The Lived Theology and Race Workgroup
Stephen G. Ray Jr.
Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy (Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary). B.S. Political Science (Charter Oak State College); M.Div. (Yale Divinity School); Ph.D. Theology and African-American Studies (Yale University).
Professor Ray's work focuses broadly on the intersection of religion and race. Specifically, his work analyses and critiques the way the category of race impacts dogmatic and social articulations of the Christian faith. His dissertation: Silenced by the Night: A Reconstrual of the Protestant Doctrine of Sin, takes up this project in relation to the works of Reinhold Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Professor Ray is currently working on two book projects. The first is revising his dissertation for publication with Fortress Press. The second project: Not All Black and White: African-American Christian History and the Politics of Historical Identity, which deals with racial identity in the study of African-American Christianity will be published by the University Press of Florida.
In addition to his work in religion, Professor Ray was also the project historian and curator for the Hartford Black History Project which featured the most extensive museum exhibition on the history of African-Americans in Connecticut to date. The title of the exhibition was ³A Struggle from the Start: Hartford¹s African-American Community 1639 1960.² His work has also included several articles for the journal Prism.
Professor Ray lives in Louisville, Kentucky with Susan, his wife of 17 years, their 11-year-old daughter Kiara and their cat Tellip.