Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Scholars Information
Program Information
Length of Program: 3 years (2016 - 2019)
Total Number of Courses: 9 courses plus thesis completion
Length of Course: 5-day course intensives with pre- and post-work
Tuition: $9,000 plus travel costs and fees
Thesis Residency: 2-week residency September 2018
Housing: affordable options are available
Location: McCormick's Hyde Park campus in Chicago
Course Descriptions
The Pan-African Imaginary and Non-Racial Ministry
Using the Afro-British practical theologian William Ackah’s paradigm of a “Pan-African imaginary,” this class exposes students to African theologians, Afro-British theologians, African American religious scholars, and the South African understanding of “non-racial” where all races and ethnicities are acknowledged and honored; but none privileged above another.
West African Study Tour
This course helps students connect the dots between Africans on the continent and Africans in the Diaspora. Readings in church history, West African religion and culture, the European Slave Trade and the “roots” of the Black religious experience helps students to understand the various “routes” and the trajectories that the black religious experience has taken in the “New World.”
Religions of the Black Atlantic Diaspora
This course exposes students to various religious traditions of Africans in the Caribbean, the United States, Central America, South America and the various combinations of African traditional religions and Christianity (Catholic and Protestant).
Prophetic/Social Justice Preaching
This course traces the long and rich history of the role of religion in the black radical tradition, the wide variety of black prophetic preaching from the 19th century to the present, and the role of politics in social justice issues facing Africans living in the “New World.”
Black Sacred Music
This course traces the development of Black Sacred Music from the continent through the Caribbean into North and South America. Music as “protest,” music as inspiration, music as coded language, music as resistance, music as resilience, and music as access to the Divine are among the many topics that are covered in this course.
South Africa Study Tour
Slavery in Southern Africa, the Portuguese role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the slave routes from Mozambique to Mexico via Portuguese slave traders, and the religious creolization that Africans developed during chattel slavery are covered. The points of contact, agreement and divergence between black theology in the South African context, and black theology in the Afro-British and United States contexts are covered.
Interdisciplinary/Intersectionality Studies
This course covers social justice issues, black church theology, black practical theology, black church history, linguistics, the Maroons, the Quilombos, and black biblical studies.
Black Theology/Pastoral Care
The theologies of Africentric, Womanist and LGBTQI scholars, African cultural and political readings of the scriptures, pastoral care as it pertains to African Americans, bioethics, Alzheimer’s, ministry to the elderly, mental health ministry, and persons with health challenges are addressed. African American leadership in the 21st century and developing ministries which address “this present age” are also explored.
Thesis Residency
Students explore methods of practical theological research and develop a thesis proposal grounded in their context of ministry.