On May 2, Sarah Azaransky delivered a guest lecture previewing the work in her new book, This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford University Press 2017), which studies a network of black American Christian intellectuals and activists who looked towards independent movements, particularly in India and West Africa, for an inspiring model of the American racial justice campaign. Read More

In the wake of the mid-twentieth century’s desegregation period, escalated turbulence and tension among political, social, and spiritual groups were commonplace, notably in the American south. In Richmond’s Priests and Prophets, author Douglas E. Thompson investigates the role white Christian leaders played in the shifting landscape of their congregations and communities amidst civil rights efforts in Richmond, Virginia. Read More

Quoting Jesus, the passage of Matthew 26:11 reads, “the poor you will always have with you,” leading to interpretations surrounding the inevitability of and moral shortcomings resulting in poverty. In Always with Us?, author Liz Theoharis uses both biblical text and the lived reality of the poor to reject these notions as dangerously out of context. Read More

PLT Contributor Nathan Walton, currently a PhD student at the University of Virginia, has received a dissertation fellowship by the Louisville Institute. Walton is one of eighteen students in the US and the only UVA student to receive the 2017 fellowship. Read More

All too familiar with the calamities of violence, war, and poverty, Africa is in desperate need of a theology of hope in the form of lament. In his newest release, Emmanuel Katongole advocates this development and explores the rich theological and social dimensions of the practice of lament in Africa through accounts of Christian activism. Read More

Amidst a pivotal era of change and mass movements, the church is poised to mobilize congregations with the embrace of community organizing. In their newest release, Tim Conder and Dan Rhodes offer a field guide to fulfill this calling and revitalize churches as leaders at the forefront of social justice issues. Read More

A trailblazer in the Civil Rights Movement, John M. Perkins remains a leading voice at the forefront of racial reconciliation. In his newest release, Dream with Me (Baker Books, 2017), Perkins uses raw, personal stories spanning from the civil rights era to today to call us to work for justice by living out God’s redemptive love in all of our relationships. Read More

The postmodern West has surpassed its Christian roots and its legacy of reason, freedom, human dignity and democracy. In Incarnational Humanism, author Jens Zimmerman presents the church as the vessel for change through the retrieval of an ancient Christian humanism for our time. Read More

On Tuesday, May 2, PLT Contributor Sarah Azaransky will deliver a guest lecture at UVA on her forthcoming book, This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford University Press, 2017). Read More

The 1963 sit-in at the Jackson Woolworth’s has come to be largely recognized by a set of photographs capturing the violent tension between the raw virulence of racism and the defiance of visionaries. While the event’s importance in the civil rights context has been recognized as sparking to life the civil rights movement in Jackson, it has failed to be studied in its historical context. We Shall Not Be Moved fills this gap by translating biography and history into a gripping narrative to explore the hearts and minds of those participating in this harrowing sit-in experience. Read More