can be traced back to the institution of slavery. Socially constructed notions of race have been used to disenfranchise and marginalize, causing Africans and African Americans to experience life in a way that is uniquely different from every other people group on the continent (Priest 2007: 71).

In spite of the cruel and inhumane treatment they have endured, Black people not only learned to survive but also learned to thrive in the midst of suffering. Fundamental to their success has been faith in God and the central role of the “Black Church” (Wilmore 1998: 253-254). Because of their lived experiences, African Americans can relate to disenfranchised and marginalized people groups in other parts of the world in a way that White Americans cannot.

Interestingly, African American missionaries are few in number.

A recurring theme among missionaries who have traveled the world has been “tell them [African Americans] to come” (Sutherland 2004: 500).

While African Americans were more involved in global missions in the nineteenth century, factors such as colonization, the needs of African Americans at home during the Jim Crow era, and an ensuing lack of exposure to the ministry of global missions contributed to the markedly centuries. Notwithstanding the aforementioned circumstances, now that the economic and social situations of African Americans have improved, though they are far from what God intends them to be, the biblical mandate in Acts 1:8 is still applicable to the African American Christian community: “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”2 Although many African Americans have not been exposed to global missions and missionaries to the same degree as their White counterparts, the African American experience itself has been preparation for engagement in global partnerships. Black people, through their lived experiences and reliance on God, can relate to and guide others through

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their own experiences of oppression and their quest for liberation. In the following paragraphs, this paper will discuss what is meant by the “Black Experience.” It will then discuss the Black Church and its involvement in community engagement. Thirdly, it will draw implications for how the lived experiences of African Americans in the United States (U.S.) is preparation for the Black Church’s participation in global partnerships.

While there is much written about the Black Experience, my survey of the literature yielded few results on the relationship between the Black Experience and engagement in global partnerships. This research was born out of the current racial unrest in the U.S. and the emotional impact it has had on this African American who is called to global ministry. My own experiences as an African American, which do not begin to compare to those of my ancestors, nor do they compare to those of some of my prepares my people for participation in global missions.

The Black Experience: The Horizontal Encounter While the “Black Experience” refers in one sense to the collective history of Africans and African Americans in the U.S., it is actually multivalent. Because Black people and Black culture are not a monolith, generally agreed upon, however, is that the Black Experience is rooted in the cultural hegemony of White racist America. Drawing on the work of Black Liberation theologians, Womanist theologian Delores Williams provides a helpful framework for thinking about the Black Experience. She observes that the Black Experience was born out of racial oppression and suggests that Black Liberation theology presents the Black Experience as being holistic in nature and having four parts: the horizontal encounter, the vertical encounter, transformations of consciousness, and an epistemological process (Williams 1993: 135-136). Due to the limitations of this paper, only the horizontal and vertical encounters will be addressed. Further, because not allow for every aspect of the topic to be discussed. Therefore, the topics to be discussed will be limited to the Black Experience as it relates to civil rights, violence, and the wealth gap.

The horizontal encounter of the Black Experience refers to interactions between Black and White groups in a sociohistorical context.

Regarding these encounters Williams writes,

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The interaction results in negative and/or positive relationships and sociopolitical situations. Most often the encounter between blacks and whites is described negatively in black liberation theology. From this encounter, suffering has become a characteristic of African American life. (1993: 136) One need only conduct a brief survey of African American history to understand why suffering is synonymous with the Black Experience. There has never been a time in U.S. history when African Americans were not treated as second class citizens.

Civil Rights The United States Declaration of Independence (U.S. 1776) declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Sadly, these “truths” have not been equally applied to Africans and African Americans. In fact, in the article “Slavery Unwilling to Die,” sociologist Joe Feagin addresses the plight of Black people in America in the twentieth century, arguing that their struggles had roots in the institution of slavery.

From the 1600s through 1865, because the enslaved were thought of as property rather than persons, they were denied the basic rights and freedoms that White Americans enjoyed. Black people were prohibited by law from earning an income or getting an education. They were denied the right to citizenship and therefore were not allowed to vote. They were not allowed to own property nor could they legally marry. “They were the only racial or ethnic group explicitly signed out in the U.S. Constitution for subordination and enslavement” (1986: 175). Even after being made citizens, African Americans continued to be denied their civil rights.

During the Reconstruction era (1863–1877), it seemed that African Americans were on their way to realizing the dream of being full U.S. citizens with all the rights and privileges thereof. However, the dream soon became a nightmare with the “Compromise of 1877.” Political and economic gains achieved during Reconstruction were immediately reversed, particularly in the South, with the establishment of “Jim Crow,” a legal system of racial subordination and segregation. The ideology of White supremacy was stronger than ever. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, legalized segregation deprived African Americans of the rights

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and freedoms they had come to enjoy. The right to vote was taken away.

Economic exploitation was rampant. Families were forced off their land.

Access to public spaces was denied. “States and local communities passed legislation prohibiting the races from working together in the same room, using the same entrances, stairways, drinking fountains, and toilets. Blacks were excluded from public institutions such as theatres, auditoriums, parks, and residential neighborhoods” (Wilmore 1998: 167).

Acts of intimidation and outright violence were used to enforce discriminatory laws. A 2017 report from the Equal Justice Initiative indicates that 4,425 African Americans were lynched between 1877 and 1950 for things such as resisting mistreatment, allegations of crime, and minor violations of social customs and expectations such as accidentally bumping into someone or referring to a White person by their name without using a title (Lynching in America 2017). Jim Crow ended in 1964 with the passing of the Civil Rights Act; however, institutionalized discrimination and subordination did not. Racism did not end but simply evolved from overt individual and institutional racism to “respectable racism.” Respectable racism is expressed in coded language which “substitutes terms describing racial identity with seemingly race-neutral terms that disguise explicit and/or implicit racial animus . . . that triggers racial stereotypes and other negative associations without the stigma of explicit racism . . . and dehumanizes people of communities of color” (National Education Association: 25).

Today, African Americans are treated inequitably when interacting with the police, with the justice system, in the labor market, in education, when trying to purchase or rent a home, in politics (voter suppression), in the provision of healthcare, and the list goes on. In the year 2021, African

Violence In addition to the denial of civil rights, African Americans have been subjected to various forms of violence and abuse. Whipping, drowning, and burning (of bodies and homes) were just some of the means by which Whites exercised authority and control over the enslaved.

Although the enslaved were beaten to within an inch of their lives, lynching was uncommon before Emancipation because the slave masters wanted to preserve the free labor. Slavery’s system of dehumanization and exploitation

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rebellious behavior. While all slave masters and overseers were not tyrants, the enslaved had no legal protection from those who were. In fact, “law enforcement” was often either actively involved or standing silently by as heinous acts of violence were being perpetrated.

Additionally, African Americans have been victims of organized acts of violence perpetrated by angry White mobs. One such incident that is currently receiving a great deal of attention as its one hundredth anniversary is currently being observed is the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.3 In what was the costliest race riot in U.S. history, within a period of eighteen hours White rioters decimated the prosperous Greenwood neighborhood.

Nationally recognized for its thriving business district, the majority of Tulsa’s known as “Black Wall Street.” The community’s prosperity was perceived as a threat to White hegemony, thereby exacerbating feelings of hostility toward African Americans.

Mobs of angry White people descended upon and obliterated deputized by the police, some of whom were given guns, to assist them in “maintaining control” of the situation (Messer 2018: 799). The fox was guarding the henhouse. Some, if not most, of those who were deputized possessed that same spirit of hostility that incited the massacre. Attacks on Greenwood were carried out from the ground and the air. Private aircraft were deployed to drop bombs on the neighborhood. Armed rioters . An estimated $1.8 million in real estate was demolished. In today’s market, the value would be approximately $150 million. This does not include the value of commercial property, cash assets, and personal belongings. Total damages, then, could have amounted to more than $200 million. Although only 36 experts estimate that three hundred African Americans were killed. Many of the bodies were buried in mass graves or thrown into the Arkansas River. Eight hundred people were injured. Five thousand were interned.

And thousands were left homeless (Messer 2018: 801-807). Greenwood residents were never compensated for their losses, and the community was never able to return to its former glory. Those events have had longto the problem of poverty today and the consequences that come along

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with it: food insecurity, unemployment or underemployment, inadequate education, inadequate healthcare, substandard housing and homelessness, and other forms of social discrimination.

Today, North Tulsa (where the Greenwood District is located) is one of the poorest areas in the city. Writing for Human Rights Watch, Brian Root reports that North Tulsa has “poorer residents, higher rates of unemployment, and lower life expectancies” than any other area of the city (Policing, Poverty, and Racial Inequality 2019). While 17 percent of Tulsa’s residents are African American, 41 percent of the African American population lives in North Tulsa. There the poverty rate is 45 percent (34 percent for all African Americans) compared to thirteen percent for White citizens. Further, Root describes Tulsa as “a case study in abusive, overly aggressive policing” (Policing 2019). Residents in North Tulsa are stopped more frequently and for longer periods of time by the police. They are more likely to be removed from their vehicles and searched. And they are arrested of race, poverty, and crime,” says Root, “calls for inquiry into the larger question of structural racism” (Policing 2019).

Unfortunately, the situation in Tulsa is not unique. African Americans across the country are having similar experiences as that of residents in Tulsa. It is reprehensible that 150 years after the abolition of slavery, African Americans are still experiencing systemic discrimination and abuse. The level to which overt racism has reared its ugly head is evidence that we do not live in a post-racial society as some would like to believe. It is this history of violence, exploitation, and abuse against them that compels African Americans to rise up in protest against individual and institutional racism in its various forms.

Wealth Gap In addition to violence, poverty is a problem from which African Americas have suffered throughout the nation’s history. Sadly, the economic inequality that existed in the Antebellum Period has implications for African Americans today. As hard as enslaved persons were forced to work from was on the backs of enslaved persons that America’s capitalist economy was built. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, African Americans found themselves being subjected to a system of semi-slavery that included tenant farming, sharecropping, and debt peonage. Superexploitation was the order

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of the day. Because of the exploitative practices of landowners, most of the newly freed persons could not pay their way out of debt, rendering them unable to participate in the capitalist economy they helped to create. For them, freedom and upward mobility was nothing but an illusion.

The surest way of achieving upward mobility at that time was land ownership. While enslaved persons were prohibited from owning land, President Lincoln signed into law the Homestead Act of 1862. As part of the plan for westward expansion, this act allowed primarily White Americans and immigrants to acquire 160 acres of public land for $1.25 “In a sense, the government was not simply giving away land, but rather the opportunity for upward mobility and a more secure future for oneself and one’s children” (Shanks 2005: 24).

Through this government program, an estimated 270 million acres of public land were distributed to 1.5 million households (Homestead Act of 1862). from this land ownership program. Although the language of the Homestead Act did not exclude free Blacks from participating in the program, they were often met with obstacles that hindered them from participating.

Because enslaved persons were not considered citizens, the approximately 4 million enslaved Americans were excluded from this Emancipation Proclamation, they were technically free. However, the ability of this newly freed population to take advantage of this land ownership program largely depended on their location and the attitude of the local leadership toward them. Most African Americans, particularly in the South, were confronted with the “Black Codes,” laws passed by southern legislatures between 1865 and 1866 that were designed not only to restrict the freedoms of African Americans but also as a means of securing cheap labor (Wallach 2005: 113). Consequently, even though the language of the Homestead Act was inclusive, making it legally possible for African Americans to apply for public land, rarely was it possible for them to do so because of racist policies and practices.

If land ownership was what allowed families to build wealth and leave a legacy for their descendants, one can begin to see why a wealth gap exists between African Americans and White Americans today. Further, one can see why immigrants could come to America and build wealth, while during that same time African Americans did not. Immigrants were

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given advantages that were denied African Americans. African Americans are perhaps the only people group in the U.S. who were challenged with building wealth for their families by starting with effectively nothing.

“Most blacks, unlike most White immigrant groups, found themselves in an agricultural society with no access to the resources of wealth” (Feagin 1986: 181). Sadly, racial discrimination as it relates to land ownership did not end there. It continued throughout the twentieth and into the twentySociologist Kevin Gotham addresses racist practices related to urban housing. He argues that key leaders in the nascent real estate industry, in conjunction with housing reformers and social workers, were instrumental in creating segregated neighborhoods. With the emergence of the modern real estate industry and the creation of racially restrictive covenants, real estate elites promulgated a segregationist ideology that equated the residential presence of Blacks with neighborhood instability and declining property values (2000: 618). Further, racially restrictive covenants executed between property owners and neighborhood associations prohibited property owners from selling or leasing their properties to certain ethnic groups, particularly African Americans. According to Gotham, estimates indicate that racially restrictive covenants were involved in more than half of the new subdivisions constructed in the U.S. between 1900 and 1948. It was in 1948 when the covenants were declared unenforceable by the U.S. Supreme Court. Legislation, however, did not change the hearts of people.

Racist practices continued to restrict African Americans from purchasing homes in areas that were designated as “White neighborhoods.”

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), a New Deal program, also contributed to the poverty of African Americans. From the agency’s beginnings in 1934 until the 1950s, in its Underwriting Manual, African on property values. Agents were instructed not to insure mortgages unless the restrictive covenant which “prohibited the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended” was in place (Underwriting Manual Section 980.3.g.). Since White people had never thought of Americans and persons of other ethnicities. Either African Americans were refused loans, or they became the victims of predatory lending practices.

They were offered loans with extremely high interest rates which they usually ended up defaulting on or which kept them in debt for the rest of their

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lives. The practice of refusing loans to certain people groups or in certain neighborhoods in order to maintain property values and for controlling the movement of African Americans and other people of color became known as “redlining.” Banks and mortgage lenders used a color-coded map to determine whether or not loans would be issued. Areas shaded in red—typically African American or predominantly African American neighborhoods—were considered undesirable. Persons who lived in or wanted to purchase homes in red-shaded areas were usually denied loans. of course, received preferential treatment. Intermediate neighborhoods which were likely to be occupied by lower-income White persons were shaded in blue or yellow.

While the FHA was channeling Whites to suburban subdivisions, African Americans were being pushed into urban housing projects.

Housing authorities cleared away homes owned by African Americans, stripping them of their assets and any future appreciation of land values and replaced them with rowhouses and apartment buildings. As Whites properties and rented them to African Americans. Now renters rather than homeowners, and instead of building wealth for themselves and their descendants, African Americans were contributing to the wealth of others.

Further, these urban neighborhoods did not receive the same care and attention from public authorities as the suburban neighborhoods. Schools were neglected, building and street maintenance was not provided, and garbage collection services were ignored. Absentee landlords did not provide proper maintenance for their rental properties. Consequently, due to urban neighborhood disinvestment, African Americans found themselves paying high rents as they experienced urban decay.

Redlining contributed to the wealth gap that exists today. Although the FHA would eventually remove the racist language from its manual in the 1950s and redlining would become illegal, like slavery, the effects linger on. Today, African Americans are still being turned away for mortgage lending practices at higher rates. Plus, they are once again being displaced housing developments and retail spaces are being built that are too expensive for current residents to afford. While development itself is not a bad thing,

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equitably from it. According to a report from the Brookings Institution, the net worth of a typical Black family ($17,150) is approximately ten times less than that of a typical White family ($171,000). This gap in net worth to all its citizens . . . as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to the nation’s inception” (McIntosh, et al. 2020). While African Americans have always attempted to build wealth, their progress has been impeded. The knee of a capitalist economy that their ancestors were forced to build has always been on African American necks.

Frederick Douglass spoke truth when he said, “Of all the races . . . which have suffered from this feeling [prejudice], the colored people of this country have endured most. They can resort to no disguises which will enable them to escape its deadly aim. They carry in front the evidence which marks them for persecution …. They are negroes—and that is enough, in the eye of this unreasoning prejudice, to justify indignity and violence” (The Color Line 1881). Yet, in spite of the suffering, in spite of the indignities and injustices, African Americans have found ways to thrive and even survive.

The Black Church: The Vertical Encounter The vertical encounter of the Black Experience refers to ways in which oppressed people have experienced relationship with God. Regarding the vertical encounter, Williams says this relationship “not only results in the creation of sustaining and nurturing cultural forms, like black religion, but the oppressed also achieve positive psychological and physical states of freedom and liberation” (Williams 1993: 136). Fundamental to the survival of African Americans in the midst of suffering has been the Black Church.

The following paragraphs will discuss the history of the Black Church and its role in helping African Americans survive and even thrive in spite of the violence and oppression they have endured.

When speaking about the “Black Church,” most scholars are referring collectively to the seven historically Black denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., the National Baptist Convention of America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and the Church of God in Christ (Lincoln and Mamiya 1990: 1). These denominations have their origins

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emerged from the institution of slavery. The invisible institution refers to the secret worship services held by enslaved persons. Disgusted by the gospel presented by their masters’ preachers, the enslaved would steal away to brush arbors (“hush arbors”) and hold secret meetings “in the backwoods and bayous of plantations, and sometimes in their own slave quarters” (1990: 8). Some were forbidden to attend church or, in some cases, even to where they prayed for freedom (Raboteau 2004: 213).4 The religion of the enslaved was unique in that it was born out of their experience of oppression in captivity and their need for freedom. story of the Exodus. The Israelites’ exodus from Egypt helped them make sense of their own experience. The religion of the enslaved was unique in that they reinterpreted western Christianity (as opposed to biblical their own view of the faith, which rejected the notion of inferiority and religion was unique in that it held on to elements of their African heritage.

Unlike western Christianity, they did not make a distinction between the sacred and the secular. And it was unique in its style of worship. Their worship, which consisted of preaching, dancing, shouting, and the singing of what has become known as Negro Spirituals, was unlike that of their White Christian counterparts. The idea that Christianity is “the White man’s religion” must be unequivocally rejected. A survey of the Bible and the history of Christianity demonstrates that Christianity in Africa dates back to the foundation of the Christian church. Further, Africans were highly instrumental in establishing the doctrines and theology on which the Christian church stands today. African Americans would do well to reject the western Christianity they have imbibed and embrace the multiethnic, multicultural Christianity found within the pages of scripture.

According to Albert Raboteau, a specialist in American religious history, it was not until the Great Awakening in the 1740s that there was a real emphasis placed on converting enslaved persons to Christianity. Until then, relatively few had been instructed in the faith (2004: 126). As indicated by the seven historically Black denominations, Methodists and Baptists gained the largest number of converts. Although Black and White Christians were worshiping in the same spaces, that did not mean those assemblies

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were truly integrated. In fact, it was discrimination and oppression in the American religious denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1787 at St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia, African American congregants were forced to sit in the church’s newly built gallery instead of the seats where they usually sat. Additionally, Rev. Absalom Jones, an African American man who was kneeling at the altar praying during worship, was forced to leave the altar. Under the leadership of Rev. Richard Allen, not only did Jones leave the altar, he and all of the African American congregants left the building, never to return again.

They secured a temporary place where they would worship on their own.

After several years of planning, collaboration with the African American community and fundraising, Allen purchased land. And in 1794, Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, affectionately known today as Mother Bethel, was dedicated by Bishop Francis Asbury. In 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was established as a completely separate denomination to the exodus at St. George’s, Allen had already considered the possibility of a church staffed by African Americans for the African American Methodist community. St. George’s, he believed, did not meet the spiritual needs of the African Americans. Allen favored a socially conscious church that promoted liberation and equality for African Americans.

While all African American Christians do not share all of the same beliefs and practices, there are many points of doctrinal and ritual commonality that exist within the Black Church. Black Liberation theologian James Cone contends that theology which arises from the oppression of African Americans is unlike that found in White theological textbooks.

“Instead of asking whether the Bible is infallible, black people want to know . . . whether the God to which it bears witness is present in their struggle” (1986: 11). As the Black Church arose out of Black people’s experience with suffering, liberation and suffering emerged as primary theological themes of the Black Church. “Any theology that takes liberation seriously must also take seriously the continued presence of suffering in black life” (1986: 12). Cone contends that the Bible is the story of God liberating the oppressed from economic and political oppression. Using the biblical story of Hagar, which includes poverty, domestic violence, sexual and economic exploitation, single-parenting, and homelessness, to help African American

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Williams posits an alternative view. She contends that God does not always liberate from oppression. Instead, there are times when God participates in the survival of oppression. Williams says about Hagar, “God gave her new vision to see survival resources where she had seen none before” (1993: 4).

Williams argues that God participated in Hagar’s development by helping her attain a suitable quality of life. While God did not liberate Hagar, God did not abandon her and leave her to her own devices. As God was with Hagar in the midst of her suffering, Williams contends that God is with God’s people in the midst of their suffering.

One of the ways God has worked to liberate and/or participate in the survival of God’s people is through the Black Church. “Our churches were rescue missions and survival stations on an underground route to freedom and dignity. The theology that thundered from the pulpits articles of the Nicene Creed than about faith, hope, and love and their relevance to obtaining the next three meals” (Wilmore 1985: 361). Black churches have an extensive history of addressing the social as well as spiritual needs of persons in oppressed communities. Grass-roots efforts in which even small churches can participate include cash assistance and food distribution programs (survival). Programs that meet more long-term include the development of educational institutions, the creation of seniorcitizen housing developments, and the creation of micro-loan programs or credit unions (liberation). These programs tend to be undertaken by megachurches. The establishment of such programs is nothing new for the Black Church.

During Jim Crow the church became the entity which crucial organizations needed by African Americans.

During the Civil Rights Movement the church became the spokesman for promoting a self-help doctrine which served as a catalyst for civil rights. This self-help doctrine espoused by the church in practice represented oppositional politics and created an environment

Not only is the Black Church a religious institution, it is also a social, political, and economic institution. Every critical juncture in African American history that contributed to the survival and liberation of African

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American people (e.g., Civil Rights, the establishment of historically black colleges and universities, the abolition of slavery) has occurred with the cooperation of the Black Church. While the Black Church does not engage society politically today to the extent that it did in the Civil Rights era, it continues to address social and economic needs. Because they have the the community.

Just as African Americans make up approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, roughly 12 percent of the 1250 megachurches (150) in the U.S. are predominantly African American (Thumma and Travis 2007: 28). persons weekly in worship attendance. Writing about Black megachurch culture, sociologist Sandra Barnes, who has a particular interest in urban sociology, says these churches tend to have Black charismatic senior pastors, they make extensive use of technology, their services are televised, and they offer “cafeteria-style” programs (2010: 15). Cafeteria-style programs refer most part, these megachurches are either independent churches or they are associated with self-governing denominations.

Barnes explores how Black megachurches use cultural tools (e.g., worship, theology, racial beliefs, programmatic efforts, etc.) to “educate, re-educate, and empower persons to expect spiritual and material abundance,” though not in the sense that is preached in the Prosperity Gospel (2010: 2-3). Her study, which includes primary data from thirty-one Black megachurches and secondary data on Black small, moderately sized and megachurches from churches across the nation is informed by Cultural theory and Black Church history. Barnes acknowledges that rather than an exhaustive study, her analysis offers insight into the inner workings of a cross-section of Black megachurches (2010: 4).

Barnes notes that regardless of denomination, the churches that provision of ministries and programs that respond to the social ills that affect a disproportionate percentage of Black Americans. They work proactively to combat crises related to poverty, housing, healthcare, incarceration, single parenting, unemployment, and underemployment. Education and empowerment are made available through various means (2010: 28). In addition to worship and Christian education, seminars on social justice, personal capacity building, developing strategic partnerships, and realizing

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upward mobility are just some of the workshops and trainings that are made available (2010: 157). Ultimately, what they hope to convey is a vision teaching and preaching, pastors and church leaders seek to communicate to the congregation that God’s favor rests upon the children of God. Therefore, the congregants’ lives should be shaped around their profession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And while spiritual blessings are guaranteed, there is the possibility of material blessings, but ultimately material blessings are determined by God. While some pastors embraced the Prosperity Gospel, that was not true for most in Barnes’ study (2010: 48).

Barnes highlights the ministries of sixteen churches, demonstrating the scope of the work these megachurches are doing in their communities. here—The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York, located in Jamaica Queens (2010: 143). The mission of Greater Allen is as follows: to effectively minister the Word of God to the people of God through biblical teaching, preaching, and outreach. We believe that we are called to address the needs of the total person, as our Savior did. We will energize one another towards personal transformation and participation in Christ’s call to apostolic mission.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will expand the Kingdom of God by lifting the name of Jesus in our community and in an ever changing world through our commitment to study, worship, stewardship, evangelism, social justice, and economic development (“Our Mission”).

Greater Allen’s mission statement is consistent with Barnes’ description of the ethos and praxis of Black megachurches. This 23,000-member church has more than sixty clubs and organizations that minister to those within the Greater Allen family and the Jamaica Queens community. Outreach ministries include, but are not limited to, street ministry, domestic violence ministry, job training/employment assistance ministry, social justice ministry, AIDS/HIV ministry, recovery ministry, feeding ministry, cancer support ministry, and the Caribbean International Ministry. Many of these programs are operated in partnership with other community agencies. According to the church’s website, Greater Allen and its subsidiary corporations operate on an annual budget of over $34 million. The church owns both commercial and residential developments, a 600-student private school,

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and a number of commercial and social service enterprises. In addition to the massive amount of work Greater Allen is doing in Queens, their Development Corporation website indicates that they have funded 2,039 water projects. While it is not indicated where those projects are located, content on the website does include information about the need for clean water in Africa. More information about Greater Allen’s global missions Greater Allen has much to offer to the global church.

The work of Greater Allen and churches like it undoubtedly megachurches have greater economic and human resources to serve their communities, but Black churches large and small contribute to the communities around them. It is not uncommon for churches of all sizes to enter into partnerships with other churches or community agencies to meet the needs of the oppressed in their communities. This paper suggests that the Black Church’s robust history of service, in conjunction with its history of reliance on God in the midst of oppression and suffering (the Black Experience), is preparation for participation in global partnerships.

Global Partnerships While the number of long-term missionaries of African American descent is small, the number of African American churches participating in short-term missions is growing. African American missionary David Cornelius contests the belief of American Christians (does he mean White American?) that African Americans are not interested in global missions.

Their observation, he says, is based on the low number of African American missionaries participating in long-term missions and the lack of emphasis placed on missions in African American churches collectively. Cornelius goes on to say, “While the observations are accurate, the conclusions are not necessarily true. Many African Americans are interested in international missions and the mandate to make disciples of all nations. African Americans have (historically) and continue to be (at an accelerating rate) involved in international missions” (2009: 47).

Of the sixteen megachurches featured in Barnes’ book, only one a search of the churches’ websites and Facebook pages revealed that six of the sixteen reported having an international ministry. Two of the six had pictures from their mission trips on their Facebook pages—one was in

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2016 to Kenya, and the other was in 2019 to Guatemala. A third church’s website showed they were scheduled to go to Haiti in June of 2020 and the Dominican Republic in July of 2020. Most likely those trips were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A fourth church’s website indicated they made a trip to South Africa in 2013. There was no information available concerning ongoing communication or commitments. While that is just over a third of the churches in Barnes’ study, this result demonstrates the problem with trying to quantify African American participation in global missions. Reliable statistics simply are not available. Churches are participating whose numbers are not being reported.

Although African Americans make up approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, and though approximately 12 percent of U.S. megachurches are predominately African American, fewer than one percent of U.S. long-term missionaries (those who serve two years or more) are of African American descent (Johnson 2006: 63). For this reason, when it comes to its participation in cross-cultural world missions, the Black Church has been described as “the sleeping giant” (Johnson 2006: 85). However, African American missionary Leonidas Johnson believes that the Black

It took a while for us to gather enough experience of being cast down, rejected and cast out of mainstream society. It took a while to gather enough experience of being treated as a second-class citizen. It took a while to denied basic human rights simply because of the color of our skin. It took a while to gather enough experience to try and prove that the nonviolent civil rights movement was the right path to justice and moral and social change.

It took a while to gather the experience of what it meant to be black living in America. But we got what it takes now. In fact we got more than enough in our account to take care of God’s business. (2006: 85-86) Johnson and many others are convinced that even though African Americans have not participated in global missions to a large extent over the last century African Americans have been uniquely equipped through their lived experiences for the work of global missions. This section will discuss the gifts African Americans bring and, secondly, a strategy for deploying those gifts in global partnerships.

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Gift: Skin Color The words of W.E.B. Du Bois spoken in 1903 are just as true today as they were then. “The problem of the twentieth century is the color-line” (Du Bois 2019: 25). (As my mother would say, “Ain’t nothing changed but the date.”) While the color of Black people’s skin has been looked upon as a curse, creating cultural barriers in the U.S., it eliminates barriers in other countries thereby opening doors for missions. Johnson comments that “some of the remaining more resistant people groups view Anglo-Saxon Americans as representative of arrogant Western Imperialism” (2006: 87).

Suggesting that African Americans are culturally closer to Ethiopians than White Americans, Johnson argues that the Black Church has a critical role to play in evangelizing North Africa and mobilizing Ethiopian missionaries to Arabia. There are some places that African Americans can go that White Americans cannot, at least not as easily, simply because of the color of their skin.

Gift: Experience with Suffering Secondly, because much of the world is aware of the oppression and suffering that is part and parcel of the Black Experience, people who are experiencing oppression in other parts of the world want to hear the story of how God delivered African Americans and how they have survived even in the midst of suffering. It is precisely because of the Black Experience that African Americans can relate to the sufferings of other people groups around the world. Indeed, the African American story of overcoming and living to tell is reminiscent of Joseph’s testimony in Genesis 50:20 in which he says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” That is not to suggest that God caused slavery or the suffering that occurred during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras or the inequality and injustices that continue to occur today. Rather, it is to say that God can bring some good out of the vilest of circumstances. The Black Church was born out of the need for survival and liberation. Its strategies for survival and liberation are deeply rooted in both the Old and New Testaments of scripture. African Americans have a story to tell. They can share their experiences of relying on God to endure and overcome suffering to lead others to faith in the Triune God.

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Gift: Style of Worship Thirdly, the Black Church’s unique style of worship is in itself an avenue for global missions. In describing the Black Church, C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya assert that “Black churches are institutions that are involved in a constant series of dialectical tensions” (1990: 228). One of the six dialectical tensions they identify is that of between “other-worldly” and “this-worldly.” While “other-worldly” is concerned with heaven and the afterlife or the world beyond, “this-worldly” is concerned with the here and now (politics, social life). For the Black Church, focus on the other-worldly does not automatically lead to the neglect of the here and now and focus on the here and now does not lead to the neglect of the other-worldly. In other words, like many cultures in the Majority World, the Black Church does not bifurcate the sacred and the secular. The Black Church’s focus on the activity of the Holy Spirit is a means by which to relate to cultures that emphasize the spirit world.

The Black Church’s dialectical tension between this-worldly and other-worldly is revealed in the Negro Spiritual. Raboteau writes, “Important though it is to recognize that the spiritual sometimes expressed the slaves’ desire for freedom in this world as well as in the next, it is at least as important to understand the profound connection between the other world and this world in the religious consciousness of the slaves” (2004: 250). People around the world enjoy listening to Negro Spirituals, which tell stories of liberation and freedom in heaven and on earth. People around the world also enjoy listening to the soulful sound of Black gospel music.

Richard Coleman, an African American missionary and mission expert, contends that Black gospel choirs have a unique opportunity to contribute to global missions. In a 2010 press release, Coleman described African Americans as “uniquely poised to have a big impact on global evangelism” as Black gospel is very popular in places like Poland, Japan, and Sweden (African American Churches Called On). Indeed, Black gospel is an African American art form that has spread throughout the world and is a powerful tool for spreading the Good News. African American churches with gifted choirs or community choirs could be mobilized to spread the Gospel through song and perhaps also engage in ministries that meet physical needs.

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Gift: Experience in Urban Ministry participation in global missions is their engagement in urban ministry within their own communities. Johnson asserts that the African American church’s adeptness in urban community-based ministry is a specialized strength and a growing need in world mission (2006: 55, 58). Black churches of all sizes participate in food and clothing banks as well as provide cash assistance.

Megachurches offer these and more extensive community and economic development programs. Skills, energy, and resources used locally can be transferred to the global context. After all, the mandate to go and make disciples extends beyond Jerusalem to all the world. It is a both/and rather than an either/or proposition.

The community and economic development at which many the umbrella of what Bryant Myers describes as “transformational development.” Myers’ transformational development model is holistic in nature, focusing on the spiritual, social, psychological, and material dimensions of life, with the goal of creating positive change in the lives of those who experience poverty (2011: 3). Further, Myers’ approach is built on the premise that the spiritual and material dimensions of life should not be bifurcated. This is consistent with the theology of the Black Church and the culture of many Majority World countries. Like the Black megachurches discussed earlier, Myers believes that God is concerned about all of life’s situations (spiritual and physical); that the church is called to evangelism, discipleship, advocacy, and justice; and that the church is called to uphold the dignity of all persons, male and female. This suggests that African American churches that participate in urban ministry are equipped to engage in transformational development in the context of global missions.

However, this is not to suggest that no additional preparation is needed.

Given the need for additional preparation, and given that churches are more likely to participate in short-term missions (even in the case of persons seeking to become long-term missionaries), a case is to be made for global partnerships.

Strategy for Entering into Global Partnerships When thinking of entering into global partnerships, it is important

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Cultural competence—the ability to communicate and work effectively with persons from other cultures—is essential because even in shortterm missions there is always the potential of doing more harm than good when communication is poor and relationships are weak. Cross-cultural specialist Mary Lederleitner states, “In global missions there is a history of paternalistic behavior steeped in a false sense of superiority. . . Along the way many have been hurt, sometimes quite unintentionally, despite good intentions and a desire to do the will of God” (2010: 125). Lederleitner says greatly valuing all the resources that both partners bring to the table. This to the partnership. Secondly, it will be important to develop a means by which both parties are held accountable to the partnership. This will ensure that each has the opportunity to learn from the other. Thirdly, any remnants directions. And, fourthly, when offenses do occur, “forgive and remember so lasting change can take place.” Change takes time. So, when offended be willing to forgive. And it is important for the offending party to remain alert to offensive behaviors so as not to continue repeating those same behaviors (2010: 125-130).

Lisa Pelt, an African American missionary who served in Nigeria, suggests that the Black Experience in America gives African American missionaries a unique perspective when working with persons in the nonwestern world. For instance, she notes that African American missionaries might be offended by the exclusivism that occurs on the being restricted are gone in many parts of the world, “the missionary subculture still excludes national Christians from many activities and conveniences in subtle ways” (Pelt 2009: 82). Pelt notes that while White American missionaries have to be told such behavior is offensive, African Americans who have a history of being excluded, may already sense that the behavior is offensive. what has been referred to as the “White savior complex,” the need for are. An example involves a “multicultural” short-term mission team from an evangelical seminary in Kentucky serving at an orphanage in a village in India.

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One day the host reported to the team that the team’s laundry was not ready to be returned to them as expected because “the dryer broke.”

Rather than trying to understand the problem, some of the team members that the poor people could not afford to repair or replace their dryer. Their second assumption was that they should “pass the hat” and come up with the money to buy a new dryer. In fairness, maybe they were just trying to be nice. Either way, the immediate response of some of the White Americans was “How much does a dryer cost? We can buy a dryer.” The team members assumed that the women at the orphanage dried their clothes the same way they did. It turned out the host was trying to be funny when he said, “The dryer broke.” What he meant was the sun had not been shining, therefore their clothes had not had time to dry. After washing the clothes by hand, the clothes were then hung on a clothesline to dry. The lone African American the assumptions of her team members and the fact that they had not been observant of what was going on around them. On a previous occasion during the team’s stay, the women at the orphanage had done laundry on the rooftop and had hung the laundry on clotheslines to dry. The African American woman still wonders why her team had not noticed the clothes hanging on the clotheslines.5 While this might seem small, it begs the question what other things might have been said or done that might have been received as offensive to the hosts?

Although African Americans have some things naturally working in their favor when it comes to participating in global partnerships, there are still cultural differences that exist between African Americans and other people groups. African Americans are still Americans. Therefore, additional preparation is advisable and even necessary. TMS Global, a missions organization in Norcross, Georgia, has recently instituted Thrive, a program that offers a practical way for American pastors to enter into partnerships with pastors in other parts of the world. Since the program began just last year (2020), it has not existed long enough to extrapolate data regarding its success. However, its paradigm is consistent with much of what Lederleitner recommends in terms of being successful in global partnerships. According to their website, Thrive’s partnership paradigm “equips American and international pastors with the skills to thrive in ministry through cross-cultural dialogue, relationship building, skill building

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workshops, and immersion experiences in each other’s communities ….

The goal is to reduce attrition and to provide pastors with the skills needed to thrive holistically in order to more effectively join Jesus in the call to guided communication allows for healthy, trusting relationships built on mutuality and reciprocity. Relationships such as these allow hosts to relay in an honest way how Americans can bring the gifts they have to offer and use them for the glory of God and the good of the people, rather than the hosts feeling that they have to say what they think the American partners want to hear.

Thrive is a two-year program with two cohorts designed for pastors who are just entering their careers and those who are midway through their careers. The 2020 cohort is composed of a group of African American pastors and a group of Ghanaian pastors. This paradigm offers pastors of churches of all sizes the opportunity to involve their churches in global partnerships at the grass-roots level. Church members become crosscultural workers as pastors engage their congregations for global missions.

When partnerships such as these exist, it does not take the resources of level. Pastors of small- and medium-size churches who are participating in programs such as Thrive can reach out to other small- and medium-size churches in their communities to partner with and help those churches get involved in global missions. Indeed, if African American churches join forces in this way, the Black Church can become a powerful force in global missions.

Conclusion African Americans have experienced life in a way that is uniquely different from every other people group in America. The Black Experience has been characterized by racial prejudice, dehumanization, inequality, exclusion, and violence. Yet African Americans have managed to survive and even thrive in the midst of suffering. Fundamental to the success has been the Black Church and its involvement in community engagement.

This paper has argued that the lived experiences of African Americans and the central role of the Black Church in the African American community together have done much to prepare African Americans for participation in global partnerships. As stated by Leonidas Johnson, African

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Americans have what it takes to take care of God’s business. The time has come for us to become more involved in the work of global missions.

The time has come for us to partner with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world as witnesses to the message of the Good News of the kingdom of God, a message of survival and liberation. To those who say we have enough work to do here at home, let us be reminded that the Great Commission is not an either/or proposition. We have not been excluded from the call to spread the message “to the ends of the earth.” We have before us a wonderful opportunity to be God’s “battle-axe.” Let us not let this opportunity pass us by.

End Notes 1

Black and African American will be used interchangeably.

2 All Scripture references are from the New International Version®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission.

All rights reserved worldwide.

3 Other anti-Black race riots occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina (1898); Atlanta, Georgia (1906); East St. Louis (1917); The Red Summer of 1919 in which riots occurred in twenty-six cities; Detroit, Michigan (1943); Newark, New Jersey (1967).

According to Raboteau, there were some slave masters who did allow the enslaved to attend church. There were independent Black churches and racially mixed churches prior to Emancipation. It was not uncommon for enslaved persons to outnumber White persons at a Sunday service.

4

This story was relayed to me by a personal friend, the African American woman on the short-term mission team.

5

Works Cited Barnes, Sandra L. 2010 Black Megachurch Culture: Models for Education and Empowerment. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Bellamy, Brian Odem 2016 “An Examination of Prevalent Twenty-First Century Models of Community Engagement by the Black Churches.” University of Exeter.

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Coleman, Richard 2010 “African American Churches Called on to Confront Low Participation in World Missions,” Lausanne Movement, retrieved at https://lausanne.org/gatherings/related/ african-american-churches.

Cone, James H. 1986

Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology. Maryknoll, New York: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.

Cornelius, David 2009 “A Brief Historical Survey of African-American Involvement in International Missions,” African American Experience in World Mission: A Call Beyond Community, edited by Vaughn J. Walston and Robert J. Stevens.

Norfolk, VA: William Carey Library, 47-53.

Douglass, Frederick 1881 “The Color Line.” The North American Review, (June) 132 (295): 567-577.

Du Bois, W.E.B. 2019

The Souls of Black Folk, Gildan Media (Kindle Edition).

Equal Justice Institute 2017 “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,” Retrieved at https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/ report/.

Feagin, Joe 1986

“Slavery Unwilling to Die: The Background of Black Oppression in the 1980s.” Journal of Black Studies 17 (2): 173-200.

Federal Housing Administration 1938 “Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the National Housing Act,” retrieved at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/ Manual.pdf.

Gotham, Kevin Fox 2000 “Urban Space, Restrictive Covenants and the Origins of Racial Residential Segregation in a US City, 1900-50*.”

International Journal of Urban & Regional Research (Sep) 24 (3): 616-633.

Jaynes, Gerald David., ed.

2005 “The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church,” Encyclopedia of African American Society, 2 vols., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1: 28-29.

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Johnson, Leonidas A. 2006 The African American Church: Waking Up to God’s Missionary Call. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

Lederleitner, Mary T. 2010 Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Library of Congress 1776 “Declaration of Independence,” retrieved at https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffdec.html.

Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya 1990 The Black Church in the African American Experience.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books.

2005

“The Black Church and Community Development and Self-Help: The Next Phase of Social Equality.” Western Journal of Black Studies (Winter) 29 (4): 687–693.

McIntosh, Kriston, Emily Moss, Ryan Nunn, and Jay Shambaugh 2020 “Examining the Black-white Wealth Gap,” Brookings Institute (blog), retrieved at https://www.brookings.edu/ blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-whitewealth-gap/.

Messer, Chris M., Thomas E. Shriver, and Alison E. Adams 2018 “The Destruction of Black Wall Street: Tulsa’s 1921 Riot and the Eradication of Accumulated Wealth.” American Journal of Economics & Sociology (May-Sep) 77 (3/4): 789–819.

Myers, Bryant L. 2011 Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

National Archives “The Homestead Act of 1862,” retrieved at https://www.archives. gov/education/lessons/homestead-act.

National Education Association “Racial Justice in Education,” retrieved at https://neaedjustice.org/ wpcontent/uploads/2018/11/Racial-Justice-inEducation.pdf.

Pelt, Leslie 2009

“Wanted: Black Missionaries, But How?” African American Experience in World Mission: A Call Beyond

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Community, edited by Vaughn J. Walston and Robert J. Stevens, Norfolk, VA: William Carey Library, 79-84.

Priest, Robert and Alvaro Nieves 2007 This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith.

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Raboteau, Albert J. 2004 Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Root, Brian 2019

“Policing, Poverty, and Racial Inequality in Tulsa, Oklahoma,” Human Rights Watch, retrieved at https:// www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2019/09/11/ policing-poverty-and-racial-inequality-tulsa-oklahoma.

Sutherland, James W. 2004 “Time for African American Missionaries.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly (October) 40 (4): 500–511.

The Greater Allen Cathedral of New York “Our Mission,” retrieved at https://allencathedral.org/our-mission/.

Thumma, Scott, and Dave Travis 2007 Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America’s Largest Churches. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.

TMS Global “Thrive,” retrieved at https://www.tms-global.org/partners-andprojects/details/tms-thrive.

Tucker-Worgs, Tamelyn 2001 “Get on Board, Little Children, There’s Room for Many More: The Black Megachurch Phenomenon.” The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center 29 (1–2): 177-203.

United States Census Bureau “1860 Census: Population of the United States,” retrieved at https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1864/ dec/1860a.html.

Wallach, Jennifer 2005 “Black Codes.” Encyclopedia of African American Society, edited by Gerald D. Jaynes. 2 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1:113-114.

Williams, Delores S. 1993 Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

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Williams Shanks, Trina 2005 “The Homestead Act: A Major Asset-Building Policy in American History.” Inclusion in the American Dream: Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy, edited by Michael Sherraden. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2041.

Wilmore, Gayraud S. 1985 “Black Christians, Church Unity and One Common Expression of Apostolic Faith,” Mid-Stream (Oct) 24 (4): 357–365.

1998

Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans. 3rd ed., Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 51-71 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.04

Gabriel B. Tait

SBMS: A Visual Exploration of Liberian Identity

Abstract: This article explores the use of visuals by missionaries and social scientists to communicate their encounters in sub-Saharan Africa. It offers an alternative perspective by incorporating the Sight Beyond My Sight (SBMS) visual research methodology created by Gabriel Tait. SBMS is a participant research method that employs photography as a way to understand culture and identity. The implications of this body of work, and the method it provides, presents a much-needed contextual lens for missionaries, visual ethnographers, and general persons who are interested in communicating their contexts in partnership with the cultures they are encountering and impacting. The implication of this work is a more accurate representation of the identities of the people they are working alongside.

Keywords: Photography, Christian missions, identity, Liberia, ethnography Gabriel B. Tait is an associate professor of diversity and media at Ball State University in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication. In addition to his academic career, Tait’s tenure as a photojournalist spans nearly 30 years, previously working at the Detroit Free Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and several other newspapers where he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He earned his Ph.D. in intercultural studies at Asbury Ph.D. from Asbury.

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“‘The Dark Continent’ has long been the common designation for Africa, but the darkest thing about it has been outsiders’ ignorance of its people.”

(Phipps 2002, xi) Introduction (Josephson, Kelly, and Smith 2020; Fahmy, Bock, and Wanta 2014; Tait 2010). Much of our history is preserved by what we see and how we process what has been observed. With digital technology and the instantaneous nature of producing photographs or visual artifacts, much of what we see is passed on by a simple click of a mouse or touch of an interactive screen.

In many ways this immediate appetite for visual representational tidbits, has blurred, if not blinded the outsider’s appreciation for the historical contributions of those who navigated what Cain Hope Felder notes is “the stony rode we trod.” Historically missionaries and cross-cultural servants have used visuals, mainly in the form of photographs, as tools for conveying their communications and endeavors with the people they are serving. Just last month, Asbury graduates, including former classmates of mine, posted several photographs of their service in eastern Europe. One photograph was of my classmate’s family, another was of a local mechanic working at an auto garage. While these photographs seem fairly straightforward, allowing the viewer to read the captions, see the names of the people in the photographs, and gain a narrow perspective of the context that is being represented, there is a level of complexity in the representation that is not location of the photograph? Where is the group located? Why was this photo presented and not another? Who selected the photograph being presented? Are there things that are being omitted from the photographs that would give a greater sense of the community and it’s needs? These questions are ones that I have aimed to answer over my 20 years of working and serving in cross-cultural contexts.

Broadly this article is about Sight Beyond My Sight (SBMS), a photographic tool and method I developed, for learning from local article brings light to the importance of visually representing one’s service, but it is duly meant to encourage missionaries and cross-cultural servants of

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the importance of encouraging members in their respective communities to photograph, share, and explain the value systems that they have, as well as the meaningful ways that they want to represent their own communities. I will accomplish the above-mentioned aim by presenting a case study taken values often overlooked in western approaches to missions.

Charting the Journey Over a decade ago I embarked on a missional and academic journey to learn about Liberian culture and identity from Liberians.

Inspired by the missional calling of Lott Carey and other African American missionaries who chose to leave the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries to serve in Africa, I was fascinated with the country and its complex history with America. I was a Ph.D. candidate1 in the research phase of Asbury’s Intercultural Studies program. In my previous life before seminary, I served over 20 years as a Pulitzer prize nominated photojournalist for several of the country’s top newspapers (including the Detroit Free Press & the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). I was seeking a way to bridge my giftedness in photojournalism with the representational void that often existed in the literature and the visual records from persons in evangelized contexts. I prepared diligently for my months-long assignment in Liberia. It was there that I piloted the groundbreaking inclusive visual method SBMS. I will share more about SBMS later in this article.

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Rev. Dr. Gabriel B. Tait gives a Historic presentation on some of the missionary photographs produced in the late 19th and early 20th century, during the inaugural SBMS training in the historic Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia. Founded in 1882 Providence Baptist Church is considered the cornerstone church of Liberia. Founded on the shores of modern-day Monrovia by former United States slave Lott Carey and associates, Providence Baptist has played a central role in the formation of the country. The constitution and declaration of independence was signed at Providence in 1847. Photo by: Amos Wonta/Gabriel B. Tait/SBMS© Used with Permission.

Liberia has a complex2 relationship with the United States.

Originally called the Grain Coast by its indigenous leaders, in 1816, members of the U.S. Congress in partnership with religious communities and abolitionists developed a repatriation program that would “encourage” free African American and former slaves to return “back” to the small West African territory. The U.S. was following the model of the British in their creation of Sierra Leone. In Liberia this complex relationship would eventually give birth to what missionary and black nationalist Alexander Crummell would note was one of the most productive times in Black missions. During his twenty years of service in Liberia as a missionary,

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educator, scholar, and lecturer, he observed in excess of tens-of thousands of African Americans heeding the call to missions in Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In Crummell’s (2004) 1865 address

Go down two hundred miles to the Republic of Liberia, and see there 14,000 black emigrants from more than half of the States of America; and see there, too, how that God, after carrying on His work of preparation in the black race in America in dark, mysterious and distressful ways, has at length brought out a remnant of them and placed them in a free Republic, to achieve high nationality, to advance civilization and to sub-serve the highest interests of the Cross and the Church! (2004: 287) Thus, the impact of African-American missionaries was motivated by what Killingray (2003: 7) asserts was a dualistic belief in “providential design” and “race redemption” in their efforts to return to Africa and share the Christian gospel. Their service in Liberia, while complex, highlights one of the greatest missional endeavors of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of black missions.

Seeing Through a Glass Darkly (Photographs as Spectral Ships) In Paul’s letter to the church of Corinth, he tells readers that we metaphorically see through a glass darkly and eventually we will see clearly (1 Corinthians 13:12). Missionaries were early adopters of the th century these western missionaries, settlers, and anthropologists often traveled to the continent of Africa. One of their innovative ways of communicating their encounters was to produce photographs. The photographs3 they constructed would become spectral ships or visual records to transport their home constituencies and others to lands where they desired to reach the “unreached” (Tait 2010: 321).

Monti (1987) draws a through line suggesting, “the documentation of the ever more decisive European incursion into Africa’s politics, economy, immense and indecipherable African continent” (5). Tienou (1991) rightly advances how many of these photographic representations exoticized the photographers encounters with Africans creating the perpetual stereotype

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which served as the foundation for the “Invention of the ‘Primitive’ and Stereotypes in Mission.” He continues, “In mission circles, the idea of the ‘primitive’ is the cradle of many a stereotype used for describing missionized people” (1991: 296). bell hooks’ “miscegenated gaze” is illustrated

by Willis’ (1994: 17) discussion on black identity and representations where she notes the “civilized” photographer – traveler often found the nude image of an African woman irresistible. Giving credence again to Monti’s (1987) realization that biases are always present when outsiders visually communicate their interaction. He continues, “Africa transmitted by photography… never was nor could be impartial; it was above all a Western interpretation, particularly rich in fantastic ideas” (5). However, photographs also serve as a record that one has been present in a particular are useful for portraying contexts and providing a lens for those that are not physically present in the context, they can also result in a complex view of cultures and communities for those viewers. Combs (2014) notes, “While photographs are not absolute truth(s), and often suggest(s) more questions than answers, they have a power to provoke, push, or propel one to think about a historical moment, reexamine the known world, or demonstrate the possibilities of one’s future” (10). Unfortunately, many of these photographic representations missed the mark, transmitted exoticized and biased perspectives, and omitted the very voices of the people they were seeking to make known. Consequently, the way photographs were propagated to outsiders, misrepresented the very cultures they were trying to reach.

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Prince Mulbah (center, white shirt holding a photograph) leads a focus group discussion at the historic Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia. The 11 focus group participants were examined during the inaugural SBMS study on Liberian culture and identity. Founded in 1882 Providence Baptist Church is considered the cornerstone church of Liberia. Photo by: Gabriel B. Tait/SBMS© Used with Permission.

The Infusion of Photography in Missions and Liberia medium of photography in the form of daguerreotypes to record their encounters. Augustus Washington, an African American daguerreotypist4 from Trenton, New Jersey, traveled to Liberia, West Africa in 1853, as part of the American Colonization Society (ACS) repatriation movement. As a highly respected daguerreotypist in the United States, Washington was “cheered” the behest of the ACS upon his arrival in Liberia (Shumard and Washington 1999: 10). The ACS was looking for photographic views that could be reproduced as engravings in their publications. Washington established a daguerrean studio after arriving in Liberia and made a living photographing and in Liberia.5 was that of Virginia native and Liberian president Joseph Jenkins Roberts.

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Washington would eventually produce a series of daguerreotypes that are now in the United States Library of Congress.6 The daguerreotypes brought to bear issues of identity and representation, particularly concerning how the westerners represented themselves and viewed the native7 people. They also helped viewers see the settlers’ new land. Conscientiously, Roth (1982: 34) notes, “In their letters to stateside periodicals and in speeches while on furloughs, black missionaries increasingly refuse to portray the African as uncivilized and savage; he was unsaved, perhaps, but not unsound.”

One can argue that there was a sensitivity that existed when persons were representing communities that looked like themselves.

Sight Beyond My Sight (A Way of Seeing): Representation Matters that arose as many indigenous Africans, including Liberians, had outsiders come into their communities, photograph them, and represent their culture Most of the time, the indigenous community did not have a say in how they were visually represented, or even if they wanted to be photographed.

Decades later, issues of identity and representation still arise in the photographs taken by a new generation of missionaries. Given the above challenges, SBMS was created to offer a much-needed communication vehicle for missionaries, anthropologists, and other social scientists seeking means to partner with local communities to learn about and document issues of importance from their perspective.

For the second part of this article, I will drill down into a few of the tenants of SBMS and its biblical basis. Taking its foundation from Mark chapter 8:22-25 there is this beautiful narrative of Jesus healing a blind man.

This interaction offers a framework in which SBMS is conceptually designed and applied. SBMS uses this narrative as a metaphor (Lakoff 1980) to illustrate several components within the interaction which ultimately results in the transformation of the man from blindness to seeing with clarity. First, this is the only place in the biblical narrative where Jesus touches a person twice to perform his miracle. Second, the conversation with Jesus leads one to believe that the person whose sight was transformed had previously and giving meaning to their own photographs offers a more complete

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themselves and outsiders. SBMS allows (by employing local participants to 3- engage in a collective community dialogue for shared meanings of the photographs) the facilitator to provide a holistic understanding that “sees” beyond the obvious photograph for the deeper cultural narrative that exists.

In essence, through the medium of photography a researcher, missionary, or visitor from outside the community has the opportunity to learn at a deeper level the locally interpreted context of the communities they hope to understand. SBMS also empowers those who utilize it to express various cultural and religious values through the camera lens. The American cities, has been a growing body of literature, and the documented stories of several participants who have had the opportunity to experience and use SBMS to share and address topics of importance to them.

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Amos Korzawu photographed business as his primary category of his four thematic piles. The piles were Community Dweller, Students, Campaigner(s), and Business. His largest pile contained 13

structure that existed in the Liberian business world. For an outsider going into this Monrovia, Liberian context, understanding the value placed on these aspects of business can be very helpful. Photos by: Amos Korzawu /Gabriel B. Tait/SBMS© Used with Permission.

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A Glimpse at SBMS as a Method It was also a period when political parties were campaigning for their respective candidates. Tensions were high. This was a time where people were reserved in their interactions, waiting to see who would win. It was in this context that SBMS was launched with eleven participants (eight men and three women), between the ages of 18-65. They represented eight of the sixteen ethnic groups and six churches.

For the photography study, participants were asked to take pictures that would represent their communities, cultures, and people as they saw it.

Participants were provided digital cameras on a rotating schedule (up to four participants were given cameras in one-week rotations); each participant was given one week to make pictures. They were then asked to think about and photographically answer the question: “If someone were coming from outside of your community, what photographs would you take to inform the outsider about you and your community?” The participants were in essence asked to give a visual glimpse into their world through the camera lens. This was not done when outsiders came into their communities and photographed them without their input.

After participants made their pictures, their cameras, SD cards, and notes were collected. The photographs from the SD cards were coded and archived. During the next stage of SBMS each participant had one-onoccurred: 1- Participants were asked if the photographs they took were accurate representations of their culture and community. They were then asked to talk about the photographs broadly and provide a context in which they made their pictures. 2- The participants were asked to select their top 20 photographs that most represented the overarching question (showing the identity of the people, places, and things that they wanted to show); 3They sorted their top 20 photographs into thematic piles to elicit categories of interpretation; 4- They provided a verbal explanation of what they were trying to represent in the photos; and then, 5- They provided their top three photographs as best representing their themes.

Following the individual interviews, all 11 participants came together in a focus group to discuss their top three photographs. There were a total of 35 pictures (33 from the participants and 2 bonus) in the focused group discussions. Four themes evolved from the focus group discussions (through interviews and sorting as described above) for the photographs

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that were taken: Who we are (or are not), What we believe, How we live, and What we eat. These themes offered a more complete picture of Liberian identity and culture and served as a counter narrative to those historically presented.

Tailor Mazzie Brohme (cq) prepares to sew a Lapa Skirt while sitting at her older model sewing machine in her tailor shop in the Nekley Town community. Uniform skirts are sold for $350 LD about $5.00 U.S. According to Korzawu, the tailor has been one of the most important roles in the Liberia business world.

Korzawu, noted how times are changing. He recalled, “People could not afford buy imported clothes suit(s). But now imported clothes suit, is not cheap. So now more people are not sewing coat suit again. the store and buy that sets of clothes." Korzawu has observed how the role of tailors has been changing men tailors tend to design and make suites and trousers, while women tend to make shirts and skirts.

Photo by: Amos Korzawu /Gabriel B. Tait/SBMS© Used with Permission.

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A Case Study in Liberia Amos Korzawu One of the participants in the SBMS study was Amos Korzawu.

When Korzawu requested to participate, I was looking through the visual records of the former Liberian Presidential Executive Mansion.

He was a tall, slender, youthful looking man dressed in black pants and a white oxford style shirt. “Excuse me, sir!” “My name is Amos Korzawu and I am interested in your study, are you still signing up people?” he asked. Encouraged by Amos’ initiative, I registered him.

Korzawu took 87 photographs of his community. The photographs represented various people, various campaign rallies, broken infrastructure, and a myriad of other images in and around the capital city of Monrovia.

Of his many photographs Korzawu selected his top 20 pictures that he determined best represented his community. These photographs were then organized into four different thematic piles: Community Dweller, Students, Campaigner(s), and Business. His largest pile contained 13 photographs of his 20. Thinking this was an error, I asked Korzawu if the images were in Liberia.”

Korzawu focused his most important pile on the theme Business.

He included thirteen photographs in this grouping. The number of photos in the other piles varied from Campaigner(s) (3) Community Dweller (2), and Students (2). As a marketing student at the University of Liberia, Korzawu, says he took the photographs due to the businesses in his community. He said, “Liberia does not have just one business, but different businesses that people are involved with in our community” (Korzawu, Second Interview

sellers, (E), money exchanger and (telephone) scratch card sellers and business world.

In the middle of the piling session, I asked Amos, “How does this group of photos speak to you and your culture? And why should an outsider know about these different businesses?” He looked at me in his cool, laid back posture and said, “If someone from your side comes to Liberia and don’t know [about the levels of selling] they will waste a lot of money.

Selling is a part of Liberian culture.” He added, “If a missionary could

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help someone build a booth it would be a great help” (Korzawu, Second Interview Part 1a 2011). His photos provided an ethnographic look from the urban center of Monrovia. In his photo of the tailor (category A), she sits at her sewing machine that is set up inside of a converted shipping container.

The various types of garments that she makes can be seen on the posters on the back wall. It’s important to note that those images are of black women.

The implications of a black man and woman seeing themselves represented to their identity. They are able to show how they want to be represented.

In another image, Korzawu photographs a mother sorting used clothes (category B) with her son in the photograph. A pair of used blue jeans careers in Monrovia. In a country where the average worker makes under one dollar US a day, the used clothing business provides an opportunity for the vendor to make a life for themself and their family. In the images Relationships and pricing are very important in a market where there is a as a representative of local food sellers. The food sellers are able to make a living because people need food.

Korzawu’s grouping offers an important perspective on grasping the idea and diversity of business in Liberia. While the photos may not rise to a certain level of aesthetics, they offer an insider perspective of the Liberian culture. If one looks at the 13 images provided, they will see a diversity of ages, a diversity of genders, and a diversity of shared experiences. The connection between all of the photographs is that these are various ways Liberians make a living. To outsiders, the exercise of going to work may tailor. Based on Korzawu’s understanding of Liberian culture he says that noted how the tailor is the person who has not only a skilled gift at making clothes, but their clientele is often a part of the community that can afford clothes and will pay for the respective garments purchased. This is not clientele. The uniqueness of these photographs shows a particular hierarchy of business. A missionary might interact with each one of the vocations presented but may not make the important connection on how each of the business owners give value and meaning to Liberian identity. These photos,

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provided together with the cultural descriptions and explanations, reveal meaning beyond what is seen by looking at the photograph. This is the essence of SBMS.

says the Hunter is one of the most respected people in the village. In a post-civil war era village hunter is one of a few people that is legally allowed to carry a gun. He says the hunter is responsible for

SBMS© Used with Permission.

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Janje David David, a married father of eight children (six daughters and two sons) and a member of the Bassa ethnic group, represented, River Cess, one of the rural areas of Liberia although he lived in Monrovia. David, a high school graduate with one semester of seminary training at the Baptist Seminary in Monrovia, says he was forced to withdraw because of the 1999 war, and he never returned (David, First Interview 2011).

David took 104 photographs of his community. These photographs represented 4 general topic areas- The way we live (7), communication in the African context (4), Hunting for a living-hunting on the farm (6), and cotton tree worship (3). The most important photograph in David’s take was of a hunter. “The hunter is the most important person in the village!” is how Janje David started our session analyzing his photographs. His observations moved me to ask the questions: Who is a hunter? What does a hunter do?

Why is the hunter the most important person in the village? The hunter, as is responsible for protecting the community. “When the community needs a protector, they call the hunter. When they need to collect meat, they get the hunter. The hunter is a tribal man and most important part of my community, (River Cess),” Janje concludes.

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David says the drummer in traditional society is one of the most important communication channels. danger, and good news within the village(s). David shares how this is an important communication B. Tait/SBMS© Used with Permission.

Conclusion The above examples highlight the value of SBMS as a participatory technique to learn about a culture from within that culture, and to have members of the culture share their particular views of their own culture and identity, as well as the various nuances and complexities of both.

The photographs produced during an SBMS study or project provide an “insider” perspective that enhances overall understanding. For example, Janje David’s photographs provided us with access to an otherwise closed community. Through his participation in the study and his images, he offered a level of the inner workings of his community that would not have been readily available or known to an outsider. The importance of the village

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hunter is communicated not only by the photograph, but also by David’s explanation of context which enables us to understand why the hunter is so important to the community and the cultural context (in this case the law regarding bearing arms in a post-civil war country) that contributes to that Considering issues of representation, it is important to note the and identity themselves, and the lenses through which those outside of a given culture may represent members of that culture. Historically, “outsiders” have used photography and photographs to misrepresent various people and cultures, including the people and cultures on the continent of Africa.

SBMS provides a tool and methodology that empowers members of various those seeking to understand various cultures to gain an emic, and often deeper, perspective.

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End Notes 1

with an earned Ph.D. in the seminary’s history.

Liberia has a unique relationship with the United States. In 1816, members of the U.S. Congress in partnership with religious communities and abolitionists (which included Quakers and others) followed the model of the British and developed a repatriation program. They would send free and former African American slaves “back” to the small West African territory.

2

3 In this article I will use the terms daguerreotype, photographs, images, and pictures interchangeably unless noted. Daguerreotype (produced through the early twentieth) century is the technical term in the early photographic process. All are synonymous with the visual record produced by a photographer using a camera. No distinction is made between daguerreotypes (a pre-photographic process) and the physical photograph. This article is interested in understanding how participants mechanically “capture” the images that are within their sight.

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4 A daguerreotype is the earliest practical photographic process that produced a one-off positive image on either an iodine-sensitized silvered plate or mercury vapor metal plate. L.J.M. Daguerre invented the process in 1839. One problem of nineteenth and early twentieth century daguerreotypes was that the pictures were staged, due to limitations of equipment. In various portraits persons being photographed may appear stoic or disassociated because they had to remain still during the timed exposure.

The United States Library of Congress has a digital archive of Augustus Washington’s most prized daguerreotypes. (see: http://www.loc. gov/pictures/search/?q=washington+augustus&co=dag&st=gallery) 5

The National Portrait Gallery has produced a web series that highlights the life and work of African American photographer Augustus Washington (see: http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/awash/awintro.htm) 6

7

period (generally the nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries), where terms like “heathen(s)” and “savage(s)” will be used to draw attention to labels associated with the local communities. While I do not view the local community in a pejorative way, historically the above noted terms have been used to distinguish between Western cultures and “others.” Joy at Oxford University, held the view that “‘savages’ were somehow different from ‘civilized’ people” (Hendry 1999, 10).

Work Cited Combs, Rhea L. 2014

“Self-Representation and Hope: The Power of the Picture.” In Through the African American Lens, edited

by Deborah Willis and National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.). London, UK: GILES.

Crummell, Alexander 2004 “The Regeneration of Africa.” In African American Religious History: A Documentary Witness, edited by Milton C Sernett. Durham, NC; London: Duke University Press.

Fahmy, Shahira, Mary Bock, and Wayne Wanta 2014 Visual Communication Theory and Research. A Mass Communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Hendry, Joy 1999

Other People’s Worlds: An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology. New York, NY: NYU Press.

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Josephson, Sheree, James Kelly, and Ken Smith 2020 Handbook of Visual Communication Theory, Methods, and Media. http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/ openreader?id=none&isbn=9780429956935.

Killingray, David 2003 “The Black Atlantic Missionary Movement and Africa, 1780s-1920s.” Journal of Religion in Africa 33 (1): 3–31.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson 1980 Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Monti, Nicolas 1987

Africa Then: Photographs 1840-1918. London, UK: Thames and Hudson.

Phipps, William E. 2002 William Sheppard: Congo’s African American Livingstone. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

Roth, Donald 1982

“The ‘Black Man’s Burden’: The Racial Background of Afro-American Missionaries in Africa.” In Black Americans and the Missionary Movement in Africa.

Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.

Shumard, Ann M, and Augustus Washington 1999 A Durable Memento: Portraits by Augustus Washington, African American Daguerreotypist. Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery.

Tait, Gabriel B. 2010

2020

Tienou, Tite 1991 Willis, Deborah 1994

“The Missionary and the Camera: Developing an Ethic for Contemporary Missionary Photographers.” In Serving Jesus with Integrity. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

“Seeing Liberian Culture Differently: A Portfolio From Sight Beyond My Sight (SBMS) Participants.” Visual Communication Quarterly 27 (3): 131–41. https://doi.or g/10.1080/15551393.2020.1781645.

“Invention of the ‘Primitive’ and Stereotypes in Mission.”

Missiology: An International Review XIX (3): 295–303.

Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography.

New York, NY: The New Press.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 72-91 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.05

Mercy Langat

Don’t Touch My Hair: Examining the Natural Hair Movement Among Black Women

Abstract: The natural hair movement among Black women has shown that aesthetic practices and rituals related to hair often serve as embodied a dimension of their spirituality that is often unrecognized. This paper historically examines political, cultural, and religious meanings of hair within the Black community. The Nazarite vow and the Imago Dei concepts rituals. Engaging scripture and theology with daily concerns, such as hair, is an important part of the task of public theology, and this article hopes to encourage more attempts to think theologically about how Black women, as well as other Christians, choose to live out their spiritual lives even in rather ordinary events. Our identity is connected to many seemingly ordinary aspects of life, and there is a need to think theologically about everything that connects with our personal and communal identity.

Keywords: Natural hair, Black women, Nazarite vow, Imago Dei, public theology Mercy Langat is a PhD student in the Intercultural Studies program at Asbury Theological Seminary.

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“Don’t touch my hair, When it’s the feelings I wear, Don’t touch my soul, When it’s the rhythm I know, Don’t touch my crown, they say the vision I’ve found, Don’t touch what’s there, When it’s the feelings I wear”1 Solange Knowles Introduction: My Black Hair There has been a visible movement among Black women, worldwide, to “go natural.” “Natural” is a colloquial expression referencing hair that has not been chemically treated to alter the natural curl pattern.

There are various reasons why Black women choose to go natural. Prior to my natural hair journey, I had been chemically treating my hair since the about two years before I decided to do the “big chop.”2 My motivation was personal because it spoke of my identity as a Kenyan woman created in the image of God, but it can also be viewed as political. I chose to go natural prior to beginning my doctoral journey. Going natural served as a way of resisting oppressive messages that I had been told and had internalized all my life. Some of those messages were that Black hair is unprofessional, undesirable, and uncultured in its natural form. At the core of the messages is the idea that the Black feminine aesthetic is unappealing.

Black women, including myself, hear these messages explicitly and implicitly through media, work contexts, academic institutions, and in interpersonal relationships. These messages are rooted in colonial and racist principles that continue to pervade the society. I chose to go natural as a symbol of my newfound journey towards decolonizing my mind and living as a Black woman created in the image and likeness of God. This article is written as the backdrop of that journey.

Beyond every Black woman’s afro, braids, dread locs, straightened hair, or deep kinky “4C”3 curls is a sacred story. Non-Black people are often fascinated by the enormous diversity of Black hair, the different kinds of hairstyles and the fact that Black women intentionally spend time, money and creativity to care for and style their hair. What many fail to understand is that hair has a deeper symbolism for Black women; it tells a story that is often neglected by those who do not share the same narrative.4 This

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paper is inspired by the long and rich history of hair among Black women.

Historically and in present times “Black girls are socialized into Black womanhood through the hair practices taught to them by their mothers, aunts, sisters, and grandmothers.”5 I begin this paper by examining the socio-cultural meanings of hair.

The second section considers the biblical interpretation of hair in the Nazarite vow and concludes by considering the natural hair movement in light of the Imago Dei. Socio-cultural Meanings One of the main contributions made by womanist theologians is revealing the deep-seated preoccupation with white beauty standards that tradition.6 This preoccupation favors the White/Eurocentric aesthetic as good, beautiful, and ultimately divine.7 Kristin Rowe correctly states that “Eurocentric and White supremacist beauty standards have privileged those whose corporeality is closest in proximity to Whiteness—including those with lighter skin, straighter hair, thinner noses and lips, and thin body frames.”8 While the scholarship made by some theologians such as African Women theologians, womanist theologians, and African American of younger Black Christian women. Their attempts have not addressed concerns, aesthetic needs, and dimensions of spirituality associated with hair. (both spiritually and socially) of Black women, it is crucial that we explore what role hair plays in public theology. Indeed, the topic of the natural hair movement among Black women is important to the greater public theology discourse because it highlights an issue that is taking place in the public sphere and attempts to theologize it. It is also an examination being done from the margins, and sides with those who often experience invisibility.

Black girls experience unique challenges in their identity development due to complex intersectionality. “The intersection between race and gender adds complexity to the developing identities of Black girls 9 This is important because religious education, and the church in general, have failed to answer questions related to embodied and aesthetic dimensions of Black women’s lives. In turn, this promotes a sense of invisibility in the church

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among Black women and consequently they turn to Black female artists such as India Arie, Ledisi, Solange, and Beyonce for theological and whole personhood in a manner that churches and religion do not.

In most Black societies in the world, hair played and continues to play an important role in the culture. In Africa, hair was used to symbolize men and women’s social hierarchy, marital status, tribe and family background. It was also used to signify a season that one was going through. For example, there are various ethnic tribes that expect a widow to cut her hair to signify mourning, while other tribes believed that long, thick hair symbolized fertility. Most ancient communities in Africa believed that hair could be used for divine communication especially because it is in the most elevated part of the body.10 In fact, it is still common to hear of strands of hair being used for witchcraft purposes. These examples show that hair was already an important part of the fabric of society even before the slave trade, colonization, and the commencement of modern missions. Therefore, it is no wonder that hair continues to be important to those who trace their heritage to Africa. The natural hair movement has gained momentum not only in the United States, but also in Africa and the Caribbean islands.11 However, for the sake of conciseness, this paper focuses on the experiences of Black women in the United States. The following section discusses the history and themes found in the socio-cultural context, particularly the political and cultural context.

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Traditional Swahili Women Doing Their Hair (Library of Congress, Public Domain Image from Pre-1923)

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Political Context The examination of hair and the political climate must begin with

treatments of the body are inherently political statements because of what they communicate about the constitutive meanings, importance, obsessions, practices and urgencies related to body.”12 Body politics involves the study of body size, skin, and hair in order to gain a better understanding of its relevance to culture, religion, art, and other aspects in a society. Therefore, the study or research of the body, especially Black bodies, is political in and of itself.13 When African Americans were involuntarily brought to the United States during the slave trade of the 15th century, their cultural identity was stripped by forcefully shaving their hair.14 Over time, it became apparent that those with looser curls and fairer skin tone would be asked to serve in the master’s house, while those with darker skin tone and tighter curls would work in the cotton plantations. This preference led women like Annie Turnbo Malone to create thriving hair care businesses that provided hot combs and chemical hair relaxers to Black women in hopes of loosening their curls to resemble White women. Malone initially employed Madam C.J. Walker as her sales agent until she began her own hair business, and they became rivals.15 The hair products by these two women became popular among Black women who tried to imitate their oppressors during and after slavery. Their hope was that changing their hair would enable them to assimilate into the dominating white culture. This began to change during the Civil Rights era where both men and women in the movement began using their natural Afro hair as a form of embodied resistance.16 The change in hairstyle had less to do with aesthetic beauty and more to do with being disruptive. This movement was the catalyst for the Black community to embrace who they were naturally.

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Madam C.J. Walker, often Noted as the First Self-Made Female American Millionaire, who Made her Fortune off African American Beauty Products.

(Image in the Public Domain)

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Chime Edwards posits, “the Afro became a powerful political 17

Prominent Civil Rights activists in the Black Panther Party such as Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni, Nina Simone, and many other against racism.18 In an interview by Andre’ Wheeler for the online magazine I-D VICE, Lori Tharps, the coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America postulates, “our hair was a physical manifestation of our rebellion…saying to the establishment: ‘Accept us and appreciate us for who we are.’ Stop expecting us to assimilate or subjugate ourselves to make you comfortable.”19 Unfortunately, the Afro came to be deemed “unprofessional” and even “militant,” especially after Angela Davis’ picture appeared in the FBI’s most wanted fugitive poster in 1971 for a crime that she was not involved in. In the poster, the Afro takes up most of the picture making it hard to see her face. She is quoted as saying “I was portrayed as a conspiratorial and monstrous Communist (that is, anti-American) whose unruly natural hairdo symbolized black militancy (that is, anti-whiteness).”20 Today, natural hair continues to make a political statement of resistance. In fact, the Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Obama, would not have been able to wear natural hair because of the negative stereotypes associated with it.21 This is true considering the number of racial harassments related to natural hair that Black women experience in the workplace, educational institutions, and so on.22 The choice to wear natural hair continues to be a political form of dis-identifying with the status quo. Most Black women who choose to do so, seek to construct their own is an act of liberation, emancipation, and decolonization.23 Cultural Context One of the most conducive methods of examining hair in the American cultural contexts is by examining how it is portrayed in mass media platforms, such as magazines and television shows. The natural hair movement has largely grown because of the Black is Beautiful movement that began in the 1960s amidst the Civil Rights Movement discussed earlier.

The Black is Beautiful movement sought to highlight and embrace the African/African American heritage and culture.24 It was concentrated on

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the idea of fostering the freedom of Black expression in art and music, and also in aesthetics.

Harlem Renaissance who has not been widely recognized, popularized the “Black is Beautiful” movement.25 Braithwaite’s photographs of Black women wearing natural hairstyles and Afrocentric fashion “challenged the era’s monolithic white beauty standards and were an alternative to the 26

Corporations and brands such as Shea Moisture, Iman Cosmetics, Vernon Francois, Black Opal, and Miss Jessie’s among others began adopting the “Black is Beautiful” slogan to advertise their products to the Black population. While the marketing and production of chemical relaxers and other hair straightening productions have not ceased, the campaign focused more on healthy hair, “texlax”27 methods, and natural hair.

Representations of Black women with natural hairstyles in the media continue to lag. Fortunately, there is a growing number of Black conscious producers, screen writers, and media company owners whose aim is to have positive representations of Black women in magazines, movies, and television shows. Shows such as Black-ish and Mixed-ish, are examples of shows in a popular network (ABC) that represents Black families in a positive manner. Issues such as colorism and black hair are also discussed in the shows. Also, movies such as the Marvel’s Black Panther, because of its portrayal of Black women and hair among countless other issues. The women characters in the movie wore natural hairstyles, which communicated the beauty of the Black aesthetic.28 These examples show that the Black community continues to embrace the natural hair movement as well as the wider Black is Beautiful movement.

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Angela Davis. The use of the Afro Hairstyle by the Black Power Movement Brought a Militant Image to the Black is Beautiful Movement (Image in the Public Domain)

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Religious Landscape As previously mentioned, the main gap in the theological discourse which this paper seeks to examine and contribute to is the religious aspect of the natural hair movement. Churches rarely discuss embodiment in relation to hair and other aesthetics, and it is certainly not discussed in predominantly white churches either. Most of the church, including the Black church, venerates the White universal to a great degree. Therefore, this section will intentionally discuss the role of Black female artists, even though they are considered secular, because they are the main people theologizing about the movement through their art and music. In fact, the way Black women follow and listen to Black female artists such as Beyoncé and Solange could be viewed as a religious movement.

So far, the main scholar who has articulated the importance of hair among Black women in the religious sphere is Tamera Henry, an Assistant Professor of Religious Education at New York Theological Seminary. In her presentation at the Religious Education Association Annual Meeting

the needs, interests, and concerns of younger Black women, especially in relation to their hair?”29 In the presentation, Henry posited that the answer begins with the examination of music and art by Black female the religious sphere. Henry’s work is vital in this discussion because she argues for the consideration of new, secular resources in the development that “religious education needs to frame a more adequate aesthetic vision for young Black women by attending to popular culture and references to Black hair as part of its real, embodied aesthetic.”30 This illustrates that Black The release of the album Lemonade by Beyoncé indicated a shift in her perspective. Before this album, most Black women felt that she represented the mainstream culture. However, this particular album addressed issues related to gender, class, and race in the broader womanist perspective.31 In fact, her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show elicited outrage from those who are conservative because it featured dancers dressed similarly to the Black Panther party/movement as they danced to the song “Formation.”32 On the other hand, Beyoncé’s sister, Solange, has been

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Beyoncé began doing so. In the song “Don’t Touch My Hair” which is also quoted at the beginning of this paper, Solange states Black women exercise personal autonomy in how they choose to style their hair. In her opinion, “hair represents a sacred dimension of one’s being, which she describes as an expression of the soul.”33 The “soul” refers to a woman’s spiritual identity as well as her overall identity- Blackness. Solange perceives hair as sacred because it’s where one’s material and spiritual realities collide. Therefore, way they wear their hair. 34 This is evidence that hair does not only serve aesthetic or beauty purposes; it is also a form of identity and resistance.

Biblical Perspective The topic of hair is discussed in several places in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, and plays important symbolic roles. In a foreign captive wife. In this passage, the hair shaving combined with woman as she adjusts and transitions to her new status as an Israelite wife.

In other passages, hair shaving was associated with mourning, for example in Leviticus 19:27, 21:5, Ezra 9:3, Job 1:20 and in the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Micah. In Numbers 6:1-21 hair is part of a holy ritual called the Nazarite vow. Hair in the Nazarite vow serves as a meaningful symbol of the Nazarite’s separation and devotion to God. Hair Terms in the Nazarite Vow The hair rituals within the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6:1-21 are certainly some of the most recognized in the Old Testament, especially due to the narrative of Samson and Delilah found in Judges 13-16. In the vow, the Nazarites were to commence the vow ritual by growing their hair and allowing it to take its natural shape as it continued growing longer. The hair was supposed to continue growing until the conclusion of the vow, at which point the hair would be shaved and burnt on the altar. The only time during the vow that the Nazarites were bound to shave their hair and begin the impurity of a corpse. According to Bollinger, there is no other biblical narrative or legislation that presents such a variability of hair treatment.

Therefore, “Nazarite law is a key component to understanding hair as a symbol in biblical ritual.”35 Indeed, the Nazarite vow is the only vow in the

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Biblical text that not only involves hair, but also encourages people, both men and women, to neither cover nor cut their hair but rather, naturally grow it.

The hair terms in the vow serve as a meaningful embodied symbol of the Nazarite’s devotion to God as well as separation from the rest of the community. The hair ritual is the only aspect of the vow that serves as a used as a symbol of impurity in other passages such as Leviticus 13:45, the hair terms in the vow indicate that hair was thought of positively, and could be like a crown of priesthood or high royalty. Bollinger notes that, “the hair was a living, growing part of a human person and, as such, represented the life-force of the person very well, since hair will keep growing, for a while, even after death. Nothing external was to disturb the hair, representing as it did the power and life of the dedicated human being, until the accomplishment of the vow.”36 The natural (uncut) hair was a sign of a holy life set apart to God by the living person on which it grew. Manipulation of the hair, such as cutting, indicated a severing or altering of one’s relationship to God. The hair rituals in the Nazarite vow connect with the natural hair movement among Black women because it reiterates the importance of hair as an external expression of our internal spiritual state. The passage symbolism. It shows that hair can communicate a person’s identity and whose allegiance or beauty standards a person follows. It demonstrates that standards of beauty, because our identity is based on how God created us and views our natural hair as beautiful.

The Nazarite vow is important because it shows how natural hair can provide a religious connection. It does so by permitting people to be seen wholly as they were formed by God. The spiritual and physical embodiment of hair is done visibly so that people can identity and see the person’s spiritual connection to God through the hair. Furthermore, manipulation of the hair such as shaving it communicates a change in status. The central message in the Nazarite vow connects with the Imago Dei as a theology, because it avows that everyone is created in the image of God regardless of ethnicity, gender, or hair type. Altering one’s image

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created by God is a rejection of God’s creation. The natural hair movement is a public declaration by Black Christian women that God does not make mistakes. In that case, “the big chop” becomes a powerful symbol of accepting and reclaiming ourselves as created in the image of God- an act of changing our spiritual status to become a child of God accepted just as we are.

Imago Dei As previously stated, the doctrine of the Imago Dei in this discussion given that the natural hair movement is rooted in Black women embracing how they were created instead of the White universal being the standard. Scriptures such as Genesis 1:26-27; 5:3; 9:6 and James 3:9 offer key theological foundations for understanding a biblical view of humanity. Womanist theologians, such as Phillis Sheppard, suggest that it is meaningful to examine Black women’s embodiment beginning with the theological foundations of Imago Dei in the scripture. She further states It is the brokenness of community that has rendered our bodies and others’ bodies as the site for suspicion and ambivalence. As with all that God created, our bodies are good and we must recognize that all aspects of our and a resource for a practical theology of embodiment.37 The brokenness of community began during the Fall in the book of Genesis and has continued. For Black women, the systemic injustice that began with colonization, slavery, and racism deeply affected their identity, especially as it pertains to hair. Therefore, there needs to be a conscious move towards recovering Black female embodiment in our theology.

The transformation begins with accepting the biblical truth of creation and it must continue with sharing and listening to Black women’s narratives. Those from the dominant culture who have had the privilege of humility when hearing from those whose embodiment has been rejected. to create ways in which Black women’s bodies are viewed socially and theologically. The reclaiming of Black embodiment as well as transformation must be done in community because the malformation is deeply historical,

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psychological, and relational, and it affects all people in the body of Christ.38 on the meanings of hair for Black women can articulate the inconsistency between a view of humanity created in the image of God and embodied experience.

Conclusion with an African heritage; it was used for various symbolism and meanings.

The realities of colonization and slavery saw that most of the world is preoccupied with White standards of beauty. Black women began using relaxers to straighten their hair in order to assimilate and be accepted in the society. However, the Black is Beautiful movement, Black Panther party and the natural hair movements are encouraging Black women to embrace their identity and beauty by wearing their hair naturally. This movement highlights resistance, beauty, and identity, and has largely taken place in the public sphere. Black female artists such as Beyoncé and her sister, Solange are providing theological resources for Black Christian women ideal of beauty in their churches due to a lack of theological discourses relating to Black embodiment. The hair rituals in the Nazarite vow are relevant to the Black hair movement because it shows that natural hair can signify one’s devotion to God, especially amidst other societal standards of beauty or rituals. Finally, the concept of the Imago Dei and embodiment embodied experience. Brokenness caused by sin led to the fracture of how we view certain people and ourselves as well. This can be witnessed through systemic racial injustice and colonization. Therefore, the reclamation of our entails ought to be done collectively by the hermeneutical community.

End Notes 1 Solange Knowles, “Don’t Touch My Hair,” A Seat at the Table, Columbia Records, 2016.

The big chop is another colloquial expression widely used to reference cutting the chemically treated part of the hair; usually the tips of 2

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the hair depending on how long a person has not chemically treated their hair.

There is a hair typing system that some Black women use to determine their hair pattern. The numbers range from type 1 which is straight to type 4C which has a deep curl pattern.

3

Kristin Denise Rowe, Beyond “Good Hair”: Negotiating Hair Politics Through African American Language, (2019):43.

4

5

Ibid., 44.

6 See works by Jacquelyn Grant, Katie Cannon, Delores Williams, Emilie Townes, and Monica Coleman etc.

Kristin Denise Rowe, Beyond “Good Hair”: Negotiating Hair Politics Through African American Language, (2019):44.

7

8 Ibid., 45; also see Byrd, A. D., & Tharps, L. L. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2014; and Hunter, M. L. Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone.

New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.

R. J. Phelps-Ward and C.T. Laura, “Talking Back in Cyberspace: Self-Love, Hair Care, and Counter Narratives in Black Adolescent Girls’ YouTube Vlogs.” Gender & Education 28(6) (October 2016):807–20; 808.

9

Lebo Matshego, “A History of African Women’s Hairstyles,” Africa.com: June 18, 2019 https://www.africa.com/history-african-womenshairstyles/ 10

11

Ayana Byrd, “Born This Way,” Essence 49(5) (2018):40.

Eltra Gilchrist and Courtney Thompson, Media Effects and Black Hair Politics, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, n.d, 2.

12

13

Ibid.

14 Andre’-Nequian Wheeler, “The Radical Politics Behind Afros.”

I-D (blog), July 7, 2017. https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/zmn454/the-radi cal-politics-behind-afros, 1.

15 Nadra Nittle, “Meet Annie Turnbo Malone, the Hair Care Entrepreneur Trump Shouted out in His Black History Month Proclamation.”

Vox, February 15, 2019. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/15/1822 6396/annie-turnbo-malone-hair-entrepreneur-trump-black-history.

Chime Edwards, “The Impact of The ’Fro In The Civil Rights Movement.” Essence (blog). Accessed December 11, 2019. https:// www.essence.com/holidays/black-history-month/impact-fro-civil-rightsmovement/.

16

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Ibid.

17

18 Andre’-Nequian Wheeler, “The Radical Politics behind Afros.”

I-D (blog), July 7, 2017. https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/zmn454/theradical-politics-behind-afros.

19

Ibid.

20

Ibid.

21 Chimamanda Adichie, Interview, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tz8MHG-IIYM&t=2s.

Eltra Gilchrist and Courtney Thompson, Media Effects and Black Hair Politics, 5 22

23 Shauntae Brown White, “Releasing the Pursuit of Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Hair: Natural Hair as an Afrocentric Feminist Aesthetic for Beauty.” International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 1(3) (September 2005):295–308., 300.

“‘Black Is Beautiful’ · Duke University Library Exhibits.”

Accessed December 11, 2019. https://exhibits2.library.duke.edu/exhibits/ show/-black-is-beautiful-/-black-is-beautiful--afrocentr.; and Tamera Henry, “Don’t Touch My Hair,” pg. 6.

24

25

com/about.

Kwame Brathwaite, The artist, https://www.kwamebrathwaite.

Scarlett Newman, “Powerful Photos of the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ Movement.” CNN Style, April 12, 2019.1 26

27 Texlax refers to the method of applying “relaxers” or chemical but intentionally under processing it so that it retains some texture instead of being completely straight.

28 Tre Johnson, “Black Panther Is a Gorgeous, Groundbreaking Celebration of Black Culture.” Vox, February 23, 2018. https://www.vox. com/culture/2018/2/23/17028826/black-panther-wakanda-culture-marvel.

29 Tamera Henry, Don’t Touch My Hair”: Exploring a Womanist Pedagogy of Resistance in the Music and Art of Beyonce and Solange Knowles, REA 2018, 1.

Afros, 1.

30

Ibid., 2.

31

Ibid., 9; Andre’-Nequian Wheeler, The Radical politics Behind

32

Ibid.

33

Tamera Henry, Don’t Touch My Hair, 9.

langat: don’t touCh my hair

34

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Ibid., 9.

35 Sarah Bollinger, Ritual Manipulation of Women’s Hair in the Hebrew Bible, 277.

36

Ibid., 307.

Phillis Sheppard, “A Dark Goodness Created in the Image of God: Womanist Notes Toward a Practical Theology of Black Women’s Embodiment.” The Covenant Quarterly 61(3):5-28, 21.

37

38

Ibid., 25.

Works Cited Bollinger, Sarah Elizabeth 2018 “Ritual Manipulation of Women’s Hair in the Hebrew Bible.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Ohio.

Brown, Shaunasea 2018 “Don’t Touch My Hair’: Problematizing Representations of Black Women in Canada” 12(8) (2018): 22.

Byrd, Ayana 2018

“Born This Way.” Essence 49(5) (October): 39.

Byrd, A. D., & Tharps, L. L. 2014 Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Duke University 2019 “‘Black Is Beautiful’. Duke University Library Exhibits.”

Accessed December 11, 2019. https://exhibits2.library. duke.edu/exhibits/show/-black-is-beautiful-/-black-isbeautiful--afrocentr.

Edwards, Chime 2019 “The Impact of The ’Fro In The Civil Rights Movement” Essence (Accessed December 11, 2019). https://www. essence.com/holidays/black-history-month/impact-frocivil-rights-movement/.

Gilchrist, Eletra & Thompson, Courtney n.d.

Media Effects and Black Hair Politics,” The University of Alabama in Huntsville. https://www.huichawaii.org/ assets/gilchrist%2C-eletra---media-effects-and-blackhair-politics.pdf.

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Henry, Tamera 2018

Hunter, M. L. 2005 Johnson, Tre 2018

77/1 (2022)

“Don’t Touch My Hair”: Exploring a Womanist Pedagogy of Resistance in the Music and Art of Beyonce and Solange Knowles,” REA Conference, Washington DC, 2018.

Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone. New York, NY: Routledge.

“Black Panther Is a Gorgeous, Groundbreaking Celebration of Black Culture.” Vox, February 23, 2018. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/23/17028826/ black-panther-wakanda-culture-marvel.

Knowles, Solange 2016 “Don’t Touch My Hair,” A Seat at the Table, Columbia Records.

Matshego, Lebo 2019

“A History of African Women’s Hairstyles,” Africa.com: June 18, 2019. https://www.africa.com/history-africanwomens-hairstyles/

Newman, Scarlett 2019 “Powerful Photos of the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ Movement.”

CNN Style, April 12, 2019.

Nittle, Nadra 2019

“Meet Annie Turnbo Malone, the Hair Care Entrepreneur Trump Shouted out in His Black History Month Proclamation.” Vox, February 15, 2019. https://www. vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/15/18226396/annie-turnbomalone-hair-entrepreneur-trump-black-history.

Phelps-Ward, Robin J., and Crystal T. Laura 2016 “Talking Back in Cyberspace: Self-Love, Hair Care, and Counter Narratives in Black Adolescent Girls’ YouTube Vlogs.” Gender & Education 28(6) (October): 807–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2016.1221888.

Rock, Chris 2009

“Good Hair”,

Rowe, Kristin Denise 2019 “Beyond ‘Good Hair’: Negotiating Hair Politics Through African American Language.” Women & Language 42(1) (Spring):43–68. https://doi.org/10.34036/WL.2019.004.

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Sheppard, Phillis 2003 “A Dark Goodness Created in the Image of God: Womanist Notes Toward a Practical Theology of Black Women’s Embodiment.” The Covenant Quarterly 61(3): 5-28 Wheeler, André-Naquian 2017 “The Radical Politics behind Afros.” I-D (blog), July 7, 2017. https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/zmn454/theradical-politics-behind-afros.

White, Shauntae Brown 2005 “Releasing the Pursuit of Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Hair: Natural Hair as an Afrocentric Feminist Aesthetic for Beauty.” International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 1(3) (September): 295–308.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 92-121 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.06

Stephanie Rountree

Women in the Early Nazarene Mission Among Spanish Speakers: Maye McReynolds and Santos Elizondo

Abstract: This paper examines the early Nazarene holiness mission among for this ministry. It argues that with the example and encouragement of Maye McReynolds before her, Santos Elizondo became a trailblazer and minority voice in implementing holistic mission within Spanish speaking communities in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico at the turn of the 20th century. Maye McReynolds initiated the Spanish mission of the Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles, California, where she was instrumental in converting and discipling Santos Elizondo. Elizondo moved out in her own ministry to El Paso, and this paper examines her life and border work there, including her successes and obstacles as a woman and minority in ministry.

Finally, there is a discussion of underlying power systems and structures pointing to the importance of developing character within communities.

This paper presents a marginalized perspective and examines what the modern Church can learn from the ministry of McReynolds and Elizondo for multicultural ministry.

Keywords: Maye McReynolds, Santos Elizondo, Church of the Nazarene, Hispanic ministry, Mexico Stephanie Rountree is a student at Asbury Theological Seminary, pursuing a M.A. in Intercultural Studies.

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Introduction For hundreds of years, the Americas have held a singular perspective of the gospel. This perspective was that of the White American male. Periods of European colonialism and the silencing of women in the church most likely contributed to this singular perspective. In truth, Christian history is full of various individuals, including women and minorities, who have shaped and contributed to the spread of the gospel.

The lives and stories of these individuals are important because they give us a better picture of God’s story through multiple lenses. Their perspectives matter because they shape the way in which we see and interact with the ongoing story of the gospel. If there were only one perspective within within God’s story.

A perspective that has been dismissed not only in America, but throughout Christian history is that of women. Women have played a contributions to church history continue to be overlooked because the church has not deemed their work important enough to remember.”1 These women were mothers, sisters, aunts, and caretakers to the same men who chose to silence them. The telling of their stories can give us another perspective, including their struggles, successes, challenges, and the ways they have made an impact by overcoming adversity.

Maye McReynolds and Santos Elizondo are examples of women, whose faithfulness and practicality, have made a major impact on the spread of Christianity among Spanish speakers in America and Mexico.

McReynolds began the work of the Nazarene mission amongst the Spanish speakers in Los Angeles, California. Her passion for the Mexican people2 brought about many converts, including a woman named Santos Elizondo.

Elizondo’s ministry was a continuation of what McReynolds had begun in Los Angeles, but her mission extended southward to El Paso, Texas and later into Juarez, Mexico. With the example before her, Santos Elizondo became a trailblazer and minority voice in implementing holistic Protestant mission within Spanish speaking communities, located between the United States and Mexican border at the turn of the 20th century.

McReynolds and Nazarene Spanish Work in Los Angeles The story of early Nazarene mission among Spanish speakers begins with Maye McReynolds. McReynolds was born in Green Lake

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County, Wisconsin, which is where she worked many years as a teacher. In 1883, she married Aaron McReynolds and moved to Pasadena, California.3 store.4 In doing so, he became a local agent for the San Gabriel Valley railroad. When the Santa Fe transcontinental railroad was built, Maye took over the agent’s work while Aaron devoted more time to the upkeep of the store. During one business trip to Los Angeles, Maye McReynolds attended a revival where Dr. Phineas Bresee was preaching. Bresee was the primary founder of the Nazarene Church, which had emerged from the 19th century Wesleyan-Holiness movement.5 Early believers felt that the term “Nazarene” embodied Jesus Christ’s simple lifestyle and service to the poor.

Along with their service to the poor, the Nazarene Church’s mission was to serve as a center of holiness in the west. It was under Bresee’s preaching doctrine of the Nazarene Church and the Holiness Movement. The 2017-

subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect. It is wrought comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.6 Before her holiness experience, McReynolds had converted at the age of twelve and practiced her faith within the Baptist tradition.7 E.A. Girvin, a pastor and writer who had met McReynolds during this time described her as “a radiant Spirit, with “a great passion for souls.”8 towards the Spanish speaking people of Los Angeles. She encountered them daily as she worked with the railroad.9 McReynold’s passion and desire to reach this community led her to learn Spanish. She became 10 In 1903, McReynolds left her job and began to travel door to door, visiting

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Spanish speaking people and handing out scripture.11 First Church of the Nazarene, the “mother church” saw her passion and calling towards these Spanish speakers, and as a result, she was ordained as a pastor of a Mexican mission and eventually as pastor of the First Nazarene Mexican Church in Los Angeles.12 McReynolds’ passion for Spanish speakers was palpable.

As she continued to teach and preach amongst the community, she grew obtained.13 extraordinary one, children and people standing at all the doors and windows and although forty chairs stood inviting each an occupant, all persuasion failed to overcome their timidity or fear to enter, but we proceeded to organize and hold a Sunday School, enrolling six beside our workers. At this time reading the Word and talking to those on the outside. At night a goodly number were present, and some interest manifested.14 In 1905, McReynolds crossed paths with Santos Elizondo, who would become an integral part of the Nazarene mission on the border between the United States and Mexico. The details of Elizondo’s work on the border will be discussed later in further detail.

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Maye McReynolds with Santos Elizondo, Founders of Nazarene SpanishLanguage Ministries (Santos Elizondo Collection, Nazarene Archives. Used with Permission)

During some time at the border with Elizondo, McReynolds reported that “The very air seemed to breathe the Spirit of hatred to Protestants and Federals.”15 In another account, McReynolds states her concern for Spanish speaking people. She felt the redemption of Mexico

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knowledge of God’s power would be willing to undertake the mission.16 According to McReynolds, Mexico needed to be redeemed politically, socially, religiously, and morally. For over four hundred years, she felt Mexico had been exploited by the church and by men in power. Socially in her and men alike were dull and unprogressive. The people were content with intolerable conditions and the degradation of women was exacerbated by the Church. Human and divine laws were set aside, because there was not enough money to pay the priests for the marriage ceremonies, and so many couples were not formally married. Religiously, the people were Roman Catholic and “scrupulously religious.”17 McReynolds stated, The churches are numerous and costly, the principle one being the great cathedral in the city of Mexico, which has very many interesting histories in connection with its building. It is named for the patron saint, Guadalupe, and costs two and a half million dollars in itself, besides its costly adorning. Oh. How I wish I could have half of that sum to put into the preparation of a score or more among their people with the message of a salvation that frees from sin and makes the weak strong!18 Upon returning to her work in the southwest United States, McReynolds aimed to establish practical ways to serve the Mexican people. First, she initiated a sewing circle, which helped Mexicans in need of clothing. According to McReynolds, they gave to all no matter the denomination or creed.19 Many people were introduced to Jesus though the sewing circle. They met physical needs, while also meeting spiritual needs.

Next, McReynolds worked to increase educational opportunities. Having worked as a teacher previously, McReynolds had a natural concern for the educational opportunities of those to whom she ministered. According to Rebecca Lair, by 1909, McReynolds was directing a class of twenty while studying the Spanish language and learning the Bible in Spanish.20 She College. Also, during her ministry, McReynolds founded a publication titled the “Herald of Holiness.”21 Through this publication, she was able to reach many lay workers in the southwest, who began to convert and take the gospel into New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico.

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Discussions on naming McReynolds as a superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene arose and some were not as open to the idea of a woman in that leadership position. In one letter from McReynolds to H.F. Reynolds, she wrote: From the day that Bro Hampton heard of the action of the two Gen Supts, in making me Dist Supt, he immediately sent me his resignation and he and his spent two and a half months and money visiting the churches trying to stir up dissention [sic] with the result to them of the you before the churches have worked with me, evidently in perfect harmony, as evidenced by the presence and blessing of God in the Assembly. The enemy said, “We cannot hope to gain, if the people are allowed to vote, so we will PREY AIL upon Bro. Reynolds to APPOINT instead of allowing them the right of Women Preachers in the West 53 ballot, our people said if we are not allowed to vote, it does not look like liberty of thought or action.22 McReynolds had already been recognized as the superintendent of the Spanish missions of the southwest. It was during the Third General Assembly of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene that McReynolds was named a regular district superintendent and seated in the assembly.23 By that time, only one other woman had served in a district superintendency role.24 Over the next couple of decades, McReynolds continued to work with the Spanish speaking community. She passed away on May 2, 1932, but her work would continue to live on. She should be remembered as a dedicated teacher, leader, advocate, missionary, and preacher. Her holistic approach to the gospel and her passion for the people brought in many converts, who would carry on the work that she had begun.

Santos Elizondo: Cross-Border Mission Work in El Paso and Juarez The work of the Nazarene mission among Spanish speakers had started with McReynolds, but Santos Elizondo, one of McReynold’s converts, took the message south, to the border with Mexico. Elizondo’s story begins in Chihuahua, Mexico, where she was born in 1869. During this time, there was an ongoing tension between the United States and Mexico. There were also growing tensions among the Mexican states.

Juarez, a city in the state of Chihuahua, was known for its violence and poverty.25 Elizondo grew up Roman Catholic and according to her,

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she hated Protestants with a “murderous hate.”26 In an interview where Elizondo tells her story, she states that her hate was encouraged by a Roman Catholic priest.27 Whenever Protestants would come into their town, the priest would advise her to molest them in every way she could to obtain the blessing of the Lord.

Around the age of thirty-seven, Elizondo and her family moved to the United States to seek better healthcare.28 Soon after her arrival, Elizondo had an accident while working in a laundry that brought her to Los Angeles for major surgery.29 It was there, on the operating table, that she faced a new reality. She concluded that if she were to die that day, she would be lost forever. In one account by Elizondo, she states that she prayed and when she woke up, she heard, “the Nazarenes are singing.”30 During her hospital stay, she encountered “Brother Bowen,” one of the students from 31 While speaking with Bowen, Elizondo began to weep. The students from the college began to sing and God “sent the witness of acceptance into her heart.”32 After leaving the hospital, Elizondo connected with Maye McReynolds, who gave her a testament and some tracts. After three months of being discipled by McReynolds in Los Angeles, Elizondo returned to her family in Arizona. With her family, she experienced immense hatred and persecution. From Arizona, Elizondo traveled down to El Paso, Texas. There, she experienced daily domestic abuse from her lame husband, who wanted to make her “give up her religion.”33 While under the persecution of her husband, Elizondo longed for what she had experienced during her time in Los Angeles. Through her conversion, she had experienced freedom. She had a new identity, and her hope was in Jesus. So, Elizondo continued to press forward in her faith. She attended church in El Paso, but she felt that the services were “cold and strange.”34 Elizondo greatly desired to share her testimony, so she decided to make an inquiry with one of the pastors there. The pastor’s response to her inquiry was that he did not allow women to speak in his church.35 For Elizondo, this was more than upsetting. Through much prayer, Elizondo felt the Lord calling her to ministry.

Elizondo felt the Lord calling her to recreate what she had experienced in California. For her, this was unimaginable. Even the thought of a woman preacher was blasphemous.36 At night, Elizondo dreamed of preaching to the multitudes. The more she prayed, the greater the burden grew. After overcoming her initial fears, Elizondo started with a practical approach. She took her Bible, a songbook, and a lamp and began to preach

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on street corners.37 It is likely that Elizondo had no idea that this would be about her ministry were between her and God. Prayer and being led by God was of the utmost importance to her. Elizondo’s street preaching led to conversations with her neighbors and eventually, she began to invite neighbors into her home, where she led services. For a while, Elizondo was a “one woman show.”38 She even took organ lessons to provide music for the gatherings. She was faithful and resourceful with what she had. felt things needed to be more organized. She wrote a letter to Maye McReynolds and soon after, they established a church in El Paso.39 According to Elizondo, a man named Speros Athans came to take charge.

Athans had been superintendent of the Northern Mexico Work and was overseeing Santos’ ministry. Elizondo did not become stagnant, nor did she fall back under Athans’ shadow. Elizondo had recently been ordained in the Church of the Nazarene, and it was at this point that she decided to move to Juarez to start another church.40 Meanwhile, El Paso became the center of operations for Elizondo and McReynold’s work amongst the Spanish they traveled to El Paso looking for jobs. There, Elizondo and McReynolds were able to reach hundreds of men by street preaching between two rancheros.41 McReynolds described these men as lost souls, groping in the darkness.42 Elizondo and McReynolds also partnered in starting a Sunday school in El Paso43 These services were held every night, except for Saturday nights. The services included teaching, prayer, testimonies, and baptisms.44 McReynolds shares this about the work in El Paso: God is favoring us with offered services in ways that will be a great blessing and help to our work. Physicians from two sanitariums have offered services free. And other physicians and specialists also have been giving valuable service to her for the sick ones. A public school teacher and the charities interpreter are helping her with music and English.45 Although this was a shared worked, Elizondo took on a great amount of the responsibility. Up until about a year prior, Athans had been helping Santos with the El Paso work. But, according to Elizondo, Athans spent a great deal of time with his family. There were also political accusations that kept

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Athans from being able to travel to Juarez.46 Both Elizondo and McReynolds would have agreed that anyone permanently chosen to help with the work should have the real stamp and seal of the Church of the Nazarene.47 Although great progress was being made, it was not without criticism. McReynolds reported on Santos’ work in a letter to the General Missionary Board on October 5, 1910, stating, “There is great opposition to city, the feeling encouraged by many against a woman leader.” Elizondo also met opposition from her close colleague, Speros Athans. In one letter, he states: It seems to me that Bro. Gay and Sister McReynolds of Los Angeles, are and have been trying for some time, to put the Mexican work here and in Juarez, and especially Sister Santos Elizondo under their thumb. There has been a sort of correspondence, I believe, between them and Santos for some time, and judging from the attitude of Sister Santos toward me and the work in El Paso, they work. Gay feels that I do not place Sister Santos high enough before the people and I ought to recognize the fact that she is an ordained minister in our church and as such she ought to be in the fore front but poor Bro. Gay and also Mrs. McReynolds don’t seem to know the nature of the Mexican people well. I have told Gay that my experience in the work among the Mexican people has convinced me that, they will not have a woman as a pastor over them, they resent having a woman assume authority over them. The men in our Mexican churches especially are those who oppose woman’s ministry as pastor, and I have not yet met a woman in the Mexican work anywhere who has any marked success to speak of in that capacity, but I believe in the ministry of women in the Gospel, and my honest conviction is that the best any woman missionary can do among the Mexican people is personal work, especially among those of their own sex, they can do successful deaconess work, teach in the Sunday School and exhort, teach in day schools, if they have the ability, but as pastors, my dear brother, in this work, a woman can do more to retard the work than to advance it. My impression is that Gay is hoping that if Mrs. McReynolds and Santos could work here together, they could turn the world upside down ... I believe I have worked harmoniously with Sister Santos, and she is a good woman, teachable and humble, and I think I have tried to put her as high as common sense allows me to.48

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Meanwhile, Elizondo continued to build a ministry in Juarez. In a 1912 letter to the General Missions Board, McReynolds shares how the mission in Juarez gained approval from the Mexican government.49 McReynolds recalls: I remember with joy being in El Paso with our Sister Santos three years ago when General Madero and his troops were encamped across the border waiting to attack Juarez. Multitudes were crossing to visit the soldiers and might preach the Gospel to the soldiers. We took with us about a thousand tracts. Almost immediately after crossing the improvised suspension bridge which swayed under its human load and threatened to precipitate all in the waters below, the way opened to give out the portions and Gospels which proved an opportunity to “Preach Jesus” as they gathered together to receive the tracts, and up Jesus the Savior of the world. We had the pleasure of speaking personally with Gen. Madero and the other soldiers were taken to El Paso hospital from Juarez to be cared for and ministered to by Santos and her faithful helpers in an improvised hospital ... We soon opened a Mission in Juarez as Santos had almost immediately gained permission of Madero to preach in the public Plaza ... Our Pen’t Ch. of the Nazarene has the honor public services which is great gain for us.50 The Mexican Revolution was leaving a trail of dead men in its wake. The result was a growing number of widows and orphans. Citizens were encouraged by the Roman Catholic priests to trust in the leaders of the time.51 state of the average citizen. After the Battle of Juarez, the atmosphere began to shift. The Mexican people needed answers. Elizondo claimed to have a solution. The Mexican people saw something hopeful within Elizondo which was also tangible. Many of the people began to seek Elizondo and her God. During prayer, many were heard saying, “No one has ever told us… no one cares for our souls.”52 Elizondo felt the best thing the ministry could do was “represent that there is a Father merciful and kind in all physical and moral anguish.”53 She also felt that if they could win the women of Mexico, they could win the home.54 The war had resulted in a great loss of

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Mexican men. Although this was heartbreaking, it was an opportunity for Santos to minister to the women of Mexico, as well as the children. In time, Elizondo received full liberty to practice as a midwife among the poor, and permission to call the city physician anytime she needed help.55 Elizondo Soon, Elizondo met a large family of believers that she referred to as the Quesada family. One of the family’s daughters felt a burden to help her people. She desired to open a school and promised to help teach the children if Elizondo promised to share her savior.56 Together, they worked towards opening and growing a school in Juarez. Many of the children that came to them were from unbelieving families. This was mainly because the parents wanted their children to learn English. In one letter, Elizondo expressed how she could not afford an English teacher. She did not want to miss the opportunity to minister to any Spanish speaking people, so she began to learn and teach herself English.57 When the time came, she started her English classes one hour before worship. When they were done with lessons, she would hand out hymns and start worship. Soon, another girl from the Quesada family came to the school to learn English. Santos invited the girl’s father and shortly after, the two were converted. By the year of 1915, the Sunday school in Juarez had the following staff: Bro. Quesada- Superintendent of Sunday school Transito Quesada- Youth teacher Elizondo Santos- Women’s ministry Juanita Cruz- Teacher of young ladies Maria Quesada- Treasurer58 By the year of 1916, the Nazarene Church of Juarez included the following: Services: Sunday 10 am: Sunday School 3 pm: Work in Jail 7:30 pm: Preaching Wednesday 3 pm: Dorcas society59 7:30 pm: Bible study Friday 7:30 pm: Prayer and testimonies60

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of sixty students.61 Between the years of 1915 and 1920, Elizondo continued her border work between El Paso and Juarez. Elizondo’s efforts were heart-felt and palpable by the Mexican community. Many of Elizondo’s colleagues did not feel the same admiration for her ministry. She continued to face great opposition from her male counterparts. Around the same time that she was facing opposition in ministry, Elizondo suffered the death of her mother and a brother-in-law. Two years later, she would suffer the death of her husband.62 Though she faced great personal sorrow, Elizondo felt an even greater sorrow for the Mexican people, so she continued to move forward in her ministry.

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Santos Elizondo During the Time of her Mission Work to Mexico from El Paso (Santos Elizondo Collection, Nazarene Archives. Used with Permission)

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By 1921, the work in Juarez was under the direction of Elizondo and the work in El Paso was under the direction of Rev and Mrs. E. Y. Davis.63 It was around this time that Santos was willed seven children by a widow who she had cared for in the hospital.64 Because the children had nowhere to go, Elizondo took them in. Elizondo’s care for the children led to her affection for other children who had no place to go. She began to take in more children, which led to the formation of an orphanage.65 Within a short day at a time and fully trusted the Lord to provide for her and the children.

In 1923, Reverend J.D. Scott, superintendent of the Mexican district wrote this about the orphanage: Recently on a cool morning, about four o’clock, Sister Santos got up to cover some of the children, and said she realized keenly how near the winter was and no cover for the children. For a minute there was fear, and then she said, “Lord, you have those blankets somewhere for me. Make the one who has them bring them in.” About nine o’clock that morning someone knocked on the door, and when she opened it there stood the president of the Catholic societies in Juarez, a beautiful cultured woman, saying, “Sister Santos, I woke up this morning thinking about you and your children and wondering what I could do to help you, and I thought of these blankets I had and was sure you could use them. Here are a dozen.” Sister Santos said, “So you are the one who had my blankets….”66

newspaper article reading: Caring for 45 children and 10 destitute old folks seemed a task beyond a lone woman’s strength and missionary’s pay. Yet the matron could turn no one away ... visitors at the home found 15 little girls huddled in a single bed!

They were circled about the mattress, feet toward the center and covered by a bit of a blanket. Sister churches including Trinity Methodist bought 15 mattresses for the orphanage when the need was discovered.67 By 1923, Elizondo had a church membership of sixty-one 68 a Sunday school and a hospital room where she gave aid to many who were in distress.69 Some

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of Elizondo’s male colleagues had a different outlook on her ministry. One male colleague wrote this about his visit: I was over in Juarez last night and at the end of the service some six came to the altar and I think about that number were baptized. Sister Santos is surely worthy and has suffered many things of the devil. She is getting things done. Anyone who is not prejudiced will never speak evil of the work of women after seeing what she has done and is doing. She is not faultless nor are any of us but for real performance she is way ahead of many of us.70 Although she was gaining some respect from her male counterparts, Elizondo continued to experience opposition from others. In 1926, the governor summoned her to register as a “woman of the gospel.”71 According to one document, the Church of the Nazarene stood out against her. After investigation, it was concluded by the city that Elizondo’s ministry should stay because the people and children had nowhere else to go. With the support of a Roman Catholic banker,72 Elizondo was given the opportunity to preach the gospel with full liberty.

Throughout the years Elizondo continued to make breakthroughs, but not without opposition. In 1931, she received a threat that read: We warn you that within a certain time you will be robbed of something that you will never be able to recover. We do not rob without giving warning. After the robbery, you will receive a letter. Guard your house, the children of your asylum, and ESPECIALLY YOUR PERSON. THE SCARLET VIPER DEMANDS VENGEANCE.73 Elizondo responded in a letter stating that she was at perfect peace because persecution brought great triumph, and the Lord would keep her.

Overcoming opposition and persecution was a regular theme in Santos’ ministry, but she continued to press forward allowing the Lord to strengthen her. In the mid 1930’s the superintendent said this about the Church in Juarez: The Juarez church is in the best condition I have ever seen it. The religious laws and recent restrictions of the government have only served to make our people more faithful and determined. Many new people attend the

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services, even Catholics are coming. And thank God for Sister Santos Elizondo and her faithful workers. The Lord has prepared them for such a time like this. They are wise enough not to infringe upon the laws and spiritual enough to feed the people the bread of life. Our church at Juarez is a spiritual clearing house doing business for the Lord and taking care of the needs of the people systematically and thoroughly. I do not know of any church so well organized and actively functioning in every way as this one. And it has all come about thru prayer. Sister Santos is certainly a woman of God and mighty in prayer.74 In 1941, after battling a sickness, Elizondo passed away. For

sickness. The fruit of Elizondo’s life points to her heart for God’s care of the many barriers, which left the door wide open for the gospel in Mexico.

What We Can Learn from McReynolds and Elizondo There are a number of things that today’s Church can learn from McReynolds and Elizondo’s work for modern multicultural ministry. The them. More often than not, the marginalized struggle to see themselves as part of the ongoing story of God. In “Outsiders in the Gospels,” Jane Kopas notes, Sandra Kirby and Kate McKenna describe the margin as the context in which those who suffer injustice, inequality and exploitation live their lives. At the edges that others have, and they lack the voice to make their experience count as worth knowing. In many societies, insiders, a small group of people in positions of in the production or shaping of knowledge. When the marginalized can make their voices heard, they 75

In the Gospels and throughout history, the marginalized have been those who are poor, ill, and lack social status. Both men and women can be

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marginalized, but women are a part of a unique group that can have an inherent mark of exclusion.76 Elizondo was marginalized in multiple ways (she was a woman, poor, had a chronic illness, and was from a marginalized ethnic group, while her own people would not often accept her chosen faith) and because of this, her leadership was crucial for reaching Spanish speaking people. As a whole, the Spanish speaking community and local government did not want anything to do with the Protestants. This was not because there were no other Protestants that looked like them, but because power. For Spanish speaking people in the border regions, American Christians were known for their tactics of power and control. Seeing Elizondo as a marginalized person, in leadership and modeling this new way of life, helped the Mexican people she ministered among. Many of the Mexicans, especially in El Paso and Juarez did not feel seen nor validated by the Church or by their country’s leaders. How could a gospel of justice be preached when the ones preaching the message were continually turning a blind eye on the injustices that many were experiencing daily? How could love for one’s neighbor be expected when those who had the power to help were only helping themselves? Esau McCauley writes: According to Isaiah, true practice of religion ought to result in concrete change, the breaking of yokes. He does not mean the occasional private act of liberation, but “to break the chains of injustice.” What could this mean other than a transformation of the structures of societies that trap people in hopelessness? Jesus has in mind the creation of a different type of world.77 No matter who Elizondo was or where she was coming from, what she offered the Spanish speaking community needed to bring insight and value to their unique experiences. Their experiences needed to be validated and addressed. Along with this, it is important to note that Elizondo was empowered by Maye McReynolds, who was also a marginalized person as a woman within a White male dominated world. McReynolds ability to break the structures in her own society was key to helping Elizondo break the structures in her own situation.

Elizondo faced a great amount of opposition in her ministry, but for every roadblock, there was an open door of opportunity that changed

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the Mexican men did not want a woman leader all while abhorring the thought of a woman preacher himself. How could the people within his own congregation learn to value the leadership of women when he, himself did not value women’s leadership? If that narrative was not challenged, there would be no change. The opportunities that Elizondo was given challenged the narrative and the underlying power structure.78 As a result, Elizondo was able to give a voice to those who were otherwise unheard and defenseless. Once again, Elizondo saw leadership from the margins of women in ministry within the Church of the Nazarene, gave Elizondo a vision and encouragement to challenge those narratives which oppressed her as well. The fact that McReynolds apparently supported Elizondo over the White male leadership of Athans, must have greatly encouraged Elizondo to continue to challenge the limits found within Mexican culture and even the patriarchy of her own family.

If today’s Church desires to be successful in multicultural ministry, Building a multicultural ministry requires shifting the way we think, not only in the Church, but in our workspaces and in our communities with people who come from different social classes and cultures. According to David Anderson, multicolored does not mean multicultural.79 Adding in women, or those who are disabled, to leadership is not acceptable as being multicultural. Many ministries have placed people from different cultures and races on their leadership teams just to meet the quota for what can be considered diverse or multicultural. This cannot be where it ends. If a ministry wants the honor of calling itself multicultural, it must allow room for non-dominant cultures to express themselves in ways that are authentic to themselves. This is what can be seen by how McReynolds allowed Elizondo the freedom to create a ministry in El Paso on her own terms, and not one rigidly following the model of Los Angeles. If ministry like this does not occur, non-dominant cultures will most likely be left feeling society should be entrusted in making important decisions and creating topics of conversation within the larger Church. According to Austin Channing Brown, if diversity efforts are not paired with greater change, they can have the opposite of their intended effect. They keep the Church

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feeling innocent and progressive, all while serving the roots of injustice.80 Members must truly seek to understand the experience of others who are not like them. This is a lifelong dedication that involves allowing different cultural groups to share their experiences without expecting them to do so within the dominant culture’s framework. This is how Maye McReynolds appears to have worked in her ministry relationship with Santos Elizondo, and it remains good ministry practice today.

The second lesson that the Church can learn from McReynolds and Elizondo’s ministry for multicultural ministry is that character building is far more valuable than the perfect execution of our techniques. This methodology. According to Yount and Barnett, “mission agencies81 tend to be pragmatic problem solvers, seeking effective ways to motivate, enlist, organize, and replicate success in ministry.”82 The issue with this approach is that ministry can be condensed to technique alone. The Church has been commissioned to make disciples of all nations. Being a follower of Jesus is not bound to one race, gender, culture, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

Techniques have become the way by which many churches believe success is achieved. These techniques are then taken into different contexts where culturally they cannot be applied. When results are not congruent with the model’s intended outcome, the church perceives it as a failure and begins to move on and seek out the next best method. This mindset causes the Church to focus more on numbers83 as a picture of growth and success rather than a genuine character and life which is transformed through discipleship. This leaves the Church populated with an overabundance of nominal Christians84 with unchanged hearts and lives. But such an attitude was not part of the Holiness Movement of which McReynolds and Elizondo essential part of the conversion experience.

Yount and Barnett use Jesus as an example to address three dimensions of spiritual character.85 Their perspective will be used to analyze Elizondo’s ministry, highlighting what spiritual character may look spiritual character is prayer. Both Reynolds and Elizondo were women of prayer. In every decision and in every need, they sought God. Elizondo and her peers recognized the value of method and order, but without inviting the Holy Spirit into the ministry, even a perfect plan could fail.86 A church can be built, but that does not mean the presence of the Lord will be there.87

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key holiness attitude of reliance on the Holy Spirit and prayer for mission success.

The second dimension of spiritual character is priority. Today, there are numerous models for church planting that prioritize numbers rather than people.88 What is often missing is true discipleship. Elizondo’s devotion to character building in others was a greater priority than how many people became members of the church. Likewise, McReynolds speaks about her and Elizondo’s mission in El Paso when she states, “There are about a hundred who gave their names desiring membership, but we could not receive some until we know of conditions in their lives and souls.”89 According to Mike Breen, “A gifted discipler is someone who invites people into a covenantal relationship with him or her but challenges that person to live into his or her identity in very direct, yet graceful ways."90 Elizondo lived a life of holiness, modeling its tangibility within her community based on what she saw and learned from McReynolds and the Nazarenes in Los Angeles. She shared the culture of the Spanish speaking people, but she presented something vastly different from the hopelessness of their pain and suffering. As Yount and Barnett express, there is a visible difference between those who are in their hearts prayerful, humble, and caring and those who merely clothe themselves in these behaviors.91 Through Elizondo’s example and teaching, the Spanish speaking community realized that they could also have joy, peace, faith, and hope in the midst of suffering. Once again, a transformed life is a key part of the holiness teachings of groups like the historic Church of the Nazarene.

The third dimension of spiritual character is position. As we are repeatedly shown, the values of the world are vastly different from the values of the Kingdom of God. Some would even say the Kingdom of God is an upside-down Kingdom.92 The world grasps at power and authority, while the Kingdom requires becoming a servant. In Philippians chapter two, we see Jesus giving up his divine privileges and humbling himself to the position of a slave.93 Elizondo constantly submitted herself and her ministry to God, as did McReynolds, even while their male counterparts often seemed to use their position to remain “in power.” Both McReynolds

empower the marginalized.

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In Ephesians chapter four, Paul discusses the gifts of leadership that God has given to build up the Church. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, Ephesians 4:12, Paul writes that it is the responsibility of those with these gifts to equip God’s people to do God’s work. It is also implied that all Christians have a spiritual commission or work of ministry as a functioning part of the body. This is not to say that technique and methodology are in no way effective. Different techniques have proven to be helpful in shortterm ministry and have led to swift developments and effective delivery to audiences where there is an appropriate emphasis. Although this is true, building an effective ministry that impacts hearts and lives demands more than technique alone. God’s word has impacted people through the ages and across cultures because of the unchanging principles that are contained within it. “Character anchors itself in unchanging principles.”94 Maybe this is how the Church can become all things to all people, while not being conformed to the world and its ways.

Conclusion The ministry of Maye McReynolds and Santos Elizondo to the marginalized Spanish speaking communities shook the power structure and changed the narrative for many others. Although remarkable, their story is like many others who have been marginalized; forgotten in a history written by the dominant power brokers. Systems and structures evolve just as time evolves, leaving the marginalized hanging on to hope. It seems to take one or more lifetimes of struggle to see any progress. What is more disappointing is that the attitude and response of the Church towards the marginalized has changed very little. Throughout scripture we see God’s care and concern for the powerless. Jesus’ ministry was a threat to the dominant culture of his time, but nowadays it seems like culture is threat for the Church. The marginalized continue to grow weary, while those in power cannot seem

while also celebrating diversity?

The hard work that comes with uprooting unjust systems and structures does not guarantee our remembrance. Those who choose the side of justice must realize that the marginalized of the future may not be told of their work. Does this mean that our work towards justice does not matter?

Absolutely not. Our work matters today because there are others who need

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us now. There are still people being oppressed by age old systems, who need what we have to give right now when the stories of yesterday have been forgotten. They need to see people who look like them changing the narrative, even if the change seems small. Many of my African American ancestors were able to bear wrongs patiently with the hope of a better future. They are not able to see me today, but a lot has changed in America.

That does not mean there are not still systems and structures in place which need to change, but I have the opportunity to speak and act against unjust systems without the same fear that my ancestors once held.

The Church that chooses the side of justice must continually submit their hopes and desires to God. We should take courage in keeping our eyes open and caring for the people around us, using our power to empower the marginalized. We must show up every day even when it seems like our work does not matter, because someone is always watching.

Someone will be blessed. We must use our gifts and talents to serve one McReynolds and Santos Elizondo, we should use every opportunity to minister the gospel. Finally, we must take the words of God seriously when God said in James 1:2-4 to count it all joy when troubles of any kind come our way. For when our faith is tested, endurance has the chance to grow.

When that endurance is fully developed, we will be perfect, complete, and needing nothing.

End Notes Leanne M. Dzubinski, Women in the Mission of the Church Their Opportunities and Obstacles throughout Christian History. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic (2021): 4.

1

“Mexican people” is used interchangeably with “Spanish speaking people.” Modern day California was once a part of Mexico. It was not until 1848 that California became a part of the United States. Many of the Spanish speakers were of Mexican decent.

2

3 E.A. Girvin, “The Passing of Mrs. A. F. McReynolds,” Herald of Holiness 21(1) (March 30, 1932): 16.

Rebecca Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene.

Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House (1993): 50.

4

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5 Zavada, Jack. “Nazarene Churches Were Founded on Holiness Doctrine.” Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/history-ofthe-nazarene-churches-700057, Accessed February 18, 2020. “Holiness Movement.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc.

Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/event/Holinessmovement.

6

2017–2021,” accessed January 7, 2022, https://2017.manual.nazarene.org/ Stan Ingersol, “Maye McReynolds- A Heart for the Spanish Speaking People.” Past to Present E-News Column USA, Church of the Nazarene.

7

8

E.A. Girvin, “The Passing of Mrs. A. F. McReynolds.”

Steve Cooley, “Nazarene Roots: The First Hispanic Nazarenes, 1903-1906” Herald of Holiness 72(24) (December 15, 1983): 9.

9

10

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 50.

11 Mrs. M. McReynolds, “The Work and the Workers,” Herald of Holiness (1912).

12

E.A. Girvin, “The Passing of Mrs. A. F. McReynolds.”

13

Cooley, “Nazarene Roots,” 9.

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Our Spanish Mission.” Nazarene Messenger. 8(41) (April 21, 1904): 7.

14

15 Mrs. M. McReynolds, “El Paso Mexican Mission.” Herald of Holiness. 1(8) (June 5, 1912): 8.

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “The Redemption of Mexico,” The Other Sheep. 5(6) (December 1917): 1–2.

16

17

Ibid.

18

Ibid.

19

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 51.

20

Ibid.

21

Ibid.

22

Ibid., 52-53.

23

Ibid., 52.

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24 Elsie Wallace was the only other woman besides McReynolds who had served in the role. Cf. Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 62-68.

25 Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo, 1927. Hinshaw passes on Elizondo’s story in her own words.

26

Ibid.

27

Ibid.

28 Elizondo apparently suffered from some sort of unknown chronic illness.

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Spanish Mission.” Nazarene Messenger.

11(36) (March 7, 1907): 7.

29

30 Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo. 97.

31

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Spanish Mission,” 7.

32

Ibid.

Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo. 97. Santos may have also suffered physical abuse from 33

this suspicion. In general, there is not much documentation of Elizondo’s personal life and her family. Besides her husband, sources also show she had at least one daughter.

34

Ibid.

35

Ibid., 98

36

Ibid.

37

Ibid.

38

Ibid., 99.

39

Ibid.

40 “Church of the Nazarene,” Journal of The Seventh General Assembly (1928): 92–93.

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Spanish Mission,” 7. These rancheros were where hundreds of Mexican men from all over found work.

41

42 Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Spanish Mission, El Paso, Tex.” Nazarene Messenger. 13(38) (March 18, 1909): 3–4.

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43 Mrs. M. McReynolds, “Gospel Work Among the Mexicans of El Paso, Texas.” Nazarene Messenger. 13(42) (April 15, 1909): 1.

44

Ibid.

45

Ibid.

Santos Elizondo, “Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mex.,” August 25, 1915. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS. There is no documentation about what the political accusations might have been.

46

47 Reynolds, “Gospel Work among the Mexicans of El Paso, Texas,” 1. McReynolds writes about not being able to “receive” some who want membership until they knew the condition of their lives and souls.

48 Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 55-56.

It is perhaps important to note that Speros Demetrios Athans (1883-1969) was also a bit of a marginalized voice as well. He was born in Turkey, raised in the Greek Orthodox Church and spent time in Corfu, Egypt, and Great Britain before he arrived in America as a sailor in 1903. While being processed as an immigrant he was given a New Testament in Greek and became a Nazarene. He studied Spanish in California to work with the Hispanic community, especially in evangelism. In 1931 he joined Methodist mission work in Latin America, later retiring in 1949. He would become a major translator of hymns into Spanish.

49

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 54.

50

Mexican Revolution (1910-20).

51 Elizondo, Santos. “Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mexico.” El Paso, Texas, August 25, 1915. General Pancho Villa was one person who the priests in Juarez encouraged the citizens to trust.

52

Mrs. M. McReynolds, “El Paso Mexican Mission,” 8.

53 Santos Elizondo, “Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mex.”

Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo. 100.

54

55 Santos Elizondo, “Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mex.” 56

Ibid.

57

Ibid.

rountree: Women in the early nazarene mission among sPanish sPeakers 117

58 Santos Elizondo, “Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mex.”

A Dorcas Society was a local group of people, usually based in a church, with a mission of providing clothing to the poor.

59

60 Santos Elizondo, “Letter to E.G. Anderson,” April 15, 1916. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS. 61

Ibid.

62 Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo. 97. According to Elizondo, her husband died as a saved man in 1917.

63

Rev. J.D. Scott, “Mexican Assembly.” General Board of Foreign

Amy N. Hinshaw, Messengers of the Cross in Latin AmericaSantos Elizondo, 99.

64

65 Ibid. There is no substantial documentation about the development of the orphanage.

66

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 58.

67

Ibid.

68

About six or eight of these children were from her orphanage.

J.B. Chapman, “Foreign Missionary Work on Our Own Border.”

Herald of Holiness (January 10, 1923): 2.

69

70

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 57.

71 “Church of The Nazarene,” Journal of The Seventh General Assembly (1928): 92–93.

According to Elizondo, this banker had helped her comply with the laws in the past.

72

73 “Threat Letter” to Santos Elizondo, Julio 31, 1931. Translation by H.T. Reza. From the Santos Elizondo Collection in the Nazarene Archives.

74

Laird, Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene, 60.

Jane Kopas “Outsiders in the Gospels,” The Way 33(2) (April 1993): 117. Retrieved on February 2, 2022 at: https://www.theway.org.uk/ back/33Kopas.pdf 75

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76 This is in comparison to their male counterparts. There are other groups today that experience inherent marks. For example, people of color in America can be marginalized before gender is considered.

77 Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP Academic (2020): 94.

78 One great example of this was when Gen. Frances Madero (a wealthy male politician) gave Santos the liberty to preach in the public

to a marginalized individual. Today, power structures are still in place. They placed.

David A. Anderson and Margarita R. Cabellon, eds., Multicultural Ministry Handbook: Connecting Creatively to a Diverse World. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books (2010).

79

Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. New York, NY: Convergent Books (2018): 168.

80

81

Church ministries tend to be this way was well.

82 William R. Yount and Mike Barnett, Called to Reach: Equipping Cross-Cultural Disciplers. Nashville, TN: B & H Academic (2007): 9.

People can begin to be seen as numbers and not individuals.

When this happens, numbers can often be celebrated more than changed lives.

83

Nominal Christians or cultural Christians “practice” Christianity in a way that is ritual, but there is no heart/character changing or transformation.

84

Yount and Barnett, Called to Reach: 15-24. Jesus should always be our example when it comes to character formation.

85

86 The Church of Laodicea was a church that focused on wealth and culture. They measured success by wealth. As a result, they lost focus on what real success was about. Real success was obedience to God. 87 God is always present in the sense that God is omnipresent.

This statement is in the sense that the people would not experience the manifestation of God’s divine blessing.

88 89

Texas,” 1.

These numbers can include people and/or material wealth.

McReynolds, “Gospel Work among the Mexicans of El Paso,

rountree: Women in the early nazarene mission among sPanish sPeakers 119

90 Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture : How to Release a Missional Movement by Discipling People like Jesus Did, Third edition.

Greenville, SC: 3DM Publishing (2017): 14-15.

91

Yount and Barnett, Called to Reach. 10.

92 The values of the Kingdom are seen in an inverse relationship to the values of the world.

This did not mean that Jesus had no power or authority. It showed that he took on a humble position, while knowing exactly who he was. This also contrasts with Adam and Eve, who grasped at equality with God. Their disobedience is what led to their separation from God. 93

94

Yount and Barnett, Called to Reach, 10.

Works Cited Anderson, David A., and Margarita R. Cabellon, eds.

2010 Multicultural Ministry Handbook: Connecting Creatively to a Diverse World. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books.

Breen, Mike 2017

Building a Discipling Culture: How to Release a Missional Movement by Discipling People like Jesus Did. Third edition. Greenville, SC: 3DM Publishing.

Brown, Austin Channing 2018 I’m Still Here : Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. New York, NY: Convergent Books.

Chapman, J.B. 1923

“Foreign Missionary Work on Our Own Border.” Herald of Holiness (January 10, 1923): 2.

Church of the Nazarene 1928 “Church of The Nazarene.” Journal of The Seventh General Assembly (1928): 92–93. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS. 2017–2021.” Accessed January 7, 2022. https://2017. manual.nazarene.org/section/christian-holiness-and-

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“Nazarene Roots: The First Hispanic Nazarenes, 19031906” Herald of Holiness 72(24) (December 15, 1983): 9.

Dzubinski, Leanne M. 2021 Women in the Mission of the Church Their Opportunities and Obstacles throughout Christian History. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Elizondo, Santos 1916 “Letter to E.G. Anderson,” April 15, 1916. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided

by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS. 1915

“Report of the Work of the Lord in the City of Juarez, Mex.,” August 25, 1915. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS.

Encyclopedia Britannica 2021 “Holiness Movement.” Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica, inc. Accessed October 27, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/event/Holinessmovement.

Girvin, E.A. 1932

“The Passing of Mrs. A. F. McReynolds.” Herald of Holiness 21(1) (March 30, 1932): 16.

Hinshaw, Amy N. 1927 “Santos Elizondo,” In Messengers of the Cross in Latin America. Kansas City, MO: Woman’s Missionary Society, Church of the Nazarene.

Ingersol, Stan n.d.

Kopas, Jane 1993

Laird, Rebecca 1993

“Maye McReynolds- A Heart for the Spanish Speaking People.” Past to Present E-News Column. Pension and

“Outsiders in the Gospels,” The Way 33(2) (April):117126. Retrieved on Februrary 2, 2022 at: https://www. theway.org.uk/back/33Kopas.pdf.

Ordained Women in the Church of the Nazarene. Kansas City, Mo.: Nazarene Publishing House.

rountree: Women in the early nazarene mission among sPanish sPeakers 121

McCaulley, Esau 2020 Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

McReynolds, Maye 1904 “Our Spanish Mission.” Nazarene Messenger. 8(41) (April 21, 1904): 7.

1907

“Spanish Mission.” Nazarene Messenger. 11(36) (March 7, 1907):7.

1909

“Spanish Mission, El Paso, Tex.” Nazarene Messenger.

13(38) (March 18, 1909): 3–4.

1909

“Gospel Work Among the Mexicans of El Paso, Texas.”

Nazarene Messenger. 13(42) (April 15, 1909): 1.

1912

“The Work and the Workers.” Herald of Holiness (1912).

From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS.

1912

“El Paso Mexican Mission.” Herald of Holiness. 1(8) (June 5, 1912): 8.

1917

“The Redemption of Mexico.” The Other Sheep. 5(6) (December 1917): 1–2.

Scott, J.D. 1921

“Mexican Assembly.” General Board of Foreign Missions: 27. From scanned material from the Santos Elizondo Collection provided by Stan Ingersol, the archivist of The Church of the Nazarene Archives in Lenexa, KS.

Yount, William R., and Mike Barnett 2007 Called to Reach: Equipping Cross-Cultural Disciplers.

Nashville, TN: B & H Academic.

Zavada, Jack 2022

“Nazarene Churches Were Founded on Holiness Doctrine.” Learn Religions. Accessed January 30, 2022. https://www.learnreligions.com/history-of-thenazarene-churches-700057.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 122-139 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.07

Thomas Hampton

The Integration of Black Students at Asbury Theological Seminary

Abstract: This article explores the process of racial integration at Asbury students, who began taking classes in 1958. Of particular importance is the response of the local community in Wilmore and Jessamine County, Kentucky, which was strongly opposed to the move and led to a shooting incident at the Seminary’s administration building which made national news at the time. With material drawn from an interview with Rev. Douglass support of some administrators, Free Methodist students, and E. Stanley Jones all played a role in making this important transition happen, even with some opposing voices on the Board of Trustees. This key aspect of the history of Asbury Theological Seminary is often left as a marginal footnote

Keywords: Asbury Theological Seminary, integration, Wilmore, Kentucky, Civil Rights Thomas Hampton is a doctoral student in Intercultural Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

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Historical Context of Racial Integration as Asbury Seminary At the time of the Civil War, Jessamine County, was 40% African American, but post-war persecution1 lowered the number to one-quarter by an underfunded sector of Nicholasville called “Herveytown” on the east side of Nicholasville’s Main Street. With enforced transportation segregation, high poll taxes, and its own gerrymandered congressional district, Black people2 with resources continued their exodus, and Jessamine County was 9.2% Black by 1960.3 Located in Jessamine County, Asbury Theological Seminary largely followed the beliefs and practices common to its location in rural 1958, communication between school President J.C. McPheeters and the than by any stated beliefs in equality or inclusion from the institution’s leadership. Non-Black international students attended the school only a few years after its foundation, but in practice there was clear discrimination in admissions against Black people for much of the Seminary’s history.

Following historian Peter Wallenstein’s thesis that racial integration is not a moment in time but an ongoing process,4 this paper constructs a brief history of the struggle for and against integration of Black people within the Asbury Theological Seminary student body, especially leading up in decision making, racial integration was either deemed an impractical distraction or a vital sign of a healthy community. Opinion would long be divided at the school, though white people in the surrounding Jessamine County community were almost uniformly against it.

An important moment in the desegregation process was a lawsuit applied and been denied admission by the University of Kentucky.5 The lawsuit pitted the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled institutions could be segregated if they were “separate but equal”, against the 1904 “Day Law,” which made segregation compulsory in Kentucky schools.6 Lyman Johnson’s lawsuit for admission to the University of Kentucky Graduate Schools was made on the grounds that there was not a separate Black institution offering an equal level of graduate education.

In April of 1949, federal judge H. Church Ford ruled, “Until the state shall establish a graduate school substantially equal to the graduate school

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at the University of Kentucky, it must admit Negroes on the same basis as whites.”7 This case desegregated the University of Kentucky graduate programs, and that summer somewhere between thirty and forty Black 8 Because of their proximity and because both institutions were in the category of graduate programs without a Black equivalent in the state, faculty and administration at Asbury Seminary would have been well aware of what Johnson’s lawsuit meant for them.

Just one month later, on May 24, 1949, the seminary faculty voted unanimously to send a pro-integration resolution to J.C. McPheeters, and a student committee expressed the same interest. Explaining the resolution, the faculty wrote: The Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary desire to voice their conviction that compulsory segregation, on the basis of color alone, is un-American and unChristian. They desire to bear witness to their conviction that the doors of this institution should not be closed to They feel that the church should give leadership in modifying our community mores.9 The resolution further made a theological case for human rights evangelicals should prioritize the freedoms of minorities over collectivism that rights for minorities was a natural extension of a Christian doctrine of universal human worth. Considering these rights, practical propositions included stating that the Seminary should be a place of equal opportunity, and that the Seminary should publicly stand against compulsory segregation.10 While faculty were consistent in arguing against compulsory segregation, they were not arguing for full integration either. The resolution also stated, “It is expressly understood that the removal of racial discriminatory legislation does not commit one to advocacy of ‘one world, one race, one creed’.” And “It is also understood that an encouragement of intermarriage between race does not follow from an advocacy of human rights.”11 It was a public statement that would have been non-offensive to the majority of white Americans in 1949. Asbury Seminary was not a leader in integrating Black students; it followed the exact timeline of comparable

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institutions in the state of Kentucky. Motivated by the same pressures, 1950 would also be the year a Black student would be admitted to many of the other Kentucky Christian graduate schools: Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Nazareth College (now Spalding University), and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.12 A student committee also wrote in favor of allowing Black students admission to the school, and McPheeters shared it with the Board of Trustees applicants no matter race or gender.13 Most of the Trustees responded Seminary does not, within the context of its religious principles, its heritage, its mission and its goals, discriminate on the basis of sex, race, or national or ethnic origin.” This was a major step for the Seminary, but it also opened them up to critique.

Some board members remained advocates of racial segregation.

One of the most outspoken segregationists on the board was Walter Hudson (W.H.) Butler. First, he argued against integration at all. Once it became a legally necessary path, he tried to delay integration, arguing that the school should not integrate until controversy over the dismissal of a pro-integration professor had died down.14 Though President McPheeters would state he was theoretically in favor of integration, he did not believe practical implementation of it was worth the social blowback. He also cited Asbury College and Seminary founder, H.C. Morrison as someone who would be upset by integration if he were still alive.15 Instead, McPheeters supported a solution in line with Plessy v. Ferguson’s decision of “separate but equal.” McPheeters said, “I would like to have a school like our Seminary at Lexington with a close cooperation between it and the Seminary. This would be the greatest possible opportunity to spread holiness among the Negroes.”16 It was believed that the opposition in Jessamine County would be too strong to resist. Butler thought similarly on this issue, concluding one letter with an appeal to pragmatism, “We can maintain segregation and be just as helpful and Christlike as our Northern opponents. Practically all of the North would feel and act just as we do if they had as many negroes as we have.”17 One sign of Butler’s incoherent position was that census data shows the number of Black people in Jessamine County in 1950 was around ten percent - exactly in line with the national average.

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In McPheeters’s correspondence, it is clear that a major reason the Board had voted to integrate was not goodwill or an intrinsic sense of justice, but fear of a lawsuit if they did not.18 His position was one which would keep the Seminary free of legal challenges, while de facto continuing the practice of segregation. Writing to McPheeters, Butler was clear that though they had made the public statement in alignment with the court order not to discriminate, the school should not accept more Black students than the law required: “You will recall that we passed no formal resolution to admit Negroes but the board voted to leave to the judgment of president McPheeters to admit ONE negro, SPECIFICALLY, the African recommended

by Bro. Reid.” (Emphasis in original)19 Butler stated that he consulted with a placed the Seminary with other integrated seminaries without needing to admit others.20 Shaumba, an African student hand-picked by Alec Reid, a Methodist missionary on the Board.21 he was selectively admitted, then used to exclude further enrollment of Black people showed a tokenization of Shaumba by the Seminary and conclusively revealed the school’s motivations. From a legal protection standpoint, token integration worked for the Seminary, because by admitting one Black student they were no longer considered segregated. In 1956, almost three quarters of Kentucky colleges admitted Black students.22 Asbury College was one of eleven that did not, but Asbury Seminary was listed with the integrated colleges along with all the public colleges.23 Still, admission of Shaumba was a sign of a small step toward acceptance of criticism on the issue.

Douglass Fitch and Gene Alston Americans to attend Asbury Theological Seminary. Both were top graduates of Greenville College – a Free Methodist school in Illinois with longstanding connections to the Seminary. Enrolling in the Fall of 1958, Christianity under the ministry of Julia Shelhammer, a white Free Methodist

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Minister who focused on ministry to African Americans in Washington D.C. She helped raise Alston, brought him up in Free Methodist churches,24 and Douglass Fitch, a Pentecostal from inner-city St. Louis, felt called to the pastorate while at a college revival service.25 He applied to Asbury and was accepted with a full scholarship from the Broadhurst foundation.26 Before college, he had little experience in majority white spaces, and for him getting to Asbury Seminary was an intense culture shock, because in his life he had not personally experienced intense racism before.

When he was picked up from the airport by Seminary students and driven to the school, Fitch remembers being dropped off with his luggage in front of the dormitory. As he was unloading his bags, a car of white men pulled up next to him, saying “What in the hell are you doing over on this side of town?”27 Fitch told them he just wanted to get to his building and ran inside with his luggage.

Unsure which room was his and fearing he would be chased, Fitch began knocking on doors, but people either did not answer or closed their where two students – Gale Buckley and Harold Brown – listened to his story of what had happened and invited him inside. They hid him behind a dresser. The sun was setting, and the late-summer heat was overwhelming.

While he was hidden, the people from the car knocked on each door, asking if they had seen a “colored guy.” Eventually they got to their door and knocked. Buckley answered the door saying, “No, he’s not in here.” But one of the men would not go away. The students could smell alcohol on his breath, and Brown prayed until the man exited.28 Unsure how to respond, they called Dean W. Curry Mavis, to tell him what had happened. Mavis called the police who came quickly.

When the police chief saw Fitch he said, “I don’t believe in this integration stuff.”29 Seeing that they would not get much support, and because he did not have a room yet, Buckley and Brown told Fitch to spend the night in the belltower atop the Administration building. He recalls hearing gunshots in the night.30 Things did not get easier for Fitch as he spent time on campus.

He stayed with Buckley and Brown for safety whenever he went outside.

Though professors all allowed him into the classrooms, many students were far less welcoming. Fitch recalls:

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And the interesting thing was, going to class, any class, the white students in the class were unbelievably racist in how they dealt with me as a student and how they dealt with the teachers. They didn’t curse the teachers, but they were adamant, they were hostile to any of the professors who even remotely thought my being there, my being present was alright, because the students did not think it was alright. They didn’t think the professors even had a right to declare anything good about that. And they challenged every class I went in, they challenged the professors.31 When going into the town, Fitch and Alston had to pretend to babble instead of speaking English, because they would be more accepted if the people thought they were foreigners.32 At least once their identity was discovered, and they were chased back to the dormitories.33 Multiple other forms of harassment have been recorded.34 One form of persecution they faced was a shooting at 3am on September 23rd. Five shotgun blasts came from a passing automobile, with two shots striking the Morrison Administration Building, where Fitch most extensively written up in Lexington’s Herald Leader. The article does

article describes the general attitude of the town as dismissive. “Observers in this little Jessamine County community were practically unanimous in their opinion that the blasts were the latest in a series of ‘minor’ events aimed at the enrollment of two Negro students in the Methodist-supported seminary, a private institution not supported by public funds.”35 The Jessamine Journal, which had multiple sections reporting minor crimes and town gossip made no mention of the shooting.

The total lack of local news coverage of the incident in Jessamine County is unsurprising given the code of silence shared by most white people in Jessamine County on the topic of race, though anyone who worked against the apartheid system was severely punished. In the 1950s, all businesses in the area were required to have separate bathrooms for colored people, and public schools remained segregated through the decade. When county superintendent Cornelius Hager held a meeting about integration of the local schools in 1956, a group of between 300 and 500 protested angrily. The Ku Klux Klan burned a cross in the front

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lawn of the High School. The school was not integrated, and Hager soon resigned.36 Though not reported locally, fueled by public interest in the topic of school integration,37 news of the shooting appeared in papers far more distant from the Seminary including the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California38 and the Port Angeles Evening News in Port Angeles, Washington.39 In conducting research for this paper, I found more than today, the shooting was likely one of the most widely covered news events in the Seminary’s history.

The Seminary itself was tight-lipped about the issue, declining to no arrests had been made. Many of the newspaper articles did point out that there were two “Negro” students staying at the Seminary, and because of earlier harassment they had reported, they were clear that the shooting was explicitly motivated by a belief in segregation.40 Wilmore Police Chief Kirtley Woolums questioned two people the next day. The two men, about twenty years old,41 denied being involved in the shooting, but admitted going to the dormitory earlier in the week in a They stated that they did not chase Fitch or Alston, and their denial of these events is printed in the Herald,42 while the Herald-Leader considered it a confession. It is also notable that Fitch and Alston are named in the followkept anonymous. The Seminary’s Board of Trustees also questioned one of the men, though they declined to press charges.43 An October 2nd article in the Lexington Herald shared that the State Police had given a lie detector test to two Jessamine County men, but they had passed the test.44 The investigation would not share any further results after this announcement. The article also said that though other non45

The Messenger and Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky did not share the names of either the people questioned or Fitch’s and Alston’s

of the administration building, target of the shotgun blasts.”46 Multiple

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other versions of the Associated Press story ran across the country, many 47 If Fitch or Alston had seen the papers, they likely would have feared even more for their safety than they already were.

The international enrollment of the Seminary was frequently Inclusivity in other areas was highlighted to downplay the violence against Fitch and Alston. Likely a quote from one of the administrators, many news articles reported that students from China, Japan, the Philippines and other countries had previously enrolled “without incident.”48 Another article from just a week later titled “Asbury Theological Seminary Students From Lexington Herald-Leader highlighting the variety of backgrounds represented at the Seminary. Highlighting the athletic achievements of one student and sharing about another student who used to be a school principal, the Herald Dr. Sam Kamalesan, a veterinarian and singer from India49 who would later become Vice President of World Vision International, and he shares his positive experience at the Seminary. While on its face the article is a positive celebration of diversity, written just a week after the shooting while forms of diversity that would be acceptable to most whites in Kentucky without mentioning the African Americans – Fitch and Alston.

Even with the intentional diversions, immediately following the shooting, J.C. McPheeters received letters from donors opposing the Seminary’s integration. Responding to each of the letters, McPheeters said that there had been Black students who had applied before but had been 50 McPheeters also used the earlier presence of Shaumba as a way of minimizing the importance of allowing African Americans. To assuage the fears of segregationists, McPheeters also wrote in multiple letters assuaging concerned donors, “it is not likely that the Seminary will ever have other than a small group of colored students.”51 Revival A major revival led by E. Stanley Jones had been scheduled for October 9th through the 17th, 52 just two weeks after the shooting. Jones was a well-known missionary to India, and his experiences with the caste system had woken him to the injustices in the United States.53 Jones

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personally invited Fitch to the still non-integrated Asbury College (a different institution), across the street, seating him in the front row of the revival.54 Fully aware of the opposition to Fitch’s presence, near the beginning of the revival Jones pointed directly to Fitch and said he would stop the revival and leave immediately if Fitch could not be present. People had been walking in the aisles full of energy before the pronouncement, but after, Fitch recalls they were especially red in the face. “They were truly disturbed.”55 He did not know Jones otherwise and was quite worried when this statement was made, but Jones’s reputation as a successful missionary – twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize among other accolades – allowed him to make that sort of proclamation without direct confrontation in the moment. He integrated spiritual revival language with social concern informed by his international missionary experiences, and at the conclusion of the revival, despite the internal controversy, over 500 students came to the altar dedicating their lives to Christian service.56 Jones spoke of integration’s importance – calling civil rights “a God-touched movement” – and describing the evils of racial discrimination as giving fuel to communists and hurting the cause of Christ. Jones did not directly mention other members on the Asbury College Board, but in his public confrontation with racism at the school, he was critiquing the perspective held by a majority of the other Board members.57 Still, despite his otherwise successful revival, Jones resigned from the Asbury College Board not long after, citing the segregation of the school in his resignation letter: “I am at a loss to see how missionaries can go to the colored races from Asbury College and represent an institution that segregates colored people.”58 Post-Script Asbury Theological Seminary, went on to earn a PhD in education,59 and remained active in cross-racial ministry in the Free Methodist denomination his whole life.60 was on the Board of Greenville College, and died in 2005.61 Rev. Douglass Fitch transferred after two years to Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. While a student there, he was selected by other students for a debate with Malcom X,62 and his later civil rights work with the NAACP, Detroit Industrial Mission, and Congress of Racial Equality bridged the Black Power movement with principles of non-

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violence.63 From 1974 to 1987 he worked at the United Methodist Church’s Board of Higher Education and Ministry, opening Methodist ethnic ministry centers around the country. He then pastored at Downs United Methodist Church in Oakland, California for twelve years. In another ironic twist, Fitch was named the pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church retired from the church in 2006 and continues to live in California. I am especially grateful for his openness to discussing his experiences at Asbury with me on multiple occasions. He is one of the wisest people I have ever met. He has maintained ethical consistency through trial, and his ministry adequately recognize him for his important role in the improvement of the school.64 The racist practices of the school cannot be undone, but they can be carefully examined with a spirit of repentance.

I want to publicly express optimism that Asbury Seminary could would only happen if the perspectives of the marginalized were prioritized over the input of donors. Confusing these priorities is why segregation was tolerated for so long at Asbury, and it continues leading to bad ethical outcomes.

Regardless of policy at the highest levels of the institution, I also hope that this paper is a starting point for other Asbury students and professors to look at the topic of racism at the school in greater depth.

Multiple institutional histories have been written about the Seminary, usually coinciding with the kickoff of major fundraising campaigns, and Integration and inclusion are continuous processes65 guided by internal and external pressure on multiple levels of an institution, and there is still much work to do.

End Notes 1 For example, the lynching of Thomas Brown on the lawn of the Jessamine County Courthouse in 1902. See upcoming work by David Swartz on this topic and the broader context of Jessamine County.

2

I use both the term Black and African American. Black refers

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is a subset of this, applied to members of the African diaspora who are United States nationals. The two terms have much overlap, though African International students are Black but not African American. In a few similar to the use of the term Black today.

3 Most of these statistics were provided to me by David Swartz. I will go back to more direct sources on these later.

Peter Wallenstein, “Black Southerners and Nonblack Universities: The Process of Desegregating Southern Higher Education, 1935-1965,” in Higher Education and the Civil Rights Movement: White Supremacy, Black Southerners, and College Campuses (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008), 18.

4

John A. Hardin, Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954 (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 75–76, https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_higher_education/11/.

5

The Day Law was a response to Berea College’s racial inclusion, because Berea College was the only integrated school in Kentucky at the time it was passed. Berea College was founded by John G. Fee, an abolitionist 6

had fought in the Civil War, and it continued to be an icon of integration until the Day Law was passed and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Johnson v. Board of Trustees of University of Kentucky, 83 F. Supp. 707 (E.D. Ky. 1949),” Justia Law, accessed August 16, 2021, https:// law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/83/707/1430703/.

7

Mark W. Russell, “Beyond Blue and White: University of Kentucky Presidents and Desegregation, 1941-1987,” Theses and Dissertations Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, 2014, 26, https://uknowledge. uky.edu/epe_etds/18/.

8

9 Faculty memorandum to the Board of Trustees, May 24, 1949.

Cited in Kenneth Cain Kinghorn, The Story of Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, KY: Emeth Press, 2010), 149.

10

Claude Thompson, Harold B. Kuhn, et al., “Resolution,” 1949.

11

Thompson, Kuhn, et al.

12 Hardin, Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954, 130.

13

Kinghorn, The Story of Asbury Theological Seminary, 149.

14

the reason for his dismissal is unclear. W.H. Butler, “Letter to McPheeters to Delay Integration,” n.d., Folder 7-8, Asbury Seminary Special Collections.

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15

Butler.

16

Butler.

17

Butler.

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18 Butler; W.H. Butler, “Butler to McPheeters on Tax Consideration,” n.d., Folder 7-8, Asbury Seminary Special Collections.

W.H. Butler, “W.H. Butler Letter to the Board of Asbury Seminary,” May 31, 1951, Folder 7-8, Asbury Seminary Special Collections.

19

20

Butler, “Butler to McPheeters on Tax Consideration,” n.d.

21

Kinghorn, The Story of Asbury Theological Seminary, 149.

22 “29 of 40 Kentucky Colleges Now Admit Negro Students,” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 17, 1956, 2.

23

“29 of 40 Kentucky Colleges Now Admit Negro Students,” 2.

“The Persistence of Gene Alston,” Free Methodist Connection, no. January-February (1998): 3–4 Besides her work addressing race in the 24

Douglass Fitch, Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass Fitch, April 23, 2021.

25

26

Fitch.

27 Douglass Fitch, Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass Fitch, April 23, 2021.

28

Fitch.

29

Fitch.

30

Though the exact date of the gunshots is hard to place. Fitch.

31

Fitch.

32

Fitch.

J. Frank Adams, “Gun Blasts At Asbury Seminary Are Blamed On Anti-Integrationists,” The Lexington Herald, September 24, 1958, https:// www.newspapers.com/clip/77603253/the-lexington-herald/.

33

34

Fitch.

Adams; Fitch, Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass

35 Adams, “Gun Blasts At Asbury Seminary Are Blamed On AntiIntegrationists,” 13.

hamPton: the integration oF BlaCk students at asBury theologiCal seminary 135

36 W. David Hager, “Changing the Color of Education,” n.d., Asbury University Archives.

For example, in one California paper, the article about the seminary seems intentionally placed next to an article about Southern state 37

integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, where court appeals against integration had just been rejected.

38

1958, 10.

“Shots Hit Dorm With Negroes,” Press-Telegram, September 24,

39 “Shotgun Pellets Pelt Dormitory Housing Negroes,” Port Angeles Evening News, September 25, 1958, 9.

Adams, “Gun Blasts At Asbury Seminary Are Blamed On AntiIntegrationists,” 13.

40

41 “2 Youths Questioned in Shotgun Blasts at School in State,” Messenger and Inquirer, September 25, 1958.

“Two Youths Queried But No Charge Filed In Asbury Case,” The Lexington Herald, September 25, 1958, 20.

42

43 “Youth Admits Chasing Negro Students; Windows Shot Out,” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 24, 1958, 19, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77604724/.

44

2, 1958, 2.

“Lie Test Fails To Establish Guilt In Seminary Shooting,” October

45

“Lie Test Fails To Establish Guilt In Seminary Shooting,” 2.

46

“2 Youths Questioned in Shotgun Blasts at School in State.”

“Shotgun Blast Inquiry Continues at Asbury Seminary,” The Park City Daily News, September 25, 1958, 10.

47

48 Adams, “Gun Blasts At Asbury Seminary Are Blamed On AntiIntegrationists.”

Henry C. James, “Asbury Theological Seminary Students From Many Lands And Of Varied Interests,” Lexington Herald-Leader, October 2, 1958, 5.

49

J.C. McPheeters, “McPheeters to Mrs. Geo Seiple,” n.d., Folder 7-8 from McPheeters Papers, Asbury Seminary Special Collections.

50

51 McPheeters. See also letter to Luther R. Stokes (among others) from same collection.

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52 “Wilmore Revival Oct. 9-17; Noted Missionary In Charge,” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 27, 1958, 10, https://www.newspapers. com/clip/77605477/.

53 For a fuller story of Jones’ transformation and the events at this particular revival meeting see “Chapter 3: Sat Tal 1958” in David R. Swartz, Facing West: American Evangelicals in an Age of World Christianity (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2020); David R. Swartz, “Christ of the American Road: E. Stanley Jones, India, and Civil Rights,” Journal of American Studies 51, no. Special Issue 3: Exploring the Global History of American Evangelicalism (November 2017): 1117–38.

54

It is uncertain if Alston was also there.

55

Fitch, Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass Fitch.

56 Swartz, Facing West: American Evangelicals in an Age of World Christianity, 66.

57

Swartz, 65–67.

“Jones to Z.T. Johnson, February 20, 1959 in Box “600 Faculty/ Staff: E Stanley Jones Correspondence,” Asbury University Archives. Citation from Swartz’s Facing West, footnote 48.

58

Marti Theune, “Camp Historian’s Report for Annual Conference 2007” (Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center: Maryland-Virginia Conference of the Free Methodist Church, 2007), http://www.redpeninc. com/camp/documents/2007.doc.

59

60 “The Persistence of Gene Alston,” Free Methodist Connection, no. January-February (1998): 3–4.

Bethany Forsyth, “Rev. Gene Alston Dies at 68,” Alton Telegraph, February 6, 2005; Theune, “Camp Historian’s Report for Annual Conference 2007.”

61

62

Fitch, Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass Fitch.

This is a wholly inadequate summary of Fitch’s thought and work. To learn more, see Say Burgin, “Locating Douglass Fitch: The Roots of Colour and Activist Traditions of United States Critical Whiteness Studies,” Critical Race and Whiteness Studies 9, no. 1 (2013): 1–13.no. 1 (2013 63

64 The University of Kentucky recognized Lyman T. Johnson, the man who sued them and opened the graduate school to African Americans, with an honorary Doctorate in 1979. Asbury Seminary awards honorary doctorates to people “whose commitment, scholarship and achievements in leadership for the church and world merit recognition and award.” Rev. Fitch certainly meets this criterion.

hamPton: the integration oF BlaCk students at asBury theologiCal seminary 137

65 Peter Wallenstein, “Black Southerners and Nonblack Universities: The Process of Desegregating Southern Higher Education, 1935-1965,” in Higher Education and the Civil Rights Movement: White Supremacy, Black Southerners, and College Campuses (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008), 18.

Works Cited Adams, J. Frank 1958

“Gun Blasts At Asbury Seminary Are Blamed On AntiIntegrationists.” The Lexington Herald. September 24, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77603253/thelexington-herald/.

Burgin, Say 2013

Fitch, Douglass 2021

“Locating Douglass Fitch: The Roots of Colour and Activist Traditions of United States Critical Whiteness .”

Critical Race and Whiteness Studies 9, no. 1 (2013): 1–13.

Thomas Hampton Interview of Reverend Douglass Fitch, April 23, 2021.

Forsyth, Bethany 2005 “Rev. Gene Alston Dies at 68.” Alton Telegraph. February 6, 2005.

Free Methodist Connection 1998 “The Persistence of Gene Alston.” Free Methodist Connection, no. January-February (1998): 3–4.

Hager, W. David n.d.

“Changing the Color of Education,” Asbury University Archives.

Hardin, John A. 1997

Fifty Years of Segregation: Black Higher Education in Kentucky, 1904-1954. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1997. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ upk_higher_education/11/.

James, Henry C. 1958 “Asbury Theological Seminary Students From Many Lands And Of Varied Interests.” Lexington Herald-Leader.

October 2, 1958.

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“Johnson v. Board of Trustees of University of Kentucky, 83 F. Supp. 707 (E.D. Ky. 1949).” Accessed August 16, 2021. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts /FSupp/83/707/1430703/.

The Lexington Herald 1958 “Two Youths Queried But No Charge Filed In Asbury Case.” The Lexington Herald. September 25, 1958.

1958

“Wilmore Revival Oct. 9-17; Noted Missionary In Charge.” Lexington Herald-Leader. September 27, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77605477/.

1958

“Youth Admits Chasing Negro Students; Windows Shot Out.” Lexington Herald-Leader. September 24, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77604724/.

1958

“Lie Test Fails To Establish Guilt In Seminary Shooting.”

October 2, 1958.

Messenger and Inquirer 1958 “2 Youths Questioned in Shotgun Blasts at School in State.” Messenger and Inquirer. September 25, 1958.

McPheeters, J.C. n.d.

“McPheeters to Mrs. Geo Seiple,” Folder 7-8 from McPheeters Papers. Asbury Seminary Special Collections.

Russell, Mark W. 2014 “Beyond Blue and White: University of Kentucky Presidents and Desegregation, 1941-1987.” Theses and Dissertations - Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, 2014. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/18/.

The Park City Daily New 1958 “Shotgun Blast Inquiry Continues at Asbury Seminary.”

The Park City Daily News. September 25, 1958.

Port Angeles Evening News 1958 “Shotgun Pellets Pelt Dormitory Housing Negroes.” Port Angeles Evening News. September 25, 1958.

Press-Telegram 1958

“Shots Hit Dorm With Negroes.” Press-Telegram.

September 24, 1958.

Swartz, David R. 2017 “Christ of the American Road: E. Stanley Jones, India, and Civil Rights.” Journal of American Studies 51, no.

Special Issue 3: Exploring the Global History of American Evangelicalism (November 2017): 1117–38.

hamPton: the integration oF BlaCk students at asBury theologiCal seminary 139

2020 Theune, Marti 2007

Facing West: American Evangelicals in an Age of World Christianity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

“Camp Historian’s Report for Annual Conference 2007.” Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center: Maryland-Virginia Conference of the Free Methodist Church, 2007. http://www.redpeninc.com/camp/ documents/2007.doc.

Thompson, Claude, Harold B. Kuhn, David Paul Smith, J. Harold Greenlee, C.B. Hamann, Byron S. Lamson, J. Paul Ray, et al.

1949 “Resolution.”

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 140-157 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.08

Philip F. Hardt

The Missional Colonization of Phoebe and Walter Palmer: Poetry, Letters, and the Young Men’s Missionary Society

Abstract: Recent studies of Phoebe and Walter Palmer have focused on their efforts to spread “holiness” while criticizing their apparent disdain of abolitionism. The Palmers, however, believed that colonization was the better approach to both assist free African-Americans and recently emancipated slaves and also to help evangelize the continent of Africa.

This article will show their support for both colonization and evangelization through Phoebe’s poems, correspondence from Methodist missionaries to Liberia (some of whom were from Manhattan), and Dr. Palmer’s active role in the Young Men’s Missionary Society.

Keywords: Phoebe Palmer, Walter Palmer, colonization, Methodist missions, New York City Philip Hardt is pastor of Glendale Maspeth UMC in Glendale, NY. He received a Ph.D. in American Historical Theology from Fordham University in 1998.

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Introduction Recent studies of Phoebe Palmer and her husband, Dr. Walter C. Palmer, have largely focused on the couple’s efforts to spread the “doctrine of Wesleyan holiness” while criticizing their unwillingness to take part in one of the greatest reform movements of their time: abolition. Yet, this criticism has overlooked the fact that the Palmers were strong supporters of colonization from at least the 1820s. The Palmers, however, did not support colonization for many of the highly questionable and racist reasons that their fellow white Methodists did: the fear of “amalgamation” (i.e., integrated schools and intermarriage) and the belief that free blacks were inferior and too “degraded” to ever achieve full equality. Instead, the Palmers, along with many other evangelical Christians, primarily supported colonization as a way to evangelize Africa. This article will show that they supported this missional emphasis through literary means, missionary correspondence, and Walter’s personal involvement in the Young Men’s Missionary Society (hereafter, YMMS).

Phoebe (Worrall) Palmer Phoebe Palmer was born in Manhattan in 1807 to Henry and Dorothea Worrall. Her parents were devout Methodists who attended Duane Street Methodist Episcopal Church. As a result of family prayer and church attendance, their children all developed strong personal commitments to the Christian faith. In 1827, Phoebe married Dr. Walter C. Palmer; they moved a short distance to Manhattan’s East Side where they became members of the Allen Street Methodist Episcopal Church (hereafter, MEC) for many years. In the mid-1830s, she had an experience of “entire sponsorship of the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness in their home. In 1843, she wrote The Way of Holiness which was a guide to those seeking “perfection.” Besides writing eighteen books, she and Walter also taught at camp meetings and other services throughout the United States, Canada, and England. She also served as the leader of a young women’s other benevolent organizations. She died in Manhattan in 1874 (White 1986: 2-4, 11-21, 28, 217-219; Roberts 2016: 201-213).

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Walter Palmer Dr. Walter C. Palmer was born in 1804 in Middletown, New Jersey. His family moved to Manhattan when he was three months old.

Like the Worralls, his parents were devout Methodists who also hosted a class meeting in their home. Walter experienced a powerful conversion in his Methodist Sunday School at the age of thirteen. After his conversion, he began to teach in the Sunday school and thought he might become a Methodist preacher. Eventually, he decided he could help people through the practice of medicine and enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. In addition to his medical practice, he served as superintendent of a large Methodist Sabbath School, president of the Young 18-21, 40, 56, 58; Methodist Episcopal Church Records [hereafter, MECR], “Young Men’s Missionary Society” [hereafter, YMMS]. Vol. 127).

The Colonization Movement The colonization movement sought to return both free blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. The idea of colonization had been discussed since the early 1800s and, in 1816, the American Colonization Society (hereafter, ACS) was founded in Washington, D.C. Its founders had different ideas about what it could achieve. Some felt it would gradually end slavery, some felt it would allow blacks to escape the pervasive white racism which existed even in the north, and others saw it as a way to rid their states of free blacks. Yet, from its inception, many free blacks opposed it and other white politicians and clergy saw it as impractical, prohibitively expensive, and immoral (Burin 2005: 9, 14-15, 19).

Review of the Literature Somewhat surprisingly, almost all of the studies of the Palmers make no mention of their support for colonization while the most recent studies (1957-2016) have also strongly criticized their lack of involvement in the abolition movement. The earliest study by Richard Wheatley drew upon her letters and diary to show how she emphasized prayer rather than direct political involvement. This was most clearly seen in her views regarding the 1856 presidential election. He also showed that she viewed the growing political crisis over slavery as a spiritual battle and blamed not only the South for its use of slaves, but also the North for tolerating several bad laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act. Next, George Hughes’ biography

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of Dr. Palmer noted that he was on the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (hereafter, MEC) but neglected any mention of his involvement in the YMMS which would explain his support of colonization. Then, in the mid-twentieth century, Timothy Smith viewed Phoebe’s lack of “social reform” through the lens of the general “holiness movement” which had begun in the mid-1830s. While noting her opposition to slavery, he criticized her for not joining the other holiness leaders such as Charles Finney who also became abolitionists. He also criticized what he called her simplistic view that God would somehow intervene to end slavery. Smith rendered a harsh verdict: “While early to take part in the relief of the widowed, orphaned, and imprisoned or in any other task which required the exercise of compassion, her New York and Philadelphia coterie were laggards in whatever demanded stern attacks on persons and institutions.” Nearly ten years later, Donald Mathews, in his comprehensive study, Slavery and Methodism (1965), devoted a chapter to Methodist support for colonization but overlooked Dr. Palmer’s involvement.

Interestingly, he mentioned David Reese and Gabriel Disosway who were with them as vice-president (see below). One explanation for this may be that Reese and Disosway were more visible since they were also active members of the New York State Colonization Society (later reorganized as the Colonization Society of the City of New York) while Dr. Palmer was probably more absorbed in his large medical practice, growing family, and the “holiness movement.” A little more than twenty years later, Harold Raser, in his study (1987), also pointed out Phoebe’s more spiritual approach to political and social issues and concurred with Smith’s assessment. Like Smith, he criticized her for what he felt was an inconsistent position on slavery: she opposed it “but yet she never raised her hand to combat it in any concrete fashion.” In addition, he suggested that her “profound sense of guilt for ‘injustice winked at’ (i.e., Northern toleration of slavery) may failing to speak out in any way against slavery (Wheatley 1881: 607-608; Hughes 58; Smith 1957: 211-212; Mathews 1965: 96; Raser 1987: 222225, 233).”

Finally, the last two studies analyzed Phoebe Palmer’s anti-slavery efforts in the context of the 1857-1858 revival in New York City. First, Kathryn Long described the split between “socially conservative evangelicals” who favored national unity over an immediate end to slavery and other

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evangelicals who supported abolition. She pointed out that Palmer’s, “A Laity for the Times,” which was published in the Christian Advocate and Journal (hereafter, CAJ) in the winter of 1857, was a call for personal evangelism and not social involvement. In addition, she felt that Palmer, along with Nathan Bangs and Abel Stevens, “represented middle-class or formalized New York City Methodism.” Long asserted that “the genteel atmosphere of the metropolis fostered ‘safe’ opinions on such subjects as slavery, as well as a general conservative social stance.” Similarly, Kyle Roberts, in Evangelical Gotham (2016) contrasted what he termed the “conversionist” and “reformist” camps of the Revival of 1857-1858 and viewed her silence on abolition as an abdication of Christian responsibility.

He, too, criticized her harshly: “For someone who took very public stands in her career as a theologian, author, and revivalist, the absence of public activism or pronouncements against slavery speaks volumes (Long 1998: 93-96; Roberts 214-216).”

In contrast, Charles White, in The Beauty of Holiness, was the only one to even mention her support for colonization. He described her three poems on colonization as expressing many of the standard reasons that evangelicals supported colonization such as “reparation” for the harm believed Palmer acted from a desire to help them succeed rather than a desire to rid America of free blacks. Moreover, he indicated not only her active support for colonization but also her neutrality toward or dislike of abolition. White asserted that “when it became obvious that colonization would not work, however, she did not become an abolitionist. She also tried to resist the tendency of other advocates of holiness to identify themselves with abolition. One example may be B. T. Roberts…Phoebe Palmer was smacked of politics. She felt that interest in politics diverted Christians from their real business of promoting revivals” (White 27, 60, 228).

“Conversionist” and Colonizationist While clearly explaining the Palmers’ generally apolitical attitude, their assessments overlooked two key pieces of evidence which revealed their strong support for colonization. First, Phoebe’s poem, “Ode for the Fourth of July,” which White mentioned, needs to be placed in sharper context. To be sure, it was not something she wrote in the quiet of her study to ideally extol the virtues of colonization, but rather was read at an annual

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service in a Methodist church (probably Allen Street MEC) which raised funds for the ACS. These services probably began in 1827, when the Reverend Ralph Gurley, the general secretary of the ACS (and a Methodist minister), had asked all the churches to take up a collection at their Independence Day services. Describing this request, Donald Mathews wrote that “…on every July Fourth Methodist ministers followed the advice of the annual conferences by joining other denominations in praising colonization and taking special collections. How much they collected would depend upon the persuasiveness of individual preachers, the generosity of contributors, and the prosperity of the time (Mathews 92-94).”

These services, however, were initially seen as too “political” and had only been allowed in MECs in Manhattan since 1830. This gradual shift can be seen in the actions of the trustees over a seven-year period beginning in 1826. For example, on October 4, 1826, the trustees had considered a request from the ACS that it be allowed to take up a collection in the churches, but they decided not to grant it “due to present circumstances of the MEC.” Again, on July 1, 1829, the board considered the request of Gabriel Disosway, a Methodist layman and member of the New York City Colonization Society, for a collection to be taken up for the ACS at a special Fourth of July service. The board responded that “as sincerely as the Board of Trustees esteem the sentiments of the Declaration of our Independence, the Board cannot consent to have anything introduced into our churches, which might have a political bearing. They, therefore, give their consent that the remainder of the exercises, as noticed from the pulpit last Sabbath, be permitted in John Street Church on the Fourth of July.” In 1832, however, as granted permission for the agent of the ACS to form an auxiliary society among the members of the MECs in Manhattan. A year later, they allowed of the Colonization Society in one of the churches on the West Circuit.”

Finally, a month later, the YMMS was given permission to again hold their anniversary meeting in John Street Church and take up a collection for the ACS (MECR. “Board of Trustees.” Vol. 93; White 27).

Although apparently quite popular in the north, these services put southern Methodist leaders in an awkward position. An example comes from a July 1834, letter to the CAJ from the Reverend Dr. William Capers who led the Methodist “Missions to Slaves” in the south. He was responding to an earlier article in the CAJ that had asked the question,

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“What is the speediest and most effectual method of evangelizing American slaves?” In his letter, he argued that it was unwise for any abolitionists to preach to the slaves since they had upset the slaveholders. Second, he criticized the activities of the ACS and insisted that the “Missions to Slaves” was to be based solely on Jesus’ words to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” Then, he condemned the Fourth of July pro-colonization services held annually in the MECs. Regarding them, he angrily wrote, “And such a miscarriage the society perpetrated when it solicited sermons to be preached by whoever would preach them, throughout the United States, on the 4th of July, and collections then to be taken up for the promotion of its objects…And did you ever see any of these 4th of July sermons? Several of them have found their way to the south…ranting, fanatic, and incendiary.”

In response, the CAJ simply stated that it had never been their intention to identify colonization with the “Missions to Slaves” and entirely ignored the issue of the July Fourth services.

The poem itself which was probably read at the July 4, 1831, before her, argued that since the Americans had won their own freedom from England, it followed that the slaves, too, should be set free. How could a free people keep others enslaved? Second, she believed, somewhat naively, that Africa missed those who had been forcibly taken and desired their return. Yet, a majority of free blacks had already rejected that thinking and wanted to remain in America as full citizens. Thus, while the poem expressed both a call for emancipation and return, its context shows that Phoebe was not just peripherally or mildly interested in colonization but strongly supportive of the MEC’s efforts to aid the ACS (Palmer 1875: 208209).

Second, all previous scholars, including George Hughes, Dr. Palmer’s close friend and biographer, overlooked his involvement in the YMMS which had as its preeminent objective the “mission to Liberia.”

Although Hughes, writing in the 1880s, mentioned that Dr. Palmer was one of the managers of the Missionary Society of the MEC, he neglected to mention that he was vice-president of the YMMS for most of the 1830s.

Hughes’ omission may possibly be explained by the fact that the newlyreorganized YMMS was only active for nine years (1830 to 1839) while the Missionary Society eventually became a permanent agency of the denomination. Interestingly, the minutes of the YMMS also reveal that Noah Worrall, Phoebe’s brother, served as one of its twenty-four managers

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indicating additional support for colonization within her immediate family (YMMS. Vol. 127).

Supporting the Missional Aim of Colonization Yet, their support for colonization did not stem from a belief that whites were superior and that the two races must be kept separate at all costs. Charles White, who analyzed her pro-colonization poems (see above), concurred: “Although rejected by many blacks in its own day and universally disparaged in our own, many people of good faith thought of it as the only realistic hope of bettering the lot of the slave.” Rather, what drove their support for colonization was an intense desire to evangelize which manifested itself in three ways. First, Phoebe supported the missional aim of colonization through a very common way in which she often expressed herself: poetry. Richard Wheatley has noted that “she gave early indications year-old in which she extolled the divine guidance of the scriptures. In addition, like many early nineteenth century Methodists, she kept a spiritual diary. Finally, throughout adulthood, she wrote several widely-read books published as a series of articles in the CAJ. Her evangelistically-themed poem, “Redemption of Africa,” was sung at the ninth anniversary meeting asserted that evangelization depended solely on God’s favor or “grace.”

Then, the third stanza acknowledged that God had opened a door into Africa: “Divinely hast Thou cleared the way…” The next stanza described even demon worship. Yet, the missionaries’ efforts have borne fruit since now “the light has spread” and many have been converted to “Israel’s Lord” (Wheatley 17-18; Palmer 206-207; White 60).

Second, Phoebe supported the efforts to evangelize Africa through the colonization movement by her correspondence with Methodist missionaries in Liberia. Most of these lay and clergy missionaries were from Manhattan and some had also participated in the “Tuesday Afternoon Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness” which the Palmers hosted in their home. These letters, in response to her own letters, focus only on the challenging efforts to evangelize the area around Monrovia, the largest settlement in Liberia. An example comes from the letters of W. B. Hoyt

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imminent departure from Baltimore, asked for her prayers, and indicated his desire to keep a “regular correspondence as circumstances will admit.” In his next letter, he mentioned how he and his wife had had the fever which he called “Africa’s scourge.” They had recovered but another missionary married couple had died from it. Four months later, he gave an account of the mission: “Doubtless you are anxious to know something of the state of Religion among us. At present, the Church appears cold and her prospects gloomy. On one or two of the stations there has been a waking up to appearing may burn until the entire Mission --- (word unclear) the entire length and breadth of this dark land shall be illuminated and freed from its cruel thralldom to the Prince of darkness” (“Letters.” Nov. 1, 1845; February 10, 1846; June 11, 1846).

Again, seven months later, in January 1847, she received a letter from J. B. Benham who also resided at the Mission House in Monrovia. He thanked her for her previous letter and the periodicals she had sent on the Liberia packet. Next, he mentioned his concern about personnel. Although three missionaries had just arrived – Brother Morris, Sister Johnson, and Sister Brush – Brother Floy, who had recovered from the fever, was returning on the Liberia Packet which would leave Benham alone. Apparently, the new arrivals were laypersons while Benham was the only ordained minister in Monrovia. Brother Floy had been Dr. James Floy, a Methodist preacher who had been converted at the great Allen Street MEC revival in 1831-1832 (“Letters.” Jan. 25, 1847; Wheatley 25-26).

Finally, Dr. Palmer’s support for colonization came primarily through his personal involvement with the YMMS which considered itself an “auxiliary” to the parent Missionary Society of the MEC. The YMMS had existed since the early 1820s but had become inactive possibly due to the

and a new board of managers were appointed. Dr. David M. Reese, a local preacher and a manager of the “parent” Missionary Society of the MEC, became its new president. Dr. Palmer also attended the reorganization

monthly. According to the YMMS minutes, he attended regularly and on six

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occasions he chaired the meeting in the absence of the president (YMMS. Vol 127). role in the YMMS. For example, at the reorganization meeting, he was appointed to a committee with two others to revise the constitution and by-

held in April, 1831. Then, in early 1832, he was appointed to a committee to prepare a memorial to the 1832 General Conference in support of the mission to Liberia. Finally, on two occasions, he was appointed to collect money from YMMS subscribers at the Allen Street Church where he and Phoebe attended (YMMS. Vol. 127).

Moreover, from the start, the newly-organized YMMS had an extremely close relationship with the ACS. For example, the second article of the new constitution, which Dr. Palmer had helped draft, stated that the YMMS was to assist the ACS to “more effectually extend their Missionary Labors throughout the United States and elsewhere.” Then, less than a month after the constitution had been adopted, the board of managers resolved that “a committee be appointed to seek a representative from this society at the (annual) meeting of the ACS at Washington City.” Reese and Gabriel Disosway, the corresponding secretary of the YMMS, also attended this meeting as delegates of the New York State Colonization Society.

Finally, at its second meeting on November 9, 1830, the YMMS resolved that persons whom the committee had appointed would “address each of these meetings and solicit subscriptions and donations especially with a piece to establish a mission to Liberia.” This person turned out to be Rev. Finley, the ACS agent, who happened to be in New York at that time (YMMS. Vol. 127).

Colonization and Evangelization: A Delicate Balancing Act It is possible that the Palmers may also have harbored other more repugnant views such as believing that blacks were inferior and degraded and that the races must be kept separate to avoid integrated schools and intermarriage. This argument, however, overlooks three key factors. First, her two poems in support of colonization avoided any condescension of the slaves, spoke compassionately of their sufferings, and focused (albeit in “Ode for the Fourth of July,” (see above), she urged Christians to help

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end slavery since they themselves had been set free as a result of the Revolutionary War. In addition, she believed that allowing former slaves to return to Africa would be what they would choose for themselves so that they could then “live unoppressed…joyous, free…” Again, her second believed that God’s judgment would surely come on America unless the unjustly. Finally, she wrote how hypocritical it was to speak of “liberty” while denying it to the slaves. Admittedly, her optimistic view that blacks would want to return to Africa was naïve in the extreme: actual returnees faced poverty, disease, and attacks from tribal chieftains (Palmer 205-209).

In addition, after analyzing her poems, Charles White concluded that “it is evident that her motives in supporting the colonization society were not compromised, as were the motives of some. The main themes of these poems are justice and redemption. Nowhere is the slightest hint

persons on the subject of heaven where “he reminded his listeners that God is no respecter of persons and that the Lord will seat his servants at his throne and will reign with them forever and ever.” Moreover, Phoebe noted how joyfully they gave their offerings for the purpose of building a school.

Regarding this, White wrote, “She felt this display of generosity showed maturity and responsibility, and asked, ‘Who will, in the presence of such facts, dare to repeat that such a people cannot take care of themselves?’” were much more spiritually responsive and joyful than the white Methodists who did not even attend her meetings (White 60, 98-99).

The second key factor was that many Protestant denominations only began to support colonization in the mid-1820s because of its missionary component, which coincided with the great surge of domestic and international missions in the early nineteenth century. According to Lanneh Samin, this component was present from the very beginning in the idea of a national colonization society in 1816. This is illustrated in the two reasons why Finley supported colonization. First, he “felt that the inherit capacity of slaves for self-improvement was being thwarted by the

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circumstances of slavery and race prejudice, and that a free colony in Africa But another motive for the colonization plan was the view that it would spread civilization and Christianity in Africa…” Of course, many others supported colonization for less laudable reasons: a way to keep the races separate, a belief that blacks were both degraded and inferior and could never achieve equality in America, a solution to the problem of having free blacks in the south, and even a way for the south to move from agriculture to industrialization. Like many other denominations, the MEC initially took a cautious approach to the ACS; this began to change in 1824. According to Donald Mathews, “appeals for support of the Colonization Society were believed that new colonies in Africa would provide a toehold for expanded missionary activity on that continent…” While acknowledging that “antiNegro bias” motivated some Methodists like David Reese, “others like Wilbur Fisk were motivated by a general concern for Negroes uncomplicated by conscious prejudice. They could all agree that history had created a grave social problem which thwarted outright antislavery preaching previously.”

Based on all the available evidence, the latter description of Fisk also seems to characterize the Palmers’ concern for the slaves’ well-being (Sanneh 1999: 191; Burin 13-14; Mathews 98, 109-110).

Moreover, the effort to evangelize Africa through the means of colonization was not just limited to the missionary boards of white evangelical denominations. Sanneh has pointed out that a number of black preachers who were converted in America willingly emigrated to both Sierra Leone and Liberia to preach to the returning blacks and also try to penetrate further into Africa. Those who returned to Sierra Leone included Moses Wilkinson, Cato Perkins, and David George. Perhaps the earliest black preacher who went to Liberia was Lott Carey who was born in Virginia around 1780, converted in 1807, paid for his freedom in 1813, and went to Liberia in the early 1820s under the sponsorship of the African Baptist Missionary Society. Thus, both missionary-minded blacks and whites responded to what they perceived as a providential opportunity (Sanneh 74-75, 86-87, 210-211).

Most importantly, the third key factor that absolves the Palmers of the charge of white superiority was their own intense, lifelong efforts to not just to Liberia but to the entire world. An experience that occurred

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early in their marriage helps explain this deep commitment. A call had been issued for medical missionaries and Phoebe thought that Walter would want to answer that call. She struggled with the idea of leaving New York but ultimately resigned herself to doing God’s will. Although Dr. Palmer did not feel God calling him to that work, Phoebe sensed God still wanting them to work for the missions from their home in New York.

In her diary she wrote: “If you will do so, the Spirit of Holiness is the spirit which will tell upon missions, and the Lord will make you instrumental in working upon minds which tell on missions, and you may, for the present, do more service in aiding missionary work here, than if you were in China.”

In response to that inspiration of the Spirit, she wrote: “I thought of the absorption I should feel, in the work of saving souls, if thus wholly given up, and I resolved to make the work of the Lord as absorbing here, as though I were on missionary ground, and my career has ever since been this resolution. First, Dr. Palmer was one of the Board of Managers for the Mission Society of the MEC and could easily make recommendations for new missions. Also, since the Missionary Society was located in New York City, the Palmers had easy access to the secretary of the Missionary Society and practically all of the managers who were mostly laymen in the New York Circuit. To cite one example, Nathan Bangs, who served as secretary for some time, was also a close personal friend of the Palmers and regularly attended the Tuesday Afternoon Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness.

Finally, the Palmers most likely attended all the anniversary meetings of the Mission Society and at least some of the regular monthly “missionary meetings” of the society (Wheatley 230-232).

This deeply personal commitment to foreign missions in general is illustrated in their attempt to start a new mission to China in the 1830s. of the managers of the Mission Society. The board, however, felt a mission results for many years. The day of the anniversary meeting of the Mission Society (most likely the one held in April 1835), Phoebe suggested a new

amount. Walter said he would not only do that but that he would double the amount given each year. She also asked him to make this suggestion at the meeting that evening, to which he agreed. When he made the offer that

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evening, Bishop Janes and eighteen others quickly said they would pledge action. At their next meeting, they passed the following “preamble” and “resolution” which was then sent to Bishop Hedding and Bishop Emory.

“Whereas there were collected and pledged at the late anniversary of this society in Greene Street Church, upwards of fourteen hundred dollars for the support of a mission in China, therefore: Resolved, the bishops be and they are hereby are recommended and especially requested to select some person or persons, as soon as practicable for the purpose of opening a Mission under the patronage of this society in the Empire of China.” Again, on another occasion, they convinced Reverend Durbin, secretary of the Mission Society, to begin a mission to Palestine. This time, Dr. Palmer offered to give one hundred dollars a year for ten years. Nineteen others not go forward. To sum up, the Palmers were sincere and avid supporters of all missions, including Liberia, and not driven primarily by racist desires to rid America of its black population (Wheatley 230-234; Board of Managers.

Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. May, 1835).

Conclusion The colonization movement stirred controversy from its inception.

Although it tried to appeal to various constituencies in order to garner support, the majority apparently saw it as a way of removing the black population rather than granting them full rights as citizens. In contrast, the Palmer’s supported colonization as a way to repair the damage done to because it sheds new light on a dedicated subgroup who worked within the movement while distancing themselves from its less admirable objectives.

To be sure, a clear solution to the problem of emancipating the slaves seemed nearly impossible in the mid-1800s since Congress refused to even discuss it. Thus, this small group of “missional” colonizationists contradicts the prevailing historical assessment that only white superiority drove colonization.

While this article has sought to more correctly place the Palmers in the context of the abolitionist-colonizationist debate, more could be done to show how and why various Methodist individuals and institutions took the positions they did, especially in the highly charged period of the 1830s. Using Donald Mathew’s chapter on Methodists and colonization in

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his landmark study, Slavery and Methodism, as a starting point, a number of in-depth studies could be made. These might include an analysis of the publications of David Reese, president of the YMMS and a leading national apologist for colonization. In addition, it would be useful to explore the extensive writings of Reverend Nathan Bangs who served as editor of the CAJ and Quarterly Review and secretary of the Missionary Society. Both men advanced the cause of colonization with more stridency and less admirable aims than the Palmers, yet they were all apparently close friends and colleagues. Another avenue to explore is the role of the Commercial Advertiser involvement. Francis Hall, a leading Methodist layman, was its publisher for a number of years. Finally, it would be extremely helpful to examine the powerful role of the New York Annual Conference in the 1830s when it effectively prevented any clerical support for abolition.

Phoebe Palmer’s Colonization Poems “Colonization Cause” (Mother’s Gift, 205-6) Oh! send them back, so say our inmost hearts; From bondage most oppressive, set them free; Before like mercy from our land departs, And just-bought vengeance hasten infamy.

Speak loud in heaving groans beneath the weight That have been gathered from the pains and toils Of nature’s kindred; and the cry is great!

Hark! justly incensed heaven demands it back, At perils mighty you the call evade, The means must come, that will retrace the track, Which by your vile oppression has been made.

Christian! if thou dare answer to the name, That in this land of freedom claims thy store, With liberty, thy boasted star of fame, Shall slavery thus eclipse its lustre o’er?

Oh, rather haste! oh haste! to wash the stain Forever from those annals; -erst so pure, Nor let a cause so just e’er plead in vain, Thill this last act immortal fame secure.

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“Ode for the Fourth of July” (Mother’s Gift, 208-9) (Written in Reference to African Emancipation) Peace spreads her wings, and shadows thee, From despot’s sway that pressed thee long: And Liberty bends pliantly, When thou dost will, O people strong; Then raise thy notes, land of the free, The Lord hath done most valiantly.

His power hath wrought thy liberty, His own right arm avenged thy wrong: And now He asks returns of thee, For those who groanings, have been long.

His ear hath heard, O people free, Of those long bondaged held by thee.

‘Tis Ethiopia’s vented sigh, Heard in that grief-imploring moan; Hear, Christians, hear her anguished cry, “Restore, restore to us our own; Oh! land with sons and daughters free, Make our long captive ones like thee.”

Offended Justice, sword in hand, Tells of her claims and bids you give, As stern atonements quick demand, The price that says lorn Afric live!

Live unoppressed, live, joyous, free, And cease to mourn our wrongs to thee.

Ah! can the parent heart forget Its torn-away returnless ones?

Nor can a tearful Afric yet Cease sighing for her long lost sons; ‘Till clasped again, from slavery free, Loosed by the voice of charity.

Doth liberty stand mountain-strong, When she hath cried so loud, so long, And Freemen have her call denied?

Wake! PATRIOTS wake, cry, now be free!

Rise Afric, hail thy liberty.

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“Redemption of Africa” (Mother’s Gift, 206-7) Sung at the Ninth Anniversary of the New York State Colonization Society God of all grace! O Lord of Hosts!

Behold us met in Thy great name; In Thee alone we make our boast, And all Thy wondrous works proclaim.

Ae schemes of love and mercy wrought, Is good devised by man for man?

His schemes are blest, or brought to naught, Just as Thy grace succeeds the plan.

Fountain of wisdom, power and light!

Divinely hast Thou cleared the way, And Africa’s dark sons of night Have, joyous, hailed a brighter day.

There many gloomy terrors reigned; There blinded savage mortals dwelt; There death, and sin, its slaves enchained; There even men to devils knelt.

To those dark shores the light has spread; There hundreds kneel to Israel’s Lord; and Israel’s triumph song is heard, Rising to Heaven with sweet accord.

Hosanna! let the swell of praise Bound through the earth and rend the skies; Afric, unite the song to raise; Redeemed, enlightened Afric, rise.

Works Cited Burin, Eric 2005

Slavery and the Peculiar Solution. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.

Board of Managers 1818-41 Minutes of the Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Madison, NJ: United Methodist Church Archives – General Commission on Archives and History.

Board of Trustees

Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church Records (MECR). Volume 93. New York, NY: NY Public Library.

hardt: the missional Colonization oF PhoeBe and Walter Palmer 157

Hughes, George 1884 The Beloved Physician. New York, NY: Palmer and Hughes.

Letters to Walter and Phoebe Palmer. MECR. Volume 460. New York, NY: NY Public Library.

Long, Kathryn 1998

The Revival of 1857-1858. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Mathews, Donald 1965 Slavery and Methodism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Palmer, Phoebe 1875 Raser, Harold E. 1987 Roberts, Kyle B. 2016 Sanneh, Lamin 1999 Smith, Timothy 1957

A Mother’s Gift. New York, NY: W. C. Palmer, Jr. Phoebe Palmer: Her Life and Thought. Lewiston, ME: The Edwin Mellon Press.

Evangelical Gotham. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Abolitionists Abroad. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Revivalism and Social Concern. New York, NY: Abingdon Press.

Wheatley, Richard 1881 The Life and Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer. New York, NY: W. C. Palmer.

White, Charles E. 1986 The Beauty of Holiness. Grand Rapids, MI: Francis Asbury Press.

Young Men’s Missionary Society. Minutes. 1830-1839. MECR. Volume 127. New York, NY: NY Public Library

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 158-180 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.09

From the Archives: Gilbert James and the Fight for Interracial Justice- The Papers of Gilbert James and The Shelhamer Family Papers1

Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism was conducted, and for many this may appear to be when the social sciences began to be integrated into the work of Asbury Theological Seminary.2 However, such a of Asbury’s faculty, who had sadly passed away on January 21st of that same year. At the relatively young age of 66, and suffering from Alzheimer’s would not be present to see the impact of the social sciences on the future legacy of Asbury Theological Seminary. In fact, because of his early passing, his importance is often overshadowed by other more well-known names in the faculty. For this reason, it is useful to highlight Gilbert James and his important contributions to social justice in both the Free Methodist Church and Asbury Theological Seminary.

Born November 5, 1915 in Brazil, Indiana, James was the son of a man who reportedly travelled with holiness legend Beverly Carradine, but who ultimately left the holiness viewpoint and separated from his wife and children when James was just twelve years old.3 After two years of high school, James dropped out and turned to boxing. An encounter with a woman evangelist in a revival in Terre Haute, Indiana, changed his life and way to God’s Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the centers for radical holiness in the United States. It was here that he met Esther Shelhamer, the youngest daughter of a well-known radical holiness evangelist, E. E. Shelhamer and his wife Julia. According to accounts, Gilbert worked hard to win the hand of Esther, even while dating was strictly against the college rules. In one story, since he worked in the maintenance department of the 158

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school, he intentionally caused the lights to go out in Esther’s dorm, so he took the train to New York to depart on a two-year missionary tour of Africa, Gilbert borrowed money and clothes so he could beat them to New York and be there to open the door of their cab when they arrived at the place they were staying. Esther is recorded as saying, “I was very attracted by his ideas. He was a very interesting person to talk to. But you have to understand, I had certain ideals. My father was over 6 feet tall with beautiful wavy hair. He was a great preacher. Gilbert was 5 foot 6 and had hair that looked like weeds. I knew he was going to be bald. He was always grimy because he worked in the furnace room. I made it clear I wasn’t interested.”4 Nevertheless, nine years after they met, the couple was married in 1942.

Gilbert and Esther James about the time of their marriage.

Pictured with Julia and E. E. Shelhamer, Esther’s parents (1942).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

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The goal of the young couple was to enter missionary service in Africa, since Esther had previously served in missions there, but the problems of World War II made this option impossible. Realizing that “Africa” also existed in America, Gilbert James and his young wife set out to take a Free Methodist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. While working in a white church on one side of town, Gilbert and Esther began to work on planting a black Free Methodist Church on the African American side of the city, along with a grade school for African American children. Started in 1943 with Rev. W.L. Dyas and Rev. Gilbert James in a rented shack, it would become the Central Free Methodist Church of Shreveport.5 While the Free Methodist Church had a history opposing slavery and even had some integrated Northern churches immediately after the Civil War period, their commitment to racial justice had faded over time. This was a relatively new groundbreaking effort to dismantle the impact of segregation within white churches rooted in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition right in the heart of the South. What started as the Free Methodist Colored Work would become the Department of Interracial Evangelism of the Free Methodist Church of North America, and Gilbert James would be the Superintendent of this work from 1946-1958. Esther would really serve as his partner in ministry throughout their life together. From at least 1950 to 1956, Gilbert and Esther James published a small newsletter entitled Interracial News to publicize the work among Free Methodists. In 1950, James wrote, any church that offers him salvation on a “Jim Crow” basis. He is not half so interested in our doctrine of the trinity, our stand on baptism or secret orders as he is in our standards of Christian brotherhood. If he becomes a Christian and joins our church, will he be accepted as a brother in Christ and have extended to him the same fellowship as anyone else?

The world has built up barriers between races, for the white man’s economic and political advantage that God never intended. They have spiked and supported these barriers with a world of lies and half-truths…

The Negro is a direct descendant from Adam and Eve and as such they are all our blood brothers and sisters.

For God has declared that He has made us all of one blood….

Whether or not we succeed in this task is dependent on you! What is your attitude toward other races? Have you fallen for the “Master Race” line; have you by failing to speak out against hate mongers, given your consent

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to racial intolerance? It is bad enough when sinners talk about “keeping Negros in their place” and this is “a white man’s country,” but when those who profess to be and the cause of God. If you would help us win souls, then speak out boldly against expressions of prejudice and discrimination!6 The Central Free Methodist Church of Shreveport would become a central piece of the work of the Free Methodist Church among African Americans. By 1946, Rev. Dyas had passed away and was replaced by Rev. John Thompson. Madeline Brewer would serve as the school’s main principal. While it initially began as a kindergarten in a neighboring home, it soon moved into a regular building for grades 1-8, with a maximum of 150 students. In 1959 a new extension was built to include space for the 9th and 10th grades and the possibility of expanding to include a high school

Northern Louisiana.

In this early work, by 1950 we only see eleven sites being overseen by the Department of Interracial Evangelism. These include the church and school in Shreveport, Los Angeles Third Church in California, Sunday Schools in Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, a Home of Redeeming Love for colored girls in St. Louis, and two missions (one in Portland, Oregon and the second in Washington, D.C.).7 It is important to note that the mission in Washington D.C. was run by Julia Shelhamer, the widow of E. E. Shelhamer and Gilbert’s mother-in-law. Julia’s work was hotline for which she gained national attention. In addition, it was due to her efforts that much later Gene Alston was given the opportunity to become in mind that all of this occurred before the modern Civil Rights Movement and only shortly after Harry Truman ordered an end to discrimination in the military in 1948.

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Building Central Free Methodist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana (1946).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

Julia Shelhamer, while working with Gilbert and Esther James, camp meetings, which were such a crucial part of holiness evangelistic efforts. This rejection even included the Free Methodist campground in Maryland. She set out to create a campground for African Americans outside Washington D.C. She wrote, The General Superintendent of all Interracial work in the Free Methodist Church of North America, Rev. Gilbert James, is with us for a few days to make a survey of the various parcels of ground that we have chosen as potential places for a camp-ground. Please pray that as God led Hagar to the well of water that saved her famishing child’s life, so He will lead us to the camp-site that will prove to be the Spiritual Oasis to the many dear colored people who are unwelcome in so many places.8 With James’ support, a site was chosen in 1954 near Burkeville, Virginia, which had been the site of a Presbyterian school for African American girls.

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and was purchased for $6,000. It was to become the site of a youth camp program.9 Kenneth and Mary Park were asked by Gilbert and Esther James to move to Burkeville from Shreveport, Louisiana to help build and run the camp. Rapidly, however, the county school board decided they wanted the property for another project. When the Free Methodists said they did not want to sell, they were threatened with a condemnation law suit to take the property over, forcing them to sell the site.10 The Parks helped locate another property in Crewe, Virginia and they were able to use material salvaged from the Burkeville site to construct some buildings. Camps seem to have run at the Crewe site until around 1960, when the Shelhamer Mission in Washington D.C. was closed and the Parks moved to Michigan to help with family.11 On July 16, 2006 at the Free Methodist Campground in Spencerville, Maryland, which had originally rejected Julia Shelhamer’s request to host an African American camp, both Julia Shelhamer and Gene Alston were honored with the dedication of the Gene R. Alston Memorial Camp Museum and the Julia A. Shelhamer Serenity Garden.12

Julia Shelhamer and children at the Shelhamer Mission in Washington D.C. (1953).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

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Gilbert James wrote an editorial in June of 1954 on the breaking news of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end segregation in schools.

He wrote, Those of us who for years have been close to this matter of segregation by law, welcome this Supreme Court decision. We are aware that there probably will be a period of adjustment that may be disturbing to those who are inherently averse to change. Also, there is the task of calming the anxieties of those who for years have fed on the diet of racial fear by unscrupulous politicians…Those of us in Interracial Evangelism have been greatly handicapped by the rigid legal and social has been to accomplish a sense of unity, brotherhood, and oneness in the body of Christ while custom, tradition and laws have forbidden our full Christian fellowship.13 While working in the area of racial justice, and pastoring various churches, Gilbert James went on to graduate from Greenville College in 1955, followed by a M.A. in Anthropology and Sociology in 1957 from Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1963 from Northwestern. He focused most of his studies on the struggle of African Americans in urban areas, with a concern for the history of racial oppression and the problems of the urban centers. James’ work as the Superintendent of the Department Interracial Evangelism was pioneering, and when he left the position in 1958 the carry on the work, the Department of Interracial Evangelism was merged with the larger Department of Evangelism and Church Extension (Glen E. Williamson appears to have lead the Department of Interracial Evangelism from 1959 and during its merger). David McKenna in a history of the Free Methodist Church wrote, “In his 1960 report to the General Conference, Northrup (Rev. Lyle Northrup, the head of the Department of Evangelism and Church Extension) stressed the strength of interracial ministries. Four years later Northrup’s report to the General Conference carried the tone of de-emphasis upon interracial evangelism. The Shreveport church was in leadership transition; the Shelhamer Memorial Mission was struggling to exist and the scholarship fund for ‘needy colored students’ was falling behind the demand and the opportunity.”14 Gilbert James would also serve as the pastor of Irving Park Church in Chicago, 1957-1960 (while working on his Ph.D.) and went on to teach at the University of Wisconsin, 1961-

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Professor of Church and Society, a position he would hold until 1980.

Gilbert James entered Asbury Seminary with a determination to change the way ministerial training was done. His initial chapel (and possibly his installation address) was published in The Asbury Seminarian (a forerunner of The Asbury Journal) in 1966. After a short introduction he opened this way, With 70 per cent of America’s population now living in the great urban areas, and with the concentration in these areas of alienated and hopeless human beings, our future ministries must understand not only the needs of these people but must empathize with their longings, their fears, and their anger. They must learn to go to the people where they are, the way they are. For the day is past, if it ever existed, when the city pastor could frequent only the places of unimpeachable respectability and then expect the masses to throng to his church on Sunday morning. The battle is out there! The man of God is not of this world but surely he must be in it.

The crushing and sickening anguish of today is not apparent in the congregation of a Sunday morning worship service or a Wednesday night prayer meeting.

The problems of human distress ferment in the squalor and wretchedness of decaying tenement houses, at the back table of a “gin mill” on State street, and boil in the core of a frenzied mob seeking vengeance on its oppressors. As Nietzsche has written, ‘Great problems are in the street.’ So Christian witnesses must go into the streets with compassion for the victims of sin, and with holy indignation against social, economic, and political structures of evil.15 As a teacher, Gilbert James was penetrating and had high expectations for the students; expecting them to be prepared for thoughtful discussion of serious theological issues. Philip Amerson relates an example of how James in one class asked his students who most desired the prohibition of alcohol in a neighboring county. After the expected answers of preachers and religious people, James revealed that these people were

show by maps of a Chicago neighborhood how anti-prostitution measures only caused the movement of prostitution to an adjoining neighborhood, and did not really solve the underlying problems. Amerson refers to James

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as a “provocateur” and an “urban ecologist,” but he also calls him, “the most honest, Socratic teacher I have ever known.”16 Howard Snyder, who was another student of Gilbert James, relates that James was “bright” and “cutting edge” in that his teaching was “a matter of reaching the cities and it was a matter of racial justice” combined with the Gospel.17 Gilbert James was part of a new kind of seminary educator which really sought to invest time and energy into his students, including meeting them in the dining hall, which Amerson referred to as a “congregating space for conversations you didn’t want to miss.”

While at Asbury, Gilbert James did not choose to remain within the ivory tower. A commitment to the urban poor especially, pushed him in the practice of poverty. To this end, he developed the Urban Ministries Program for Seminarians (UMPS- which would be a forerunner of SCUPE the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education founded in 1976), which was often conducted in Chicago, but also New York, MinneapolisSt. Paul, and Atlanta. A 1973 pamphlet on the program reveals it to be a cooperative program between a number of schools, including Anderson College School of Theology, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, Bethel Theological Seminary, Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, North Park Theological Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary.

According to the pamphlet, the program in 1973 ran from June 5 to August 17, 1973 with a group of thirty students, while a select group of eight would continue to work through December. There were four stages to the program: 1.

2.

3.

4.

“The Plunge”- where the student would spend several days and nights in the city as a “non-entity” with minimal resources.

Several days of concentrated lectures through the summer focused on urban studies from various specialists to gain an understanding of ministry in the city.

Regular work where the students would live in the neighborhood they were working in under some supervision and learn how to understand the needs of the community.

Small group sessions to gain self-understanding and process their experiences in ministry in the urban context.

Such an approach in experiential learning was quite radical at the time.

Rev. David Seamands, who was the pastor at the Wilmore United Methodist

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Church and a well-known author, related at James’ funeral in 1982 that when he was discussing issues of poverty or racism with James, Gilbert challenged him to “put your feet where your mouth is and come with me to Chicago.” He then relates spending time as a homeless person with just a few dollars in his pocket for the weekend and noted his “horizons were pushed back” in a “prophetic way.”

Howard Snyder also noted how he delayed leaving Asbury after learning to New York in June of 1966 with about 11 others. Snyder pointed out how the trip really impacted his own view of the church by providing a conceptual “shift from looking at the church from individualism to community” and from “psychology to sociology” which helped him better understand how the Church needs to think and act as a community in social terms, along with the real impact of “institutionalism” on the life of the church. This experience would be key to future work he did as a pastor trying to prevent a Free Methodist Church in Detroit from moving to

of James). Ultimately these experiences would help formulate some of the ideas for his book, The Problem of Wineskins (1975). Snyder would dedicate his following book Community of the King (1977) to “Gilbert M. James and Charles W. Kingsley who in very different ways combine the evangelistic and prophetic dimensions of the Kingdom of God.”

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Girls’ Dormitory and Dining Hall at the Crewe Camp in Virginia (circa 1957).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

Joe Culumber was a student at Asbury Theological Seminary when he went with James on an urban experience to Chicago in 1968.18 As a young man from a small rural town with no experience in the city, Chicago in 1968 was a major culture shock. The city had erupted in riots as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) battled with the Chicago police prior to the Democratic National Convention, which would occur later that summer. Rather than shelter the young white men from Kentucky, were occurring so they could be there to witness social action at work. He took them to an Operation Breadbasket (later to become Operation PUSHPeople United to Serve Humanity) event at a theater, which Culumber

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describes as “part revival and political convention all in one.” They went to hear an unknown Civil Rights leader, and when Jesse Jackson emerged in the few white students from a rural Kentucky seminary to be dissuaded from urban ministry through these experiences, the opposite happened. As Culumber noted, James “impacted us with his vision and passion” since most of them had never seen a “passionate Wesleyan conservative with a heart for the city” before. For Culumber, his own desire to do urban ministry was “ignited” by this summer experience, and he would go on to do urban ministry in Manila in the Philippines, and at churches in St. Louis, College, he modelled his teaching on James’ “urban plunge” model with his own students.

While such an approach was ahead to its time, there are indications that Gilbert James did have some doubts about the effectiveness of the approach. Amerson, who was involved with James on several of his urban experiences, including helping to work on one of his last in Atlanta, recalls that James “increasingly knew that it wasn’t helpful,” except for its shock value. Amerson recalls that James once said, “it may be an inoculation that prevents you from ever getting the disease.” If there was not good teaching and interpretive work along with the experience, it may simply end up making people immune to the problems of poverty. It is also possible that James had similar feelings about racial integration, believing that it might work well for a short period, but then could become dangerous as people became complacent about the importance of real racial equality on all levels of society.19 But such experiences were also liberating. Amerson recalls another trip to Chicago when James brought the group to an event for Operation Breadbasket, where Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Chicago director appointed by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking. James did not want the group to stick together but spread out in the rest of the crowd.

Amerson saw James from a distance standing on a seat waving a beret and loudly supporting what Jackson was saying. Gilbert James believed that true holiness required action and not just words.

The development of the 1970 Ichthus Music Festival was in some ways an offshoot of this type of innovative experiential learning. In an interview with John Park, one of the founding students who also gave the music festival its name, he noted that he had spent the summer of 1969 with Gilbert James in New York City, in Harlem (so had Philip Amerson in one

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20

It was there dealing with inner

an Ichthus necklace from which he named the festival. While James had no clearly direct ties with Ichthus, in my interviews, most of students involved in the early years told me that they were partially inspired by Gilbert James’ teaching, his ideas, and/or these experiential learning experiences in urban areas.

Robert W. Lyon, his fellow faculty member at Asbury and personal friend, wrote a special tribute to Gilbert James in 1980 in a campus publication. Lyon, probably best known for his work in mentoring the had been hired at the same time as Gilbert James. He wrote, When you talk with him he tells you that he is a professional sociologist and not a theologian. With a not ordained and that he has never studied theology. Yet, I think a case might be made out for at least suggesting that he has been the best practicing theologian on these campuses. Dialogue on matters theological never left one in doubt that Gilbert had done his homework, that works of theology.

People naturally think of Gilbert as a sociologist, or as a teacher, or perhaps even as a prophet. He is all of them. But at the very heart of his being he is an evangelist. The person of Jesus Christ in his risen power stands at the center of his life and faith.21 At James’ funeral two years later, Lyon would describe him simply as “the truest human being I have ever known.” Since, James’ time it is now common to have professors whose specialties are in anthropology or sociology. Missions and evangelism without the idea of cultural exegesis would be incomplete in modern missiological studies. But for Asbury Theological Seminary, Gilbert James was the person who pioneered these ideas and thus paved the way for a multidisciplinary approach to reaching people for Christ, which was not detached from holiness, but rather rooted ways, his work paved the way for Frank Stanger to create the E.S.J. School with a strong social science focus.

From the arChiVes 171

Gilbert and Esther James with Abbie Christian Establishing a Work in Indianapolis for the Department of Interracial Evangelism for the Free Methodist Church (circa 1955).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

Gilbert James was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease relatively early in his life. Often his wife Esther had to travel with him to help him in his speaking, or even speak in his place. Rev. Philip Amerson remembered one of the last times he saw Gilbert James was in the spring of 1978 when he came to help teach a course for James, as he knew he was failing. He began to weep, saying simply, “I should know you, but I can’t place you.”22 The progression of the disease became worse with cases where James would become violent without knowing he was harming his wife, who he had wooed and treasured all of those years. He would die on January 21, 1982 at only 66 years of age.23 It is fascinating to hear some of Gilbert James’ thoughts on his Alzheimer’s disease, which he covered in a chapel

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service in 1978.24 He saw his illness as another challenge from God to learn more about the spiritual fruit of patience in his life.

Gilbert and Esther’s son, David has written a short devotional book about loss and grieving. In one devotional he writes about his father’s struggle, Four years before my father died at the height of his seminary teaching career, he wrote in his private notes, “A Prayer I was Afraid to Pray”: O God, let me be crushed and ground as wheat, like bread from the oven to be broken and fed to the hungry!

Then one night, two years later, he suddenly realized that through painful struggling with language in the pulpit, humiliation in the classroom, and anguish in meeting friends, this prayer had been answered. He took a leave of absence…

So instead of having the coffee he loved, at the staff lounge at the seminary he loved, with the people he loved, he drove to the Burger King at the edge of town.

He would seek out lonely-looking people and ask if he could join them. Because he could not lecture, he listened, and because he could not preach, he prayed, and formerly lonely strangers began to seek him out.

Broken bread, anyone?25 Gilbert James should be remembered, not just for his teaching and innovative immersion experiences, nor for his pioneering work in racial justice, but also for the impact he had on his students. Dr. Philip Amerson, the former President of Claremont Theological Seminary (20002005), and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (2006-2013) was one of his students in Gilbert James’ early years of teaching, and he worked with him long after he left seminary. Despite his later academic roles, he spent a number of years working with congregations on urban community development and institutional leadership with a concern for issues of poverty and discrimination. Clearly Gilbert James left an impact there. Dr. Howard Snyder was another student of Gilbert James. Dr. Snyder has served as a missionary and professor in Brazil (1968-1975) and taught in a number of places including being the Professor of History and Theology of Mission in the E.S.J. School at Asbury Theological Seminary (1996-2006), but it is in his writing where he has frequently challenged the Evangelical Church to be more focused on social issues. His books The Problem of Wineskins (1975), The Community of the King (1977), The Radical Wesley (1980),

From the arChiVes 173

Kingdom Manifesto (1985) and EarthCurrents: The Struggle for the World’s Soul holding holiness and social justice together. In addition, Gilbert James ministry. Olver is reported as saying, Gilbert James had a huge impact on my life. He was the professor of church and society at Asbury while I was there, and it was in a January interterm class on community research techniques that he led in Minneapolis-St. Paul that I made the decision to say yes to God about going to the city and going back to Brooklyn, and he actually spent several interterms in Brooklyn bringing students to be involved in ministries that we were involved in.26 Joe Culumber also chose to focus his life on urban ministry, culminating in his taking Rainier Avenue Church, a dying urban church in South Seattle with about 65 white retirees in one of the region’s most diverse neighborhoods. Refusing to move to the suburbs, in 1985 Culumber took this church into ministry into the ethnic neighborhoods, reaching out to African Americans, but also the large South East Asian refugee community of Laotians, Hmong, Vietnamese, and even Samoan minorities. Currently led by Rev. Peter Chin, Rainier Avenue Church is one of the most vibrant multiethnic churches in urban Seattle. Culumber was convinced by Gilbert James that, “if the Gospel is going to work, it should work in the city.”27 John ministry. He records how he went on an urban experience to Chicago in 1967 where Gilbert James gave the students different assignments, “He assigned me to ride with police. I didn’t have a lot of interest in police necessarily,” Owen recalled. “I saw unbelievable corruption exercised on the South Side of Chicago.”

Among other things, he witnessed tavern owners and businessmen giving cash bribes and alcohol to police, who also had ties to prostitutes.

“I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing,” Owen said. “I said to the Lord, ‘If you ever give me a chance to have anything to do with addressing police corruption.

I’d like to be able to do that’.”28

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the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., and he also helped set up chaplaincies in other law enforcement agencies in the nation’s capital.

Many of these student connections would come together in Continental Urban Exchange (CUE) meetings, a network of Free Methodists Lake in 1974, and subsequent gatherings mainly in large urban centers.

Charles W. Kingsley with the Free Methodist men’s organization, Light and Life Men, initially brought together a number of these urban workers, several of whom had been Gilbert James’ former students including: Dwight Gregory, Joe Culumber, Howard Olver, John “Ike” Owen, and Howard Snyder. Their aim, in part, was to work against the move of urban churches relocating to the suburbs. James would suggest speakers and the group would meet annually for more than two decades. CUE remains an ongoing legacy of Gilbert James within Free Methodism to this day.29 While it may seem paradoxical that James emerged out of a radical holiness background and then integrated that theology into his social justice work, this is not really the case. More likely he was connecting with an historic stream of the holiness movement (including Free Methodism) which did not distinguish between social justice and perfectly love both God and our neighbors. In true traditional holiness form, he would not separate these two. He was somewhat suspicious of of religious experience, but neglected the social dimensions. In this sense he truly inherited the holiness of the Shelhamers. Holiness was not about prohibiting dancing, jewelry, fancy clothing, drinking alcohol, or makeup being to live out the Gospel in our interactions with our neighbors. These things were not inherently evil in this theology. The early holiness leaders rejected these things because they took focus away from God, resources away from serving the poor, and elevated the individual above others.

True holiness had to be lived out with the marginalized of society, and that required a simplicity of life so that there would be more available from our personal holiness to foster social holiness.

From the arChiVes 175

Gilbert and Esther James at Frank Stanger’s Retirement Dinner (1981).

(Used with Permission of the B.L. Fisher Archives and Special Collections)

Gilbert James wrote an essay for Asbury Theological Seminary’s of Principalities and Power.” As he concluded the essay, he sought to suggest radical action which could lead to social transformation. He wrote: [T]here is a need for radical evangelism that will reunite the personal and social aspects of Christian experience. It should emphasize total obedience to Christ in every category of life. This means that the new creature in Christ is not only prepared to proclaim the good news to men and women everywhere, but he is concerned about the powers that limit the life options of people whom Christ loves. The Christian must be prepared to take his stand against racial, ethnic, and sex discrimination, corrupt politics, and immoral and exploitive business practices. He must be willing not only to help make known to the powers the will of God for His world, but to join with others through whom He is speaking and writing.

C. Wright Mills is quoted by Marcus Borg as saying, “If you don’t specify and confront real issues, what you do will surely obscure them. If you do not alarm anyone

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morally, you will yourself remain morally asleep. If you do not embody controversy, what you say will be an acceptance of the drift to the coming human hell!”30 At Gilbert James’ funeral in 1982 at the Free Methodist Church in Wilmore, Kentucky, time was given for people to share their thoughts.

The lone African American to speak was Dr. James Earl Massey, a Dean of the Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry and a trustee of Asbury Theological Seminary, 1978-1992. He noted that what he remembered most was that Gilbert James promoted an “intelligent love.”

Gilbert James spoke about his view of Christian love in a 1968 chapel talk Life.” He tells the poignant story of his young son, who loved baby chicks, and how one day he held a baby chick in his hand against his face and inadvertently killed the chick. James notes that his son did not lack for love, but rather lacked a knowledge about the frailty of baby chicks. He then added that “We must understand the world in which we are ministering, for unless we have some understanding of the social, political, and economic this as his overarching reason for being at the Seminary. In his dramatic conclusion to his sermon, he spoke prophetically from 1968 into our world today, We must labor to know and to understand and above all to seek God’s will and to question over and over and over again, what would Christ do in this situation. But it isn’t easy. Vested interests, competing philosophies, and political parties will cry for our loyalties. They will beguile us, they will mislead us, they will lie to us, but of poverty, of racial strife, of economic and political exploitation, and to witness against wickedness in high places.31

social scientist on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, whose teaching inspired many to work with the urban poor, to form the Ichthus Music Festival to reach young people, to bridge gaps in interracial justice, to truly understand what it meant when Wesley said, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.”32

From the arChiVes 177

who met James on one of his trips to Chicago and became close friends, noted that James believed that holiness and social justice had to go together.

For Pannell, James was the only person at Asbury who truly understood the crisis of the cities, and as such he often seemed to be alone, “a prophet crying in the wilderness.” Pannell opines that the Evangelical church today needs to really understand what it “means to be radical Christians” in the same way as Gilbert James. I am sure James would have agreed wholeheartedly with Pannell as he added, “It will always be a struggle, if justice is at the periphery of our institutions.”33 The archives of the B.L. Fisher library are open to researchers and works to promote research in the history of Methodism and the WesleyanHoliness movement. Images, such as these, provide one vital way to bring history to life. Preservation of such material is often time consuming and

the archives of the B.L. Fisher Library, or in donating funds to help purchase asburyseminary.edu.

End Notes All images used courtesy of the Archives of the B.L Fisher Library of Asbury Theological Seminary who own all copyrights to these digital images, unless otherwise noted. Please contact them directly if interested in obtaining permission to reuse these images.

1

2 As Rev. Philip Amerson notes, this shift might have begun to occur much earlier with Claude Thompson in the late 1940’s. Phone interview with Rev. Philip Amerson, January 11, 2022. Claude Homes Thompson (1908-1971) taught Systematic Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary from 1947-1950. He went on to the Candler School of Theology in 1951 where he taught until his death in 1971. He was a vocal advocate of civil rights and defended a biblical view of equality in terms of race relations. His papers are housed at Emory University in Atlanta. There was an extensive controversy over Thompson’s orthodoxy beginning in 1948 and ending with his forced resignation in 1950. Accused of liberal theology by a small group of faculty members (a charge never substantiated) the

so that Thompson felt compelled to resign. As a result, the Seminary lost the administration and a lack of intellectual freedom. This topic is covered in depth in Kenneth Kinghorn’s The Story of Asbury Theological Seminary,

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(2010, EMeth Press, Lexington, KY): 161-197. It is also important to note the presence of Dr. George Allen Turner at Asbury Seminary, where he taught Biblical Literature, 1945-1979. He appears in Gilbert James’ Interracial News, even writing an article entitled, “Racial Integration and Prophetic Religion,” 7(1) (April 1956). As a Free Methodist with an interest in racial justice, he would have been an ally of James at Asbury, but he also appears as one of the opponents of Claude Thompson, so his exact role is unclear.

In any case, neither Thompson nor Turner were hired for positions on social Seminary for his expertise in the social sciences.

3 This is related in the audio tape of Gilbert James’ funeral held in the Free Methodist Church in Wilmore. In a newspaper article about Gilbert James and his battle with Alzheimer’s, it is mentioned that his father ran away to join the circus as a young person and that was when he adopted the name “James” for his last name. Others relate that Gilbert James was not even sure if James was his real last name, since his father apparently changed his name in a number of situations.

4 Robert L. Peirce, “Disease took toll on brilliant man wife remembered” Louisville Courier-Journal (Kentucky), Sunday, February 13, 1983.

5 Cf. “Shreveport Work Observes Tenth Anniversary,” Interracial News, 4(4) (August 1953). Another helpful piece is It Took a Miracle: The Story of Shreveport Evangelism about 1960 and written and directed by Glen Williamson. A digitized copy of this was obtained from the Marston Historical Society of the Free Methodist Church in Indianapolis, which also holds other material related to the Department of Interracial Evangelism, Gilbert James, and the Shelhamer family.

Gilbert James, “He That Winneth Souls,” Interracial News, 1(5) (October 1950): 1.

6

7

Cf. Interracial News, 1(4) (August, 1950): 1.

8 Mrs. E.E. Shelhamer, “What a Time,” Interracial News, 4(5) (October 1953): 2.

Cf. Esther S. James, “The New Camp Ground,” Interracial News, 7(1) (April 1956): 4.

9

10 Gilbert James, “The Virginia Youth Camp,” Interracial News, 7(2) (July 1956): 2.

The year of 1960 appears to be a critical year, since Gilbert James had left the position as Superintendent of the Department of Interracial Evangelism in 1958 to teach at the University of Wisconsin (1961-1965). The work on interracial justice seems to have died out without someone with James’ passion. For a short time, he was replaced 11

From the arChiVes 179

by Glen E. Williamson. The Shelhamer Mission seems to have been taken over by the Redevelopment Land Agency for land projects, no new effort was put into the camp and the land and building were eventually sold.

See especially “Camp Historian’s Report for Annual Conference 2007” for the Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center by Marti Theune, camp historian, retrieved January 12, 2022 at https://docsbay.net/a-ministry-ofthe-maryland-virginia-conference-of-the-free-methodist-church.

12 “Gene Alston, Julia Shelhamer, Honored in Spencerville, Maryland,” Free Methodist Historical Society Newsletter, 7(2) (Winter 2007): 2-3.

13 Gilbert James, “U.S. Supreme Court Outlaws Segregation,” Interracial News, 5(3) (June 1954): 1-2.

David L. McKenna, A Future with a History: The Wesleyan Witness of the Free Methodist Church: 1960 to 1995 and Forward. (Light and Life Communications: Indianapolis, IN) 1997: 187.

14

Gilbert M. James, “The Church in Society: The Wesleyan Way.” The Asbury Seminarian, 20(2) (1966): 82-86. Retrieved from: https://place. asburyseminary.edu/asburyjournal/vol20/iss2/8/ 15

16

Phone interview with Rev. Philip Amerson, January 11, 2022.

Interview with Howard Snyder, January 13, 2022. For a video of the full interview see https://vimeo.com/668288091/5fda293c78.

17

18

Phone interview with Rev. Joseph Culumber, February 11, 2022.

19

Phone interview with Rev. Philip Amerson, January 11, 2022.

20

Phone interviews with John Park, August 5, 2020 and September

3, 2020.

Robert W. Lyon, “A Tribute to Dr. Gilbert James.” Short Circuit: A Student Publication of Asbury Theological Seminary, 79(7) (April 25, 1980): 1.

21

22

Phone interview with Rev. Philip Amerson, January 11, 2022.

True to form for Gilbert and Esther James, Esther told their story to the Louisville Courier-Journal in February 13, 1983 (“Disease took toll on brilliant man wife remembered”), most likely as a way to reach out and inform others about the effects of Alzheimer’s. In this article, Esther relates Gilbert’s violent episodes where he yelled obscenities, threatened her with a knife, and even kicked her. But she also tells with great grace their love story and how she kept him at home out of love for the person he really was. It is a tragic story, and yet one of profound Christian love as well.

23

24

of the Spirit while Coping with Early Onset Alzheimer’s,” Chapel

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Service, Wilmore, Kentucky, 1978: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ ecommonsatschapelservices/5962/ David L. James, From Loss to Hope. (Cincinnati, OH: Forward Movement, 2006): 28-29.

25

26 Jeff Finley, “Called to the City: The Urban, Cross-Cultural Ministry of Howard Olver.” Light and Life Magazine, 2021, retrieved on January 26, 2022 at https://lightandlifemagazine.com/called-to-the-citythe-urban-cross-cultural-ministry-of-howard-olver/ 27

Phone interview with Rev. Joseph Culumber, February 11, 2022.

Jeff Finley, “John “Ike” Owen: Chaplain to the Cities,” Light and Life Magazine, 152(10) (October 2020): 22-25, retrieved on February 11, 2022 at http://de.hessprintsolutions.com/LLLV_October_2020/page_23. html 28

29

Special thanks to Howard Snyder for pointing me to the direction

Gilbert M. James, “The Use and Abuse of Power: A Study of Principalities and Powers,” In Theological Foundations: Fiftieth Anniversary Scholarly Essays by Members of the Seminary Faculty, pp. 211-232.

Originally published in 1974, republished in 2013. (Wilmore, KY: First Fruits Press) 2013: 227. Retrieved at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ 30

31

Service, Wilmore, Kentucky, 1968: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ ecommonsatschapelservices/553/ 32

John Wesley, Preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739.

33

Phone interview with Dr. William Pannell, January 13, 2022.

The Asbury Journal 77/1: 181-194 © 2022 Asbury Theological Seminary DOI: 10.7252/Journal.01.2022S.10

Book Reviews Theology, Music, and Modernity: Struggles for Freedom Jeremy Begbie, Daniel K. L. Chua, and Markus Rathey, eds.

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2021, 400 pp., hardcover, $115.00 ISBN: 978-0198846550 Reviewed by Zachariah S. Motts Theology, Music, and Modernity (TMM) is a series of conversations historical quests for understanding and detailed interpretations of musical passages. As a book, it is a sort of polymath playground, where disciplines merge and overlap. The articles themselves also have this feeling, as the authors are aware of the other articles, and there is real interaction from one piece to the next. reader should consider. While the above paragraph may sound very raucous and free, the themes provide constraints on the conversation. The articles take place at the intersection of (Christian) theology, music, and the cultural concept of freedom. The era in focus is 1740-1850 (p. 5). So, this is not a broad exploration of music in general, but a focused discussion mostly covering European, classical music. Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Haydn are studied alongside philosophers like Kant, Hegel, and Herder in the bulk of the text. This is predictable, perhaps, given the narrow space opened by the initial parameters. Those hoping for forays into the rest of the globe or theological connections with genres like country or hip-hop should probably look elsewhere.

However, the exception to this Eurocentrism occurs in the third of the four main parts. Here there is a recognition that the discussions of freedom that are occurring in Europe are happening concurrently with an 181

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era of colonialism and slavery. The text moves across the Atlantic to follow the life of Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This section is well done and looks at the life of Allen alongside the successive hymnals published during his leadership. The theme of freedom is developed through these essays also, but the shape of the concept of freedom for Beethoven’s listeners and for Allen’s congregations is obviously very different.

In a book on music, theology, and a narrow cultural era, a book that moves back and forth from St. Paul to music theory to art interpretation to philosophy, I found myself asking what this work does best. Though it was interesting looking at theology through conceptual lenses provided by music or tracing out again Pauline concepts of freedom versus modern ones, those discussions, while erudite and well-sourced, did not strike me as groundbreaking. The essays exploring Herder, language, and music in the last section pose curious questions about the relationship between language and music, and the contrast between the two. However, in my opinion, of the disciplines through which this book is roaming, it is at its best when it is doing history. The life of Richard Allen and Felix Mendelssohn, outlining the contours of the concept of freedom by looking at artifacts like paintings and scores, elaborating on the movement of Bach’s music from the church to the concert hall: these are the places where TMM shines. I do not come away feeling as though I have met a challenging new theological concept or found a breathtaking interpretation of Beethoven’s Eroica, but I do feel that I have gained some quality historical context and insight into this era that I did not have before.

Paul’s Three Paths to Salvation Gabriele Boccaccini Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans 2020, 180 pp., hardcover, $24.24 ISBN: 978-0-8028-3921-3 Reviewed by Alberto I. Bonilla-Giovanetti Gabriele Boccaccini’s Paul’s Three Paths to Salvation seeks to situate the apostle Paul within his heavily apocalyptic Jewish worldview in order to best understand the apostle’s soteriology.

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The book is divided into a foreword, a preface, and nine chapters.

David Bentley Hart states in his foreword that he admires Boccaccini’s attempt at contextualizing Paul in his apocalyptic Jewish context, which

righteousness in the Protestant Reformation (xii–xiii). Boccaccini’s preface gives a brief synopsis of his intellectual journey toward this book, where he sees a turning point in his understanding of Paul when he “began to indiscriminately to all (Jews and gentiles alike), nor exclusively to gentiles Chapter 1 addresses the controversy of whether Paul remained a Jew or if he became a Christian. Here the author gives a brief history of research of Paul’s relationship to Judaism, weaving his thoughts with his account of various important researchers views on this issue. The main schools of thought addressed in this chapter include a Lutheran view, an apocalyptic view, the New Perspective on Paul (NPP), and the Paul-withinJudaism view. Even though Boccaccini strongly sympathizes with the Paul-within-Judaism approach, he seeks to nuance his views, recognizing that “[t]he real Paul belongs neither exclusively to Judaism nor solely to Christianity but rather to the diversity of the Second Temple as one of its most radical and distinctive components” (23).

Chapter 2 addresses the controversial question within Pauline studies of whether Paul converted to Christianity. Boccaccini then recounts the process of gentile proselytism into Judaism, the debates in Second Temple Judaism on apostasy, and argues that Paul’s situation is to be understood as an issue within Judaism, not the initial stage of the “parting of the ways” (34). Because of this, Boccaccini sides with those who posit that Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus was a call within Judaism (i.e., change in party from Pharisaism to the Jesus Movement), not a conversion to Christianity (38).

Chapter 3 revolves around Jewish apocalyptic literature and its scholars, such as R.H. Charles, Albert Schweitzer, Rudolf Bultmann, and John Collins address apocalyptic views in their different contexts. Secondly, Boccaccini addresses the apocalyptic worldview itself, noting that the question of evil was central to this worldview. He notes that “in apocalyptic circles many viewed the origin of evil not as a consequence of God’s will

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or human transgression but as a rebellion of superhuman angelic powers.”

The author notes how different streams of Judaism respond to this question, citing primary sources, such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, Daniel, and Qumran literature, and how these sources relate evil, angelic beings, and adherence to Torah. These issues are related to Paul in that they “are subordinated to Paul’s central apocalyptic idea of the superhuman origin of evil, including the problem of personal salvation, the inclusion of non-Jews, and the relevance of the Mosaic torah” (54).

Chapter 4 addresses Jewish messianism. Boccaccini surveys two main versions of the Messiah, the “Son of David,” and the “Son of Man.” On the one hand, the “Son of David” was viewed as a more political and military idea that focused on the monarchy and on adherence to Torah (61). The messianic “Son of Man,” on the other hand, was viewed as being focused on supernatural liberation, not only socio-political freedom. Based creation before the angelic hosts, […] is a preexistent, superhuman being, destined to remain ‘hidden’ until his glorious manifestation” (64). Despite having a minimalist view of the reliability of the Gospels to know the historical Jesus’s self-understanding, Boccaccini argues that Mark asserts that Jesus had an Enochic view of the messiah via the “Son of Man.” Thus, in the author’s view, the early church “understood Jesus in apocalyptic terms. time” (67).

Chapter 5 views forgiveness eschatologically and apocalyptically through an Enochic lens. Here Boccaccini argues that, based on 1 Enoch 50, “repentance at the time of the last judgment will cause God to forgive some sinners by mercy” (71), which is different than salvation through following Torah that was common in Second Temple Judaism. This text provides an apocalyptic and eschatological precursor to John the Baptist’s preaching of repentance, since Boccaccini argues that this apocalyptic tradition sustained that God’s judgment was imminent, but his mercy was available to sinners who repented (77). This is then ultimately taken up by Jesus himself in the Synoptic tradition, who is portrayed as the forgiving messiah who, by his death, would forgive the “many” who are sinners (81).

Thus, in agreement with the apocalyptic and eschatological views of the early Jesus movement, Paul proclaims this same message of Jesus’s forgiving

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Chapter 6 addresses the Jewish background to Paul’s Christology.

The author surveys modern scholarship on low and high Christology, especially the works of Bart Ehrman and Larry Hurtado, as well as the complex world of Jewish monotheism. For Boccaccini, the most important question regarding the evolution of Christology is not when Jesus was regarded as divine (cf. Ehrman) or when he was venerated/worshiped (cf.

Hurtado), but rather when Jesus was regarded as uncreated (97). On this issue, the author argues that Paul and the Synoptics are in broad agreement on Christology, with the Pauline distinctives of an Adam parallelism and highlight Paul’s apocalyptic bent in his Christology (104).

make anachronistic arguments regarding Paul’s soteriology. For Boccaccini, as argued throughout the book, it is best to interpret Paul’s soteriology through an apocalyptic lens. Paul’s apocalyptic lens (cf. Enoch’s Book of Parables) claims that humanity is under the powers of evil spirits and are thus unable to be free from sin on their own, therefore needing Christ’s salvation. Boccaccini, however, differentiates who exactly needs salvation. suffered under the rule of evil powers, but after that, everyone is judged and saved according to their works (122). So, in his view, Boccaccini to separate Paul from Augustine and Luther and read him in his Second Temple apocalyptic environment.

Chapter 8 addresses Paul’s role as apostle in the nations. Boccaccini fearers before delving into how the early Jesus movement handled Gentiles.

Boccaccini emphasizes the “slavery” motif regarding sin to explain that, in an apocalyptic view, both Jews and Gentiles are in a “postwar scenario” where they are enslaved to sin and the evil spiritual powers because Adam this, being made free from their slavery and made one with Christ and each Boccaccini’s view, the already/not yet reality is made evident in ecclesiology, where followers of Jesus are “[m]ade mystically equal ‘in Christ’ (but not yet

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equal in this world), they should live in this world in harmony and mutual love (but not in equality), according to their own distinct identities” (155). to come, not on this one.

Chapter 9 summarizes the main points of Boccaccini’s book, especially on Paul’s apocalyptic worldview, the misreading of Augustine Christian theology and interreligious dialogue, especially with Jews. Thus, Boccaccini argues that “In Paul’s view, Christ is God’s gift not to all but to the many—the sinners” (162). So, the implications for Boccaccini are that Jews are saved by following Torah, Gentiles are saved by following the natural law of their conscience, and sinners (whether Jews or Gentiles) are on the path to good works and salvation.

Gabriele Boccaccini’s work certainly makes one think about Paul, his context, and how understanding his letters shape our theology and praxis for today. The fact that some of his views would be controversial to many should not deter one to engage with his ideas and accept or push back where necessary. His strong insistence on situating Paul within his Jewish context is key, and his support of reading him through an apocalyptic lens

may be debated, however. This last point should surely prompt theological students, both beginners and those with experience, to revisit some of the basic claims of Protestant soteriology and compare them with Boccaccini’s reading of Paul. Furthermore, Boccaccini’s writing style is clear and concise, which invites a wide audience to partake of the discussion. His

research. Considering that Paul’s Three Paths to Salvation is clearly written, yet arrives at innovative conclusions, this book is one that should be read by a wide audience. This is especially true considering that one of Boccaccini’s own purposes for his book is to bridge gaps in interreligious dialogue. As said before, not everyone will agree with all of Boccaccini’s arguments, but discuss for a long time.

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Paul & the Power of Grace John M.G. Barclay Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans 2020, 200 pp., paperback, $22.00 ISBN: 978-0-8028-7461-0 Reviewed by Matthew R. Peterson John M.G. Barclay’s 2015 book Paul and the Gift has been hailed by many New Testament scholars as a landmark development on the topic of grace in the writings of Paul. Through his new book Paul & the Power of Grace, Barclay offers a summary (and partial expansion) of the arguments from that earlier work for readers who might have been intimidated by its size and abundance of technical data.

Those who have read Paul and the Gift will be familiar with the three chapters provide a brief orientation to ancient Mediterranean giftgiving customs. Barclay demonstrates how ancient assumptions contrast (sometimes starkly) with the modern western notion that “pure” gifts ought to be non-reciprocal and disinterested. References to ancient philosophers and moralists undergird Barclay’s taxonomy of six ancient “perfections”

grace language in a variety Second Temple Jewish works, and in so doing giving taxonomy is also employed later in the book to lend precision for Barclay’s analysis of how Paul uses grace terminology in his letters, especially Galatians and Romans.

Barclay’s analysis suggests that the “grammar” of Paul’s theology is oriented towards grace as the incongruous favor of God that is intended to establish a reciprocal relationship between God and the believer. He argues that Protestant debates concerning the status of ethical obligations (“works”) in Paul largely stem from imprecision in how the various a tendency to confuse incongruity with noncircularity. For Barclay, Paul’s wrestling with the Christ event and responses to that event from Jews and

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other “perfections” operate at a secondary basis. The incongruous gift of Jesus Christ upset ancient conceptions of worth. A disruption of traditional assumptions concerning the worthiness of recipients then molded Paul’s contextualized theology found in his letters.

Later chapters interact with other prevailing views on Paul, draw address how grace language is employed in the disputed and non-Pauline letters. Despite the limited scope that a book of this size affords, Barclay successfully summarizes several major areas of contention in Pauline discussions of key passages in the letters should prove helpful for readers who might not be fully versed in recent trends in Pauline studies. Barclay’s the theoretical realm by delving into the pastoral implications of God’s to the work given its intended audience.

Although a substantial amount of detail found in Paul and the Gift has been omitted in pursuit of a shorter format, Paul & the Power of Grace retains the major points and several minor nuances from that larger work quite well, which is a remarkable accomplishment. For those who have already read Paul and the Gift, this new book can serve as a helpful Barclay’s writing style is, as always, a treat that successfully traverses the narrow bridge between erudition and approachability. Such a balance is especially appreciated given the intent of this work to engage additional (non-academic) readers. Readers who wish to engage with a thorough exegesis of the pivotal passages would do well to pick up the larger Paul and the Gift their ministry yet lack the time or technical training to work through that book, or for college or seminary students who are less familiar with the current scope of Pauline studies, Paul & the Power of Grace is perfectly targeted.

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After Nationalism: Being American in an Age of Division Samuel Goldman Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press 2021, 208 pp., hardcover, $24.95 ISBN: 978-0812251647 Reviewed by Zach Jeffcoat After Nationalism conjured up an old memory of mine – one

With time, this ritual has become increasingly strange to me. Realizing I had no sense of their continuity, it seems that I merely assented to them as normal goods. Dr. Samuel Goldman analyzes the national symbols that US citizens often mistake for commonly held ideas and sentiments.

In After Nationalism, Dr. Goldman uses a rough set of ideal types to describe historical conceptions of the American nation: the covenant, creed, and crucible. First, the covenant symbolized “a special relationship between the English settlers of the Atlantic Coast and the God of [Abraham].” between its institutions [and] universal ideals” -- like individual rights.

Last, the crucible borrows Americanness as an eventuality in the oftcited melting pot analogy (2). In the second to last chapter, Dr. Goldman uses another mnemonic -- memory, nostalgia, narrative -- to describe the different moods of historiography. Finally, Goldman explains how his title functions as an allusion and a thesis. After Nationalism is a play on the title After Virtue (by Alasdair MacIntyre). As MacIntyre argued concerning virtue, Goldman argues that a “shared vocabulary” belies a “long-running dispute about their [actual] content” (118). In short, he argues that stronger, more coherent institutions will be best for sustaining the Union amid a “cacophony” of national ideas (119).

Dr. Goldman’s framework is ready for application in discussions among Christian scholars and laypeople alike because its familiar terminology can be related to traditional conceptions of Christian [communitarianism/ commonality]. Most obviously, the concept of covenant is richly laid out through scripture and thoroughly explored within the tradition. Next, the Book of Galatians -- with particular attention to 3:28 and its context

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(“neither Jew nor gentile […] you are all one in Christ.”) -- can be put into robust dialogue with Goldman’s exploration of crucible and melting pot nationalism. Then, most creatively, naming “creedal nationalism” in a discussion can help to highlight political nuances in discussions of creedal and confessional orders of Christianity.

Apart from its orthodox institutionalism, Goldman’s conclusions could be characterized as lasses-faire or typical-libertarian. While I agree that stately pluralism might be the best potential outcome “after nationalism,” I question whether anyone wants to see that come about. For example, much of the gridlock surrounding federal policies could be easily resolved by empowering state governments to make and enforce different laws, but there are two major drawbacks. First, states have not always had a good record of governance. Second, I would suggest that -- in the absence of major reforms -- only wealthy citizens would be able or likely to move to a state whose governance they prefer. With so many landlocked minorities, federalism (and, with it, nationalism) will tend to remain strong. That said, the relationships between geography and belief are worth discussing at length.

As one of Max Weber’s fanboys, I cannot help but include him and Protestantism is relevant to the American spirit. In particular, I feel that Weber’s work demonstrates how rationalized forms of sectarianism can be almost supernaturally effective in producing social change but, without proper checks and balances, can become cancerous towards the same ends.

All things considered, Dr. Goldman’s After Nationalism is an eloquent brief on the belief in and interpretation of United States’ national history. Its suitability for broad consumption is only matched by the timeliness of its publishing. After Nationalism could be a crucial read for those looking to process the sentiments and ideas that the upcoming midterm elections are sure to try and conjure in us all.

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Abject Joy: Paul, Prison, and the Art of Making Do Ryan S. Schellenberg New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2021, 248 pp., hardcover, $74.00 ISBN-13: 978-0190065515 Reviewed by Zachariah S. Motts Page after page, Abject Joy is an insightful, thought-provoking book. While there will be plenty to discuss, develop, and disagree with in this well-researched monograph, it is a work that opens new possibilities thing to do in biblical studies, especially in trying to shed new light on the Pauline texts. From the beginning, though, Schellenberg takes a novel angle and plunges into the prison experience of St. Paul.

The methodology at work is to take seriously what we know of the physical, social, and psychological effects of prison isolation and deprivation in recent studies, and to lay those realities alongside extrabiblical evidence from Paul’s era. All of this is done with an eye on the Pauline texts, looking for places where the interpretations that grew up around Paul may be romanticizing or heroizing the realities that he faced.

The reader is asked to revisit seemingly basic questions once again: Who is this Paul, and how does he describe his own experience? What does it mean to write about “joy” from prison?

Densely researched throughout, Schellenberg takes the reader on a tour of ancient sources from various strata of the Greco-Roman world. We are invited to try on different interpretations of Paul as contemporary letters, reports, and narratives are unfolded in front of us. Does the language of a noble or like someone without any status in society? At the same time, Schellenberg details analogous situations and experiences of prison life from recent studies, guiding the reader through ethnographic evidence that questions the more idealistic, hagiographic descriptions of Paul’s ordeal.

Sociological study is brought to bear in an attempt to identify some of the shared human features of being an imprisoned person in any time period.

Of course, Schellenberg is also providing an interpretation, but it is a position richly supported by ancient extra-biblical textual evidence

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seen through the lens of the lived realities of incarcerated persons, which calls us back to the biblical text once again to reevaluate and refresh our understandings. While he is careful to note the differences between modern prison experiences and ancient ones and is wary of over-psychologizing Paul, he does believe that carefully considering the accounts of imprisoned people from ancient and modern times can bring us closer to understanding the meaning of the “joy” that Paul is writing about in correspondence with Christians on the outside. Whether or not one agrees with the directions Schellenberg takes the evidence, he does a great service by shaking entrenched and seemingly self-evident interpretations of the Pauline epistles without being baldly controversial.

It was also enjoyable to watch the way the methodology and argumentation develops throughout Abject Joy. For a biblical studies student looking for inspiration on how to approach research on the wellworn and heavily debated passages of the Bible, there is much to learn here. Tomes about the Apostle Paul pile up, but this monograph of modest length is one that is worth taking note of and discussing. I look forward to future offerings from Schellenberg and hope to see more monographs in this general vein of biblical scholarship. A recommended read for Pauline scholars and students alike.

Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2020, 258 pp., ebook, $9.99 ISBN: 978-0190093358 Reviewed by Zachariah S. Motts There are many books on parenting by religious parenting gurus of one type or another. Most offer varying degrees of well-meaning advice on how to deal with particular cultural issues and parent in a manner faithful to one’s faith tradition. There are many such books on the market, but this is not one of those books. This is a work of original research in conversation with other research on parenting that attempts to understand the reality of religious parenting and religious transmission in the United States. Rather

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than give advice on how parenting should happen, Handing Down the Faith is a sociological study that attempts to listen careful to American parents.

In that way, it is a descriptive rather than a prescriptive work. The of American parents to paint a picture of attitudes toward parenting and the outcomes of those attitudes. Their team conducted 235 interviews of 150 households from a spectrum of American religious adherents: “white evangelicals, white mainline Protestants, black Protestants, white Catholics, Hispanic Catholics, Mormons, Conservative Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus” along with “a sample of non-religious parents for comparative purposes” (227). So, though the authors admit that the sample and the topics of some of the interview questions tended to skew Christian, voices of parents from other religious traditions feature prominently throughout the work.

Voices of American parents are the focus of Smith and Adamczyk’s study. They give space to allow parents to describe their own understanding of religious parenting in order to illustrate better the cultural and conceptual world in which these people are moving and raising their children. Their words have been carefully transcribed, coded, and placed alongside the results of other surveys in ways that provide deeper insight into those statistics. This work is a partial contribution to a larger conversation, and the authors are careful in their interpretations to not draw overly broad conclusions about religious transmission. Even so, they are able to point out some thought-provoking features of the sociological landscape of American religious parenting and the self-understandings of those parents.

Obviously, as with any study of this type, it provides a snapshot of the past. Though recently published, the bulk of the research occurred between 2015 and 2016. There are times that the concerns of the text do seem dated after the boiling interactions between religion, politics, immigration, racial discrimination, and public health over the past few years. I was struck at one point by comments concerning perceptions of racial discrimination in schools by Asian-American parents which seemed very disparate from where the conversation is today. One cannot help but wonder how different these interviews would have gone today, and how these major events, like the closing of places of worship because of COVID-19, is affecting religious transmission today.

Those limitations, though, are not as much a criticism of what Smith and Adamczyk have created here as a call for continuing research.

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If this work was revised and expanded in the future to cover the last few years, I would happily revisit and reread. Their methods are conscientious and their contribution to the understanding of American religious life is meaningful, so I would like to see further books in this vein. Though there are unavoidable limitations, in Handing Down the Faith, the authors have

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Abernethy, Andrew T. 2021 Discovering Isaiah: Content, Interpretation, Reception.

Discovering Biblical Texts. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7805-2. Price: $24.00.

Anderson, Cameron J. and G. Walter Hansen, eds.

2021 God in the Modern Wing: Viewing Art with Eyes of Faith. Studies in Theology and the Arts. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-08308-5069-3. Price: $30.00.

Barrett, Justin L. and Pamela Ebstyne King 2021 Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5293-2. Price: $20.00.

Boersma, Hans 2021

Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew.

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic.

ISBN: 978-0-8308-5390-8. Price: $20.00.

Brandt, Ryan A. and John Frederick, eds.

2021 Spiritual Formation for the Global Church: A MultiDenominational Multi-Ethnic Approach. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-08308-5518-6. Price: $28.00.

Briggs, Richard S. 2021 The Lord is My Shepherd: Psalm 23 for the Life of the Church. Touchstone Texts Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-6185-3. Price: $24.99.

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Bruner, Frederick Dale 2021 The Letter to the Romans: A Short Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-80287943-1. Price: $26.99.

Byrd, Aimee 2022

The Sexual Reformation: Restoring the Dignity and Personhood of Man and Woman. Grand Rapids, MI: $19.99.

Cerone, Jacob N. and Matthew C. Fisher 2021 Daily Scriptures: 365 Readings in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 9780-8028-7893-9. Price: $34.99.

Crowe, Brandon D. 2021 Why Did Jesus Live a Perfect Life?: The Necessity of Christ’s Obedience for Our Salvation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-6250-8. Price: $22.99.

Dixon, Rob 2021

Together in Ministry: Women and Men in Flourishing Partnerships. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5140-0070-0. Price: $22.00.

Edwards, James R. 2021 From Christ to Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the Church in Less Than a Century. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-61402. Price: $27.99.

Fleming, Jody B. 2021 Wesleyan Pneumatology, Pentecostal Mission, and the Missio Dei. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN: 9781-7936-1196-3. Price: $32.99.

Glanville, Mark R. and Luke Glanville 2021 Refuge Reimagined: Biblical Kinship in Global Politics.

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Goldingay, John 2021

The Book of Jeremiah. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7584-6. Price: $75.00.

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Graves, Michael 2021 How Scripture Interprets Scripture: What Biblical Writers Can Teach Us about Reading the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-62003. Price: $24.99.

Green, Joel B. 2021

Discovering Luke: Content, Interpretation, Reception.

Discovering Biblical Texts. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7496-2. Price: $22.00.

Hardwick, Lamar 2021 Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4160-8. Price: $18.00.

Hathaway, William L. and Mark A. Yarhouse 2021 The integration of Psychology and Christianity: A Domain-Based Approach. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4183-7.

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Jamieson, R. B. 2021

Käsemann, Ernst 2021

Keener, Craig S. 2021

The Paradox of Sonship: Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture.

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Resistance. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-6010-8. Price: $40.00.

Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

ISBN: 978-1-5409-6383-3. Price: $24.99.

Knabb, Joshua J. 2021 Christian Meditation in Clinical Practice: A Four-Step Model and Workbook for Therapists and Clients.

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5140-0024-3. Price: $40.00.

Larsen, Timothy, ed.

2021 Every Leaf, Line, and Letter: Evangelicals and the Bible from the 1730s to the Present. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4175-2.

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Christian Ethics: A New Covenant Model. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-80287687-5. Price: $47.99.

Lehner, Ulrich L. 2021 Think Better: Unlocking the Power of Reason. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-64762. Price: $21.99.

Levering, Matthew 2021 The Abuse of Conscience: A Century of Catholic moral Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7950-9. Price: $45.00.

Lewis, Donald M. 2021 A Short History of Christian Zionism: From the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-08308-4697-9. Price: $36.00.

McKnight, Scot 2021

Five Things Biblical Scholars Wish Theologians Knew.

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic.

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McNall, Joshua M. 2021 Perhaps: Reclaiming the Space Between Doubt and Dogmatism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5520-9. Price: $26.00.

Markos, Louis 2021

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Mathewson, David L. 2021 Voice and Mood: A Linguistic Approach. Essentials of Biblical Greek Grammar. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-6143-3. Price: $22.99.

Middleton, J. Richard 2021 Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8010-9801-7. Price: $26.99.

Mohler, R. Albert, Jr., general ed.

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Moo, Douglas J. 2021 A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ. Biblical Theology of the New Testament Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic. ISBN: 978-0-310-27090-4. Price: $54.99.

Morey, Tim 2020

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Muehlhoff, Tim and Richard Langer 2020 Winsome Conviction: Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4799-0. Price: $17.00.

Mukuna, Monique Misenga Ngoie 2021 Cradling Abundance: One African Christian’s Story of Empowering Women and Fighting Systemic Poverty.

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Ortlund, Eric 2021

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Pannell, William 2021 The Coming Race Wars: A Cry for Justice, From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter. Expanded Edition.

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Russaw, Kimberly D. 2021 Revisiting Rahab: Another Look at the Woman of Jericho. Nashville, TN: Wesley’s Foundry Books, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. ISBN: 978-1-9530-5200-1.

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Ruth, Lester and Lim Swee Hong, eds.

2021 A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8010-9828-4. Price: $44.99.

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Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-80287810-6. Price: $24.99.

Simmons, William A. 2021 The Holy Spirit in the New Testament: A Pentecostal Guide. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5274-1. Price: $28.00.

Smith, Gordon T. 2021 Welcome, Holy Spirit: A Theological and Experiential Introduction. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-5390-8. Price: $22.00.

Snodrass, Klyne R. 2022 You Need a Better Gospel: Reclaiming the Good News of Participation with Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN: 978-1-5409-6504-2. Price: $22.99.

Snyder, Noel A. 2021

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Stanglin, Keith D. 2021 Ethics Beyond Rules: How Christ’s Call to Love Informs our Moral Choices. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Stearns, Richard 2021 Lead Like It Matters To God: Values-Driven Leadership in a Success-Driven World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4730-3.

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Stringer, Dan 2021

Sun, Chloe T. 2021

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Whitacre, Rodney A. 2021 A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7927-1.

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Zondervan 2021

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