A Political Conversation

Join the Center for Black Church Studies (BCS) as we discuss the 2020 election and sociopolitical issues that are crucial to the Black church, including racism, voting rights, poverty, education, and public health. BCS Interim Director Kermit Moss will moderate the discussion.

The Rev. Dr. Earle Fisher serves as senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a community organizer; co-organized the Memphis Grassroots Organizations Coalition; and is spearheading initiatives in criminal justice reform, media accountability, the removal of confederate monuments, and voter empowerment. Through this justice work, Fisher formed #UPTheVote901 to give more political power to more people and increase voter turnout. Fisher is the 2019-2020 Henry Logan Starks Fellow at Memphis Theological Seminary and the 2020 Political Science Research Fellow at the University of Memphis teaching and studying political theology and radical Black politics. Most of Fisher’s work focuses on the African American religious rhetoric, contemporary rhetorical theory, Black liberation theology, and the prophetic persona of Albert Cleage, Jr. Fisher holds a BS from LeMoyne Owen College, an MDiv from Memphis Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Memphis. He is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Missionary Baptist denominations.

Dr. Terrence L. Johnson is an associate professor of religion and politics in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. He is also a senior research fellow at the Berkley Center, an affiliate member of the Department of African American Studies, and serves on the executive committee of the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. Johnson’s research interests include African American political thought, ethics, American religions, and the role of religion in public life. He is the author of Tragic Soul-Life: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Moral Crisis Facing American Democracy (2012) and serves as co-editor of the Duke University Press Series Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People. Johnson is completing a manuscript titled We Testify with Our Lives: Black Power and the Ethical Turn in Politics, which explores the decline of Afro-Christianity in the post-civil rights era and efforts among African-American leftists to imagine ethics and human rights activism as necessary extensions of political liberalism, pragmatism, and liberal public philosophies. Johnson holds a BA from Morehouse College, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from Brown University.

The Reverend Dr. Regena Thomas is the director of the Human Rights and Community Relations Department of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). In addition, she serves as the Executive Minister at Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Trenton, New Jersey. Prior to the position with AFT she was the director of community engagement and constituency at the Democratic National Committee. Thomas served as Secretary of State for the State of New Jersey from 2002 through 2006, appointed by Gov. James McGreevey. Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State, Thomas was considered a leading political consultant for the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors’ Association, and the Democratic Senatorial Committee specializing in African American turnout. She has worked for District of Columbia mayors Marion Barry and Sharon Pratt Kelly both in government and their political campaigns. She accepted her call to ministry and was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She earned her MDiv from New Brunswick Theological Seminary and her DMin with a specialty in urban ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary.

This event is virtual and free but registration is required.
All are welcome.

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