Turning a New Leaf in the History of Redemption

At the 2018 Theology Conference, Dr. Doug Sweeney, distinguished professor of church history and the history of Christian thought and director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, offered a comprehensive history of American evangelicalism and its complicated relationship with race.

In Dr. Sweeney’s lecture, “Miles to Go Before We Sleep: American Evangelicals and Racial and Ethnic Partiality,” he covered centuries of evangelical history and its troubled racial inheritance that we face today.

“If we want to understand why people of color often feel like they've drawn the short straw, and if we want to make things better in the future, let’s turn a new leaf in the history of redemption. Let’s join hands together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Tell the truth about the past. Quit trying to pretend as though we’re not part of the problem. Repent of our complicity in racial and ethnic sin, and collaborate to help those in need moving forward. Let’s wake up every day, put to death the deeds of the flesh, the lies we tell ourselves about our moral superiority, the spite we feel for getting less than what we think we’re owed, the sins of omission by which we profit at others’ expense, and let the Spirit of God make us more righteous, courageous, humble, patient, wise and loving: a team of those redeemed from heinous sin by Jesus’ blood.” — Dr. Doug Sweeney

Listen to Sweeney’s full lecture in the EFCA Theology Podcast episode, and stay tuned for additional podcasts from the conference. If you missed other episodes from the conference, find them in the EFCA Theology Podcast archives.