Race And Religion To Be Addressed In Willis Lecture At FSC

As America continues to struggle with questions of race relations, a prominent African-American theologian will give a lecture at Florida Southern College that will address this timely and sensitive topic from a religious perspective. 

Dr. Willie Jennings, associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale Divinity School, will give the 2015-2016 Warren W. Willis Lecture in Religion, “Challenging the Geographies of Race.” The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 in the Hollis Room on the FSC campus. It is free and open to the public.

Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, which received awards for its contribution to the field of religion, and essays on the subject of race, religion and education. In his works, he has described the complicity of Christian theology in modern schemes of racial domination and proposed models of spiritual intimacy to reverse those schemes. Dr. Jennings earned a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. degree from Duke University, where he taught for several years before joining the faculty at Yale.

The annual Warren W. Willis Lecture is sponsored by the Department of Religion and Philosophy at FSC. Dr. Jennings was chosen for this year’s lecture, which coincides with Black History Month, in light of recent events, said Dr. Waite Willis, chairman of the department.

“Dr. Jennings is a dynamic speaker. His career in the area of black theology and the black church, as well as his recent award-winning books on theology and race, made him the best choice for this year’s Willis Lecture,” he said. “Dr. Jennings’ insights will be of benefit to everyone concerned about racial justice and cooperation.”