Over the years, Westminster students, alumni, and faculty have had many connections to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day (January 19), we looked back in our media and news archives to find some of the ways those at Westminster have interacted with issues of race, justice, and African American culture.
See below for a collection of these archival items
Audio
Rev. Dr. Carl Ellis, Jr. is a visiting lecturer in practical theology and Westminster alumnus (M.A.R. '79). In 2003, Dr. Ellis taught his course "The Black Church in America." To listen to this 15-part lecture series, visit the Westminster Media Center.
Alumni Stories
Rev. C. Herbert Oliver (M.Div. '52, Th.M. '53) Published June, 2013
"After finishing Wheaton College, I went back to Birmingham to serve a small Christian and Missionary Alliance church there. I had heard of a minister who had been shot by the police, and he was well-respected in the black community. I went to the funeral parlor where he was, stood over his body, and was very disturbed and moved by seeing him there. In my heart, I said to myself and to my God that if something is not done about this situation one day I will be lying there, and that will be the end of me. It was like a vow; I said, 'If I can do something about this, I will.' This was in January 1948."
Rev. Dr. Eugene Callendar (B.D. '50) Published early 2009
He had never heard of Westminster but of all the seminaries he wrote to, Westminster was the only one that neither inquired about his race, nor requested a personal photograph. Due to the non-racial application, he decided that it was the place for him. When Eugene arrived on campus, he entered the lobby where he saw a black man sweeping the carpet. Eugene asked him, “Where do I find the office of the registrar? I am to be a student here.” The man dropped his carpet sweeper and ran. A few moments later, a woman entered the lobby and asked him who he was, so he told her, and she responded, “YOU’RE Eugene Callender!” He answered in the affirmative and she left. Shortly, a kind man came and offered his hand while saying, “I am the registrar, please come into my office.” The encounters in the lobby became more understandable when the registrar informed Eugene that he was to be the first black student at the seminary.
Watch below a discussion between Dr. Jeffrey Jue, Provost and associate professor of church history, and Dr. Anthony Bradley (Ph.D. '08) on the subject of Puritan Theology and the issue of race.
Displaying the power and rhetoric of a reformer's sermon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail was penned on scraps of paper, without any reference materials, in a barren jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, in April of 1963. As a little known, yet unfathomably profound epistle amplifying theological truth and the historical significance of America's civil and religious liberties, the breadth of knowledge, the penetrating insight, and the grasp of historical thinkers and their specific words revealed in this letter are nothing less than a testimony to genius. Now fully annotated and footnoted by historian and bestselling author Dr. Peter Lillback, Letter From Birmingham Jail takes its place as one of America's most valuable and noteworthy manifestos of not only the civil rights movement, but also of our nation's ceaseless journey to preserve its enduring freedoms.
An African-American theologian presents this timely critique of the "victimology" theme within black liberation theology and its long-standing spiritual and social implications.
When the beliefs of Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, assumed the spotlight during the 2008 presidential campaign, the influence of black liberation theology became hotly debated not just within theological circles but across cultural lines. How many of today's African-American congregations-and how many Americans in general-have been shaped by its view of blacks as perpetual victims of white oppression?
In this interdisciplinary, biblical critique of the black experience in America, Anthony Bradley introduces audiences to black liberation theology and its spiritual and social impact. He starts with James Cone's proposition that the "victim" mind-set is inherent within black consciousness. Bradley then explores how such biblical misinterpretation has historically hindered black churches in addressing the diverse issues of their communities and prevented adherents from experiencing the freedoms of the gospel. Yet Liberating Black Theology does more than consider the ramifications of this belief system; it suggests an alternate approach to the black experience that can truly liberate all Christ-followers.
Note: this volume is an edited version of Dr. Bradley's Ph.D. dissertation at Westminster.
Audio
Rev. C. Herbert Oliver (M.Div. '52, Th.M. '53)
He had never heard of Westminster but of all the seminaries he wrote to, Westminster was the only one that neither inquired about his race, nor requested a personal photograph. Due to the non-racial application, he decided that it was the place for him. When Eugene arrived on campus, he entered the lobby where he saw a black man sweeping the carpet. Eugene asked him, “Where do I find the office of the registrar? I am to be a student here.” The man dropped his carpet sweeper and ran. A few moments later, a woman entered the lobby and asked him who he was, so he told her, and she responded, “YOU’RE Eugene Callender!” He answered in the affirmative and she left. Shortly, a kind man came and offered his hand while saying, “I am the registrar, please come into my office.” The encounters in the lobby became more understandable when the registrar informed Eugene that he was to be the first black student at the seminary.
