Using Biblical Preaching and Praxis to Overcome Racism, Generate Tolerance, and Foster Reconciliation

Vincent J Dominique

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Using Biblical Preaching and Praxis to Overcome Racism, Generate Tolerance, and Foster Reconciliation

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Vincent J Dominique. Using Biblical Preaching and Praxis to Overcome Racism, Generate Tolerance, and Foster Reconciliation. Vincent J Dominique. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/da765dd4-977e-401a-9f23-ee0a358a5795.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

V. J. Dominique. Using Biblical Preaching and Praxis to Overcome Racism, Generate Tolerance, and Foster Reconciliation. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/da765dd4-977e-401a-9f23-ee0a358a5795

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Vincent J Dominique. Using Biblical Preaching and Praxis to Overcome Racism, Generate Tolerance, and Foster Reconciliation. Vincent J Dominique. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/da765dd4-977e-401a-9f23-ee0a358a5795.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Vincent J Dominique

Keyword

Social justice preaching

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

ABSTRACT USING BIBLICAL PREACHING AND PRAXIS TO OVERCOME RACISM, GENERATE TOLERANCE, AND FOSTER RECONCILIATION Dominique, Vincent J., BSN, MDiv, DMin, Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 2025. As the pastor of a vibrant small membership community of faith in the United Methodist Church, I minister with the help and support of many gifted persons known as lay servants. These force multipliers for the congregation, by training grace the pulpit with their frequent presence in my absence as pastor. The members of Transformation United Methodist Church in Augusta, Georgia, are like ordinary Black folks who face racism pervasively in matters that pertain to banking, real estate, employment, housing, public education, and community development. I have identified a specific problem within this cultural context: our congregation’s lay servants are not preaching racial justice. Instead, they preach about salvation, spiritual well-being, and relevant topics other than racism. They lack the education and training in biblical prophetic consciousness, homiletic principles for preaching racial justice, and the opportunity to practice racial justice preaching with their peer lay servants to prepare for preaching to a congregation. Thus, this racial justice preaching intervention aims to teach and empower these men and women to proclaim, “Thus says the LORD…” and decry racism in all its facets as the eight-century prophets decried the issues of their times. Chapter 1 outlines the project’s ministerial context, problem, purpose, hypothesis, assumptions, and definition of terms. Chapter 2 explores the Biblical framework of the project based on six texts from the eighth-century prophets and the priestly prayer of Jesus in John’s Gospel to aid preachers and lay preachers in addressing racism. Chapter 3 explores the non-theological interdisciplinary study that informs my hypothesis, showing the long and arduous work of the United Methodist Church combating the plague of racism within its ranks and in society. Chapter 4 provides the homiletic framework of the project by investigating the works of Black homileticians James Henry Harris, Otis Moss III, and Frank Thomas and pointing to other homiletic voices to identify preaching strategies for Methodist lay servants preaching against oppression and injustice. Chapter 5 describes the ministerial intervention at the heart of this thesis—the training of Transformation United Methodist lay servants for racial justice preaching in a prophetic tradition. Over six weeks during November and December 2024, six lay servants (five Black and one white; five female and one male) participated in the rigorous training. Chapter 6 accounts for the researcher’s data analysis, findings, and evaluation and discusses the project’s impact on these newly minted racial justice preachers. The participants will continue to learn and practice homiletic skills that enable them to preach unabashedly and help their hearers appropriate the gospel from a racial justice perspective.

Publisher

Vincent J Dominique

Year

2025

Subject

Racial Justice Preaching

Language

English

Resource Type

D.Min. Project

Bibliographic citation

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