The third evangelist makes Black-skinned people central to his claim in Luke and Acts that the gospel of Jesus is restoring the children of God. Within Luke's literary environment, the identity of the children of God was linked to national/ethnic identity. Many Jewish texts argued for the Jews' position as God's children because they are bound to God by covenant; they are God's firstborn. But there is also a more general sense within this tradition that all human beings are made in the image of God and are, thus, the children of God through Adam. In the Gospel, Luke asserts that all nations and all ethnicities, including Israel, have questionable filial status vis-ˆ-vis God. Both Israel and the nations are restored in status as God's children through Jesus, the Son of God. In Acts, Luke explores the initial return of Israel and all ethnicities to God through the witness of the church empowered by the Spirit. To epitomize the return of all nations to God, Luke narrates the salvation of Black-skinned Africans. These Black lives are emphasized to signify that their representation in the church demonstrates the universal extent to which the salvation of Jesus Christ will reach. Their presence in the church is also meant to dignify their Black skin against an aesthetic bias that was prevalent in Greco-Roman views at that moment. This subversion of ethnographic bias helped Luke's audience sustain a gospel-centered critique against the devaluation of Black life.

An anthology that asks, “What does it mean to be church where Black lives matter?” Prophetic imagination would have us see a future in which all Christians would be free of the soul-warping belief and practice of racism. This collection of reflections is an incisive look into that future today. It explains why preaching about race is important in the elimination of racism in the church and society, and how preaching has the ability to transform hearts. While programs, protests, conferences, and laws are all important and necessary, less frequently discussed is the role of the church, specifically the Anglican Church and Episcopal Church, in ending systems of injustice. The ability to preach from the pulpit is mandatory for every person, clergy or lay, regardless of race, who has the responsibility to spread the gospel. For there’s a saying in the Black church, “If it isn’t preached from the pulpit, it isn’t important.”

This work focuses on the implicit theological aspects of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It examines, in conversation with theologians, the movement’s early published tenets in order to determine their implicit God claims. The study, conducted by a Pentecostal bishop, puts Black Liberation, Womanist, and Queer Liberation theologies in conversation with the praxis of the movement. An ecumenical group of Black pastors from across the United States met in an effort to determine the viability of the God claims of the movement in the life of the Black Church. As the research progressed, a new theological expression emerged as the real praxis of the movement; i.e., intersectional theology. This study project concludes with an exposition of the main points of this intersectional theology.

Beginning with a conversation prompted by African American scholars like Dr. Alvin Poussaint of Harvard Medical School in 2007, to the current Black Lives Matter movement, there has been much debate about what led to the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, among others, as well as other systemic challenges that undermine black thriving. Anthony Bradley has assembled a team of scholars and religious leaders to provide a distinctly Christian perspective on what is needed for black communities to thrive from within. In addition to the social and structural issues that must be addressed, within black communities there are opportunities for social change based on God’s vision for human flourishing. Covering topics like the black family, hip-hop, mental health, mentoring women, masculinity, and the church, this book will open your eyes to fresh ways to participate in solutions that will truly set black America free. Although the Black Lives Matter movement keeps the church on the margins, the authors in this volume believe that enduring change cannot happen unless God speaks directly to these issues in light of the gospel. This is a revised edition of an earlier book, Keeping Your Head Up. With contributions from: Vincent Bacote Bruce Fields Rev. Howard Brown Ralph C. Watkins Rev. Eric M. Mason Rev. Lance Lewis Rev. Anthony Carter Ken Jones Natalie Haslem Rev. Ken Jones Rihana Mason Yvonne RB-Banks

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 is the day that changed America. A Republican business mogul and reality television host who once proclaimed that if women didn’t accept the intimate advancements of men, then men were could simply grab these women by a particularly sensitive extremity below their stomachs, snatched the electoral collegiate vote and since then has worked tirelessly on reversing President Barack Obama’s progressive policies and pushing immigration legislation backwards. This vital resource guide incorporates the basic understandings of spiritual care with the current social, emotional, existential and spiritual needs of African Americans simply surviving in Trump’s violent America. It’s one-of-a-kind, offering specific spiritual care strategies and interventions for African Americans dealing with particular physical, social and emotional health challenges in the midst of rising statistics of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia leading to violence in the United States. Intended for anyone in academia or the helping professions, this comprehensive work benefits those seeking to provide spiritual care to African American hospital patients, counseling clients, church congregants and parishioners, military veterans, or returning service members. The contributors to this anthology are experts in their respective fields who offer a new, refreshing, and energizing perspective on important issues impacting African Americans.

The Black Lives Matter movement evolved as a protest against police brutality against unarmed black men. This book extends beyond police brutality to revolutionize the national conversation about racial injustice and inequality and advocate for freedom and justice for all black Americans. We are the voices for equality. Recognizing that the fight for social justice and equality is bigger than any one person and that there is room for diverse talents and expertise of anyone who is committed to freedom, this multicontributor anthology addresses a range of hot-button issues and racial disparities that disproportionately impact the black community. This is a call to action that will challenge you to confront your long-held values and beliefs about black lives and confront your own white privilege and fragility as you examine racial justice and equality in a revolutionary way.

In this book Lisa Bowens and Dennis R. Edwards collate a virtual manifesto on the way the Bible serves as inspiration, theological grist, and even the language needed to be the change to people of good faith everywhere. The authors of this book challenge the forces of racism that are so deeply entrenched in church and society today offering prophetic insight into Black resilience and the historic and ongoing importance of Scripture to that resilience. The authors also forefront the significance of Scripture to the Black struggle for justice by bringing together here prominent, gifted Black scholars in biblical studies, ethics, history, and theology, as their work and writing contribute so much to the ongoing struggle against injustice. The book will offer both biblical reflection celebrating an African American theological reading and a prophetic call to arms by means of sermons and other reflections. The book includes contributions from: Jaime L. Waters, Jennifer Kaalund, Angela Parker Reggie, Williams Antonia Daymond, Brian Bantum, Danjuma Gibson, David Daniels, Y. Joy Harris-Smith, Vince Bantu, Marcia Clarke, Valerie Landfair, Antipas Harris, Luke Powery, Efrem Smith, Donyelle McCray, Jamal-Dominique Hopkins.

Preachers often think of prophetic preaching in the caricature of the prophet as the lonely outsider confronting the congregation, often angrily, with the congregation's complicity in social injustice and with a bracing call for repentance. The twenty-seven essays and sermons in this book offer a different perspective by viewing prophetic preaching specifically--and ministry, practical theology, and theological education more broadly--as pastoral care for the community in prophetic perspective. Such preaching does indeed bring a critical theological analysis of justice concerns to the center of the sermon, but in such a way as to invite the congregation to consider how the move toward justice is a pastoral move-- that is, a move that seeks to build up community. Rather than contributing to the polarization so rampant in today's social world, the preacher seeks to help the congregation build bridges along which concern for justice can travel. The contributions honor the work of the late Dale Andrews, a scholar of preaching and practical theology at the Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, whose seminal work inspires the notions of prophetic care and building bridges to justice.

The power of prayer is demonstrated in one man's journey, who receives as an answer to prayer the diagnosis of terminal glioblastoma multiforme( (GBM) , brain cancer. These are God's insights given to him through prayer.

Exalting Jesus in Luke is part of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition presented as sermons and divided into chapters that conclude with a “Reflect & Discuss” section, making this series ideal for small group study, personal devotion, and even sermon preparation. It’s not academic but rather presents an easy reading, practical and friendly commentary. The author of Exalting Jesus in Luke is Thabiti M. Anyabwile