Thurber Conversation - 13 October 2022 - Politics of Jesus and the Christian State
Featuring Dr. Reggie Williams
Politics of Jesus and the Christian State:
What happens when Christianity becomes the national religion
Thursday 13 October 19h30 via Zoom and also in-person in the Thurber Room
The faith of Jesus and the demands of a nation state are often made into the same thing in a nation that calls itself Christian. Empires have been built on the marriage between cross and crown, yet, given the relationship between the mission of the church, and the coming Kingdom of God, we must ask; can the gospel speak God’s good news and also support the demands of any nation state? Can Christianity be the official religion of an empire or a country and faithful to God at the same time?
There will be a meal served at the live gathering. We are asking for a donation of €5 to help cover the costs of the food.
Dr. Reggie L. Williams is associate professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. His book Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance (Baylor University Press, 2014) was selected as a Choice Outstanding Title in 2015, in the field of religion. The book is an analysis of exposure to Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, and worship at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist on the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, during his year of post-doctoral study at Union Seminary in New York, 1930-31.
Dr. Williams’ research interests include Christological ethics, theological anthropology, Christian social ethics, the Harlem Renaissance, race, politics and black church life. His current book project includes a religious critique of whiteness in the Harlem Renaissance. In addition, he is working on a book analyzing the reception of Bonhoeffer by liberation activists in apartheid South Africa.
Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011. He earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller in 2006 and a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Westmont College in 1995. He is a member of the board of directors for the Society for Christian Ethics, as well as the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and Society for the Study of Black Religion.
Thurber Conversations are an adult community gathering and growth time that is open to all.
Video recordings of selected past Thurber Lectures and Conversations here