In Sympathy: Royal A Speidel
Rev. Royal A Speidel, a retired member of the Northern Illinois Conference passed away on Sunday, July 21, 2024.
Location: Online Via Zoom
Called: Doing God's Work for the Beloved Community
December 1, 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm
Online via Zoom
Speaker: Dr. Drew G.I. Hart
Find out more from the 2022 Speaker Series
Resources:
- Dr Drew G I Hart's Soial Media Contacts
- Dr Drew G I Hart's Books
- Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (Antiracism & Christian Discipleship)
- Who Will Be a Witness: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance (Scriptural Theology, History, and the Practice of Ecclesial Grassroots Justice)
- Recommended Reading
- On Spiritual Formation - The Deeply Formed Life by Richard Villodas
- Theology - God of the Oppressed by James Cone & Resurrection Hope by Kelly Brown Douglas
- Heavy theological lifting on Global Christianity and Colonialism - The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie Jennings
Dr. Drew G. I. Hart
About the Speaker:
Drew G. I. Hart is an author, activist, and professor in theology in the Bible and Religion department at Messiah University with ten years of pastoral experience. Hart majored in Biblical Studies at Messiah College as an undergrad, he attained his MDiv with an urban concentration from Biblical Theological Seminary, and he received his PhD in theology and ethics from Lutheran Theological Seminary-Philadelphia.
Dr. Hart’s dissertation considered how Christian discipleship, as framed by Black theologies and contemporary Anabaptism, gesture the western Church towards untangling the forces of white supremacy and the inertia of western Christendom which have plagued its witness in society for too long. As two traditions that emerged from the underside of violent and oppressive western Christian societies, he found Black theologies and Anabaptism each repeatedly turning to the particularity of Jesus in the gospel narratives, ultimately calling for an ethic of liberation in the Black Church and an ethic of peacemaking in the Anabaptist tradition. Hart finds the practice of reading Jesus not only for the Church but also against it, to be a vital dimension in salvaging western Christianity from itself.
His work beyond teaching and writing has included pastoring in Harrisburg and Philadelphia Pa., working for an inner-city afterschool program for black and brown middle school boys, delivering lectures and leading anti-racism workshops, collaborating with faith-based organizers in his neighborhood, and doing a broad range of public theology. Hart sees his current role as a theology professor as an extension of his ministry vocation that began with pastoral leadership.
Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart, was chosen as a 2016 book of the month by Englewood Review of Books. Reviewing the book, Shane Claiborne said, “This book is a gift from the heart of one of the sharpest young theologians in the United States. Hold it carefully, and allow it to transform you–and our blood-stained streets.” As a text, Trouble I’ve Seen utilizes personal and everyday stories, Jesus-shaped theological ethics, and anti-racism frameworks to transform the church’s understanding and witness.
Dr. Drew Hart recently received bcmPEACE’s 2017 Peacemaker Award for his local and national work. You can find some of Hart’s writing on his blog entitled ‘Taking Jesus Seriously’ hosted at The Christian Century. You can also catch him as he travels and regularly speaks across the country to colleges, conferences, and churches. Drew, his spouse Renee, and their three boys (Micah, Dietrich, and Vincent) live in Harrisburg, Pa.
Book by Dr. Drew Hart