As part of Black History Month and the Inter-Spiritual Healing Wisdom Series, the Rev. Dr. Heecheon Jeon will speak on “Embracing Black Reality—Liberation Theology” at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb.17, in Allee Chapel.
Heecheon is senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon, Iowa. In a description of his talk, he writes: The word “compassion” in a theology of Black Liberation can be expressed not only in a soft language of forgiveness, but also in a hard language of resistance and transformation that embraces black reality and at the same time discloses racial inequality deeply rooted in contemporary America. Compassion requires audacious courage and risk-taking boldness to be unashamedly powerless in a spirit of nonviolence that was incarnated in the life of Martin Luther King Jr. It reflects on a prophetic voice from James Cones’ Black Liberation Theology, “God is black,” as a theological revolution that has been a great awakening to a white mythology of Christianity. The blackness of God is the weakness of God who is suffering with the oppressed that are changing human history on the way.
Heecheon holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate University in California. He authored the 2011 book “Subjectivity of Différance: A Poiesis of Deconstruction of Subjectum, Deus and Communitas,” and his area of specialization is primarily focused on Poststructuralist/Postcolonial understanding of culture, subjectivity, community, and religions.
This Inter-Spiritual Healing Wisdom Wednesday talk is co-sponsored by the Social Justice Initiative (Offices of Spiritual Life, Civic Engagement, and Intercultural Life) in conjunction with BACO’s Black History Month events.