I do believe that a strong religious education program promotes evangelism. My daughter who is 23 is our Religious Education Director (yes I am so proud of her!)her minor was in religion in college. One of the theologians she did extensive research on was Karl Barth a swiss theologian and minister who was a christian that stood up to Hitler and denounced his killing of the jews during world war II. Barth is often called the father of modern theology and many have been influenced by his work including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. My daughter will be doing a two part series on Barth during the worship service and in February I will do a two part series on Richard Allen. Since we are a small church we will do bible study in members homes during the week and have other religious education during the service. I love sharing biographies with my congregations for hearing of others faith journeys is exciting. Do you have any other suggestions for theologians, ministers etc. we can use for Religious Education?

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

Answers

Reverend Denise,

Have her go on the web and research Smith Wigglesworth, Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson, Keith Green, Amie Semple MacPhearson, Owswald Chambers, Charles Finney, James Whitefield, John Wesely, A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, or Maria Woodworth Etter. Giants all! She can probably find their sermons as well as biographies, which will be the most edifying of all.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

When I was younger and much smarter than I am now I used to read Harvey Cox, Rudolph Baultmann, Barth, Paul Tillich, a Danish-Lutheran theologian who wrote the classic book, Cost of Discipleship [name escapes me]. While these seminal thinkers were intellectually stimulating scholars I still was left with something of a void. Fortunately, two names I would recommment to Denise can fill that void: Howard Thurman and Benjamin Mays. I can't think of any two 20th Century black theologians who contributed more to the develoopment of theology as an organized discipline. QED

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

For a modern thinker take a look at James Cone

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

I would like to amend my last sentence to include James H. Cone and the late Samuel Dewitt Proctor. QED

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

I'd like to recommend two books from a South African perspective, namely,"Crying in the wilderness" by Desmond Tutu and "Black and Reformed" by Allan Boesak. God Bless.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

Check with the ITC/Turner Theological Seminary to see if you can dinf the p[ublished works of Dr. Jacquelyn Grant-Collier, professor of Systematic Theology there.

For biographies, you may consider "The Way of the Bootstrapper" BY Rev. Floyd Flake, available from Amazon.com (not a commercial :-).

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

Bill, The Cost of Discipleship was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Could this be the Lutheran theologian to whom you were referring? (I believe he was German, not Danish though.)

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

Wow! You guys are awesome. All of the suggestions are wonderful, thank your your ideas. And I will include your suggestions in my next church newsletter. One of the things that excites me, is seeing theology through the eyes of the youth. My daughter was particularly moved by the theology of Barth and it's implication for liberation theology and it's relevence for African-American people. Her professors were impressed. I know Bill will enjoy this since they are both alums of the same university. Keep the suggestions coming, I am enjoying this so much! Bozeman is a college town and 80 percent of the population has at least one degree. So the congregation will enjoy these suggestions. Thanks everyone, you spoil me!!

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001

Also try "Fire in his heart" Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner and the AME church, by William Seraille. It is about one of the earlier AME Bishops and his struggle with his calling and his work in the AME Church. He was Editor off the Recorder as well as founder of the AME Review. In addition the Biography of Henry McNeil Turner. Both give accounts of their work and ministries within the United States during the Post reconstruction era. Another is any boigraphy you can get on Smith Wigglesworth. Love & Peace MOM.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2001

To my son Pastor Jerome thanks for the ideas. You sound really excited about Bishop Tucker, tell me a little about him. Your Mom in Montana Denise

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2001

I believe there is also a link to one of the writings of Bishop Tanner on my history page.

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2001

Today my daughter did part one her presentation on the swiss theologian Karl Barth. The congregation was greatly moved and asked a lot of questions. Karl Barth who is known as the father of modern theology lived from the late 1800's to 1968. His theological emphasis was on the need to pray more and use the bible as our map and guide. Today it is a matter of fact that we do these things but at the beginning of the industrial revolution God was thought to be everywhere so why pray. Karl Barth insisted that we needed to ask God into our lives. He also felt strongly that christians should not be silent when injustice is done to others. Which is why he spoke out against the jewish holocaust (note: there have been many holocaust including the Middle passage when thousands and thousands of African died in route to slavery). Dr. King used the teachings of Karl Barth to formulate his theological thinking for the civil rights movement as did other for liberation theology in central america. Next month I will do Richard Allen. My daughter is 23 and to see our youth applying theology to our lives is wonderful. I might add most of the questions today came from a 16 year old.

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2001

I too, am interested in learning more about Bishop Tanner. Many thanks to Jerome for sharing this new biography. The book that Jerome recommended should be required reading for all serious students of AME History. Jerryl, I can't seem to gain access to your history link. Can you repost? Also, thanks to responding to Rev Price about my use of the Latin phrase "QED". My background in mathematics is the basis for me using it in rhetorical settings such as these. One thing I do know about Tanner is that one of his grandchildren, Sadie Tanner Moseley [?] Alexander, was not only one of the founding members of Delta Sigma Theta, but, the first black woman admitted into the PA Bar, and most notably, she was the FIRST black woman wtih an earned Ph.D. in the US. Her dissertation was in the field of economics. All black economists [like me]and female scholars [like Denise Rogers] are intellectually indebted to this grandaughter of Bishop Tanner. QED

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

The link to the history/bishops page is http://http://www.ghg.net/jlpayne/bishops.html.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

Brother Bill thank you for your kind comments referring to me as a scholar. I greatly appreciate it, I might add that the AME church is replete with many scholars female and male. I am honored that such a distinguished denomination would have me. By the way one of my projects that I am working on is the early church in Nubia in the fourth century. My love is Patristic the study of the early church fathers and how the church evangelize the gospel message of christ. I have a pastor's heart and working in the local church is my desire. Though I hope several years from now my Bishop will let me plant other churches.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!!

The link to the bishops/history page (I hope!) this time is http://www.ghg.net/jlpayne/bishops.html.

This time for sure!!

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

Jerryl you are a saint! Though the page for Bishop Tanner was not available I found materials from your web page about Bishop Alexander Wayman. My home church in Billings Montana is named after him. I cannot wait to email this info to our pastor. What an interesting man Bishop Wayman was and to read his own words is inspiring. Jerryl thank you so much, I will use materials from your page for black history month.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

The congregation stayed an hour after church discussing Karl Barth today. My daughter our Religious Education Director did a two part series on this swiss theologian and minister. One of the reasons she talked about Barth is that he has impacted so greatly on black theologians such as Dr. Martin Luther King who had a PH.D in systematic theology. My daughter read the Barmen Declaration which declared that Hitler and the Nazi's were wrong for how they were treating and killing jews. Barth used used scripture to support his claim that only Jesus was the way. My daughter then discusses how Dr. King used theology to denounce the work of the KKK using the principals of the Barmen Declaration. She insisted that as christians we must not be silent. Her presentation helped the congregation realize how we as christians can and should use the bible to unmask false prophets, suck as the KKK, apartheid, etc. I just had to brag on my 23 year old. For to finish her discussion on Barth today before the birthday of MLK, helped the congregation understand that the civil rights movement was also a religious movement. We began to discuss areas that our church needed to speak up about, and how we can use the Bible as Barth did for justice. I told the congregation I want our church to be an educated church. And for us to learn something new on sunday.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001