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One of the challenges for me in wrestling with issues of race and the church is that, as a young man, I was woefully ignorant of so much of the story of black Christians in America. I doubt I am alone in this.

When I began to teach at Gordon-Conwell, I naturally was assigned the Church History courses, which set me on the path towards research into modern American history. I am still functionally a novice in many of these areas, but the path has been rewarding. I am still ignorant of so much of this story, but at least I know my ignorance better.

So as I completed videos on church history I eventually made a lecture, ‘The Black Church and Civil Rights.’African-American Issues and Theology It is only 30 minutes, all of it compressed, and some of it painfully short. Friends and colleagues have been helpful in spotting areas I could have said more.

But it is the only church history lecture to make me weep during post-production. I am not given to many tears, but the images made this more visceral for me than merely an account of human sin.

The starting point for me, then, may be where others need to start: with the story of black pain in America and the heroism of its pastors.

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