Baltimore pastor-scholar addresses racial reconciliation in Schaff Lecture

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton focused on key verses from the Bible in his afternoon presentation, “Lifting the Veil: The Apostle Paul and the Racial Reconciliation,” in the 2016 Schaff Lecture at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave.

The founding senior pastor of The Open Church in Baltimore, a congregation committed to social-justice activism and interfaith collaboration, used passages from 2 Corinthians 3 and 5 in his presentation. He has a doctorate in New Testament studies from Emory University, where he was a George W. Woodruff Fellow.

The Rev. Mr. Braxton engaged the audience of clergy, ministry and lay leaders and religion instructors Tuesday by starting out with a song on freedom. He said reconciliation is the goal after many incidents of racial unrest in America.

Mr. Braxton likened slavery of the past to “global terrorism” in that blacks in Africa were taken from their homes and worked to death on cotton plantations in America and sugar plantations in the Caribbean. “There was hostility created by slavery,” he said. He pointed out colonial Christianity and theological institutions ignored slavery.

“Slavery left cultural, economic and psychic wounds on African-Americans,” he said. “Reconciliation is depicted as being able to overcome hostility, but it doesn’t attend to the gaping wounds slavery left.”

Mr. Braxton acknowledged racial reconciliation is a “complex process.” There must be reparation, he said, “payment for repair of an injury or wrong done.”

Mr. Braxton said his “touchstone text” is the Apostle Paul’s 2 Corinthians 5:19, “that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” He also referred to 2 Corinthians 3:16-17. It reads, in part, “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Mr. Braxton said the word freedom is the most important.

He said the veil “is a philosophy that closes the mind.” Lifting it promotes dialogue to realize slavery’s brutality and acknowledge “black rage.” Mr. Braxton said “white privilege” happens at the “black man’s expense.” The answer is formation of “robust coalitions” that cross traditional lines.

At the evening lecture, his topic was “A Blueprint for the Beloved Community: Vocation, Values and Voice.”