Dear Workshop,
On Thursday, December 1, Curtis J. Evans, Assistant Professor of History of Christianity will present:
“Demonstrating the Sufficiency of Christianity to Solve the Race Problem: The Federal Council of Churches and Race Relations, 1920-1950”
Time: 12:00, Thursday, December 1, 2011
Place: Swift Hall, Room 200
Food: Snacks provided, feel free to bring your lunch!
Paper: Copies of the essay are available by emailing changp@uchicago.edu.
A small selection from Prof. Evans’ work follows:
During its first meeting on July 12, 1921, held in Washington, D.C. at 10 o’clock in the morning, the Commission on Negro Churches and Race Relations of the Federal Council of Churches spelled out its analysis of the problem of race in America and what should be done about it. Robert Speer, the president of the FCC, called the meeting to order and spoke briefly about the requests of Southern representatives, black and white, to form a commission that specifically addressed racial issues. Speer stated that the problem of the “relations of the races” was the most difficult one facing humanity and presented “the most searching test” of Christian ideals and principles. He forcefully proclaimed that all gathered shared fundamental and common beliefs: God as the common father of all; humanity as an organ of the divine; and that all are bound together “in one bundle of life.” Given these shared premises, Speer noted, they were “committed to the method of cooperation and must, therefore, find ways of living together in mutual helpfulness, service and goodwill.” Especially in America, he asserted, where the race problem existed in its most acute form, American Christians had the “greatest opportunity in the world to make a constructive contribution to it its solution.” For Speer, the “mere existence” of the Commission would be testimony “to the fact that in Christianity there is a real solution for our inter-racial problem and that the churches are going to deal courageously with their responsibility of seeing that the Christian solution is achieved.” He expressed grave concern about the church’s failure to address racial conflict, noting that home and international missionary work would suffer as a result. If the church could deal successfully with its “racial problem in an effective way at home,” Speer concluded, the results would be “an undreamed of access of power to the Church on the foreign field.”
Professor Evans also has the following request for workshop participants:
One note: the paper that you have is the formal proposal that I sent to Oxford and I’m now in the process of formulating my response to three anonymous readers’ observations. I’d especially be interested in feedback on the most appropriate way to broaden this such that it is not merely an analysis of the internal dynamics of the FCC. This was one of the concerns of the readers.
Best,
– Paul Chang
Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please contact Paul Chang in advance at changp@uchicago.edu.