Drick Boyd's Blog

Looking for Reasons, Seeking Peace

A Post 9/11 Insight In October 2001, approximately six weeks after the tragic bombings of the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and United Flight 93 over rural Pennsylvania, I gathered with about 100 educators at a conference in Austin, TX.  The original goals of the...

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A Meditation on the Murder of Eddie Irizarry

Introduction in the last several blog entries I have been outlining the nature and process of systemic racism. I have sought to make clear that systemic racism is different than what most people think of as racism. We tend to think of racism as a discriminatory or...

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Responding to Systemic Racism

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will test and approve what is God’s will - God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12.2, The New International Version) Don’t become so...

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Opening Our Eyes to Systemic Racism

    “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then You will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —- God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.” The Apostle Paul Letter to the Romans 12.2  ...

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Christianity and the Religion of Jesus

In this posting, we continue our discussion of antiracism as spiritual formation by looking at the way the Christian faith, as it is often conceived and practiced, has been shaped and distorted by systemic and historic racism.  Howard Thurman in India In 1935 when he...

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Antiracism and Spiritual Formation

Introduction For the past few months, I have been exploring the ways in which our spirituality and spiritual practices can be shaped and informed by a commitment to resist racism in all its forms: interpersonal, cultural and structural. As a framework for discussing...

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Black Jesus

Jesus Among the Disinherited In my previous blog I reflected on Howard Thurman’s depiction of Jesus in his book Jesus and the Disinherited. Based on Thurman’s understanding, I said Jesus was not a charismatic outsider coming to “rescue” the poor, but rather was one...

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Jesus and the Disinherited

Several years ago my good friend Mary Wade introduced me to the writings of Howard Thurman. Mary is an expert on Dr. Howard Thurman, having earned her PhD (1) after a long career with the American Friends Service Committee as well as serving as a Baptist pastor. Now...

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Spiritual Formation Starts with Jesus

In my introduction to this series on “Antiracism as Spiritual Formation” I shared a definition of spiritual formation offered by Dr. Robert Mulholland in his book Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation. In the preface to that book Mulholland...

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Antiracist Spirituality – Take Two

Been in the Struggle In my previous posting “Seeking to Develop an Antiracist Spirituality,” I began to explore what a spirituality rooted in an antiracist perspective and lifestyle entails. I reflected on a presentation by the Anglican priest Rev. Kenneth Leech to...

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Seeking to Develop an Antiracist Spirituality

The Episcopal Urban Caucus 1994 In 1994 The Episcopal Urban Caucus (EUC) met in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1975 the EUC is a group within Episcopal Church in the United States that seeks to raise up issues of social justice for the wider church. Their...

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Antiracism as Engaged Spirituality

Discovering Engaged Spirituality During the summer I turned 17, I made a conscious decision to become a follower of Jesus. In the language of the evangelical context in which this happened I “gave my life to Christ.” While for me, the decision was not particularly...

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