Words to Research By
“Teaching is about taking things apart; writing is about putting things together.”
“Be as faithful in my day as others have been in theirs.”
“Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.”
“We always need to listen for the untold story.”
Select Research Articles
Religious congregations and poverty alleviation
We discuss the implications of the new public governance and its impact on the social and economic outcomes of those experiencing poverty. As members of civil society, religious congregations are actively engaged in supporting people living in poverty with short-term responses. Addressing the societal focus on economic justice and the theological traditions of four world religions, this paper seeks to encourage religious congregations into innovative, actionable responses that help to offer long-term responses that align with poverty alleviation. We propose two approaches—community development and financial development— that serve as models for religious congregations interested in alleviating poverty.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/npf-2017-0013/html
Functions of the Black Church
Globalization’s impact on local communities is a topic that religious congregations should address as a means of moral and socioeconomic well-being. This is especially important for the Black Church if it hopes to continue supporting the socioeconomic outcomes of its congregants and community members, as it has in the past. Using Du Boisian assessments of the functions of the Black Church, this study assessed how today’s congregations can serve similar functions as the congregations that Du Bois studied, while exploring contemporary concerns. With an explanatory sequential research design, this study surveyed Philadelphia-based congregations (N = 108) to assess their understanding of and engagement with the impact of globalization on future generations, paired with subsequent interviews (N = 15) for deeper analysis. The survey included clergy members and youth leaders of various races and religious traditions. With an eye toward equity and considering Philadelphia’s diverse demo- graphics, the in-depth semistructured interviews centered on Black churches in Philadelphia. The core findings highlight that clergy members in Philadelphia recognize the importance of prioritizing global issues as a means of social betterment and that a special lens toward race should be considered when looking to solve socioeconomic global issues.