Confronting Racial Injustice (Center for Pastor Theologians)

One of the greatest crises facing the church is the crisis of racial injustice that has so long marred the body of Christ in America. Evangelicals have traditionally had a set of biblical, theological, and cultural tools we have used for dealing with questions about race: the necessity of personal responsibility, the possibility of heart renewal through faith in Jesus, the transformative impact of interpersonal relationships, and the bedrock conviction that every human being is made in the image of God and is thus of equal worth and dignity. But in the world after 2020, the evangelical church must now recognize that our theological playbook has been ineffective in rooting out racism from the church and in confronting our own complicity in racial injustice. We must now ask: What other theological convictions are required of us as we consider the image-bearing humanity of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others? Confronting Racial Injustice explores theological vistas to aid the church in our pursuit of racial justice.

Gerald Hiestand is senior pastor at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the co-founder and board chair of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is the co-author of The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision and co-editor of Becoming a Pastor Theologian: New Possibilities for Church Leadership. Joel Lawrence is the executive director of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is the author of Bonhoeffer: A Guide for the Perplexed, as well as numerous articles and chapters in books on a variety of theological and pastoral subjects.



Joel Lawrence has a PhD from Cambridge University and is the president of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He is the author of Bonhoeffer: A Guide for the Perplexed, as well as numerous articles and chapters in books on a variety of theological and pastoral subjects.