Brite's Response to Wright's Recognition
After careful review, and understanding the sincere concerns many have voiced in response to recent media reports, Brite has for the following reasons affirmed the Black Church Studies Program’s decision, made months ago, to recognize the contributions of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. at the fourth Annual State of the Black Church Awards Banquet. Previous award recipients include the Rev. Dr. Albert Chew, the Rev. Dr. Zan Holmes, the Rev. Dr. William A. Lawson, and the Rev. Dr. Katie G. Cannon.
Dr. Wright served as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago from 1972-2008. During this period, Trinity UCC grew from 87 adults to over 8,700 members. Today this south Chicago congregation provides numerous ministries ranging from Food Share, Dance and Math tutorials to small groups. The church tithes its annual revenues to support other churches, denominational missions, and agencies supporting mission work in Liberia, Haiti, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, and South Africa. Trinity has also birthed four new congregations of the United Church of Christ--two in Atlanta, Georgia, one in Gary, Indiana, and one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2001 Dr. Wright was the Wells Preacher for Brite’s Ministers Week, a continuing education event that draws pastors and lay leaders from across the nation. No Wells Preacher in recent years has been better received than Dr. Wright.
Contrary to media claims that Wright preaches racial hatred, church leaders who have observed his ministry describe him as a faithful preacher of the gospel who has ministered in a context radically different from that of many middle class Americans. A retired white Disciples of Christ minister recently wrote:
"When I heard Jeremiah Wright at Ministers Week a few years back--before I had heard of Obama for President--I thought Wright one of the best preachers I'd heard and certainly not just among Black preachers. His content was orthodox Christianity with much scripture focus on justice, peace and compassion--a call to be like Jesus in concern for the poor, the downtrodden and despised among us. . ."
In response to the criticism that his Black Liberation Theology promotes Black separatism, Wright stated in a March 2 FOXNews broadcast that "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects of history, not as objects of history."
Brite does not endorse all of the statements or views of any of the church leaders recognized by the Divinity School. Brite is recognizing Dr. Wright for his forty-year ministry linking divine justice and social justice. This is work that Brite seeks to further through its mission of educating women and men—through its programs of instruction, research and scholarship, and other forms of church and community service—for the ministry, witness, and outreach of the church of Jesus Christ in the world.
