About this eBook
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.”
About the author
GAYLE FISHER-STEWART, editor of Preaching Black Lives (Matter) serves currently as the interim rector at the historically Black, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. Prior to becoming ordained, she served with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC, and later taught at the university level while consulting with local and federal government agencies. She lives in Maryland.
Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows is the first black woman to be elected a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.
MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE is the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and serves as president of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation. Prior to this, she served as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. She earned her masters in divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary. The author of Gathering the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice, her sermons have been published in books and journals.
Kelly Brown Douglas is an Episcopal priest and graduate (Master of Divinity degree, doctoral degree) of Union Theological Seminary in New York City where she is now inaugural Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Seminary. She is the Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral. She lives in New York City.
WILDA C. GAFNEY (WIL) is a Hebrew biblical scholar and Episcopal priest, a former Army chaplain, and congregational pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She is a graduate of Duke University (PhD) and Howard University (M Div). In addition to her biblical scholarship, she has written for Sojourners, Huffington Post, Feasting on the Word, and Working Preacher. She is also an editor and essayist and author of several other books and teaches at Brite Divinity School. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
SANDRA T. MONTES has a doctorate in education and has taught in public schools for more than twenty years. Involved in multicultural or multilingual churches since childhood, she knows that congregations or groups who utilize REAL relationships will be successful and grow. She lives in Sugar Land, Texas.
Gene Robinson was the ninth bishop (2003-2013) of the Diocese of New Hampshire in The Episcopal Church. A graduate of the University of the South, Sewanee, he served as parish priest, retreat center director, and Canon to the Ordinary before his election to the episcopate. Since his retirement, he has continued an active speaking and writing schedule and serves as Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC.
