Written by Sara Hook \/\/ Photo by Balazs Balassa <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Black Student Association (BSA) welcomed Dr. Kenneth Gilmore to campus Feb. 9 to speak on the theology and history of the Black church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilmore began preaching at age 12, pastored churches for 25 years and taught for over 20 years in schools across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDr. Gilmore provides insight and voice to student and church experiences that do not often get highlighted,\u201d BSA president Halle Miller said. \u201cAmong the theological voices that students are exposed to in their Harding Bible education, people like James Cone, who Dr. Gilmore references in building an understanding of the Black theological framework, are not often explored.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilmore spoke in the McInteer Bible and World Missions Center in room 145. Lectures like this are important, BSA sponsor Jessica Berry said, because through them people of different cultures, faiths and ethnicities can learn to support and value each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOftentimes we see a topic, and we feel like, \u2018Oh, because it\u2019s targeting a specific subject I don\u2019t need to learn about it because I didn\u2019t come from it,\u2019 but it\u2019s an opportunity for everyone to learn,\u201d Berry said. \u201cI hope that it sparks continuing conversations after this event, and then I hope that it prompts some questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berry said many students she recruits grew up in African American Churches of Christ, and being at Harding can be a culture shock. This lecture was also meant to help them realize the value of where they came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilmore will expand on his lecture in an eight week series titled \u201cTheology of the Black Church Experience,\u201d which can be taken for one, two or three Bible credit hours. The course considers the inception, history, nature and development of the Black church, as well as how theologians shaped Christian theology while facing suffering, injustice and racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou live in a multiracial and a multicultural world, and if you only think through the prism through which you’ve been exposed to predominantly, then you miss out on the uniqueness and the richness of other cultures,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cAs an educated person, you want to be awakened and be exposed to all broad ways of thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilmore\u2019s doctoral and master\u2019s work was involved with Christianity as it relates to the Black experience. It is fascinating, Gilmore said, because it deals with the uniqueness of the Black church, Black music and Black theology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want [students] to see the beauty of the Black church and the beauty of how we do theology, how we read scripture,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cOne of the things I’m gonna be pointing out is that our hermeneutics \u2014 how we approach text \u2014 is different than how most other people read text. So I’m just looking forward to students being challenged and being critical, self-reflective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n