Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones (Boston College) and Dr. Gerald Liu (Global Board of Higher Education and Ministry) discuss how we can have conversations with people about the topic of race.

About the speakers:

Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones is Assistant Professor of Theology and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones is a theologian and black studies scholar with expertise in Mariology, theological anthropology, and womanist and black feminist thought.

Dr. Gerald Liu is Director of Collegiate Ministries, Initiatives, and Belonging for the The United Methodist Church - Global Board of Higher Education and Ministry. He is ordained in the United Methodist Church and holds a PhD in Homiletics and Liturgics (preaching and worship) from Vanderbilt University. He has previously served churches full time in Greater Atlanta and Nottingham, England as a youth, associate, and lead minister.

In this episode, Rev. Dr. Anne Burkholder chronicles the history of racism as it pertains to Methodism in Florida.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Anne Burkholder recently retired from the Candler School of Theology where she was the Associate Dean of Methodist Studies and Professor in the Practice of Ecclesiology and Church Leadership. 

In addition to her role as Professor in the Practice of Ecclesiology and Church Leadership, the Rev. Dr. Anne Burkholder was the first faculty member at Candler to hold the title of associate dean of Methodist Studies, responsible for the credentialing and relocation needs of Methodist students. Burkholder also supervised the training of local pastors in The United Methodist Course of Study School at Emory, and oversaw other United Methodist lifelong learning opportunities sponsored by Candler. 

In this special one-on-one, Rev. Geraldine McClellan shares her personal experiences dealing with racism growing up as a black woman in Florida and the racism she endured within the Church as the first black woman ordained in the Florida Conference.

About the Speaker:

Rev. Geraldine McClellan is a native Floridian who graduated from Bethune-Cookman College and Gammon Theological Seminary with a Masters of Religious Education and a Masters of Divinity. Ordained a Deacon in 1980, she was the first Black woman ordained in the Florida Conference. Now a retired ordained Elder (Florida Conference), she has served as a campus minister and a District Superintendent. Geraldine is a certified Clinical Counselor with the Association of Pastoral Care and Counseling and a certified Chaplain with the VA Hospital. Geraldine has a pastor’s heart and unlimited love for God’s people. 

Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, PhD (Azusa Pacific University), Rev. David Williamson (Grace UMC-St. Augustine), and L. Paul Lawson, PhD (Dundee UMC) discuss the Basics of Anti-Racism.

About the Speakers:

• Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, PhD, is an associate professor of systematic theology and works in political and liberation theologies with a focus on race, gender, society, and visual theory.

Dr. Edgardo Colon Emeric (Duke Divinity School), Deaconess M. Garlinda Burton (General Commission on Religion and Race), Rev. Simeon Law (New York Annual Conference), and Rev. Lee Hall-Perkins (Florida Conference) discuss the Basics of Anti-Racism.

About the speakers:

• Dr. Edgardo Colon Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School; Irene and William McCutchen Associate Professor of Reconciliation and Theology; Director of the Center for Reconciliation.