Abolition as Resurrection
04-04-2022
“What does it look like for abolition as resurrection to burst forth?
During the Lenten/Easter season, the Solidarity Building Initiative, SBI, has invited McCormick alums to explore the connection between resurrection and abolition. Through interviews with abolitionists, theologians, and scholars, SBI is seeking to understand if there is a relationship between the theology of Resurrection and the Abolition movement.
One perspective comes from the words of Rev. Dr. David Latimore, D.Min.’15, director of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary:
“The resurrection invitation to participate in God's eternal "NO" to evil and empire first requires recognition that, despite our ritualistic religious practices, we often stand in communion and complicity with evil. The call to resurrection offered at the cross provides no refuge for the religious rhetoric of solidarity with the oppressed that lives only in the solitude of self or the sanctuary.
“Abolition is the willingness to leave our elaborately decorated tombs and accept the resurrection invitation to transform our tombs into wombs birthing new life. So, we are left with a profound choice. Will we live in silent acquiescence to empire, or will we accept the divine invitation to experience the fullness of life through offering acts of love and grace to the incarcerated or oppressed that we might experience God's love and grace toward us? This is the hope of abolition as resurrection.”
Michelle Day, M.Div.’04, Chief Executive Officer at Nehemiah Trinity Rising, adds her path forward:
“The bursting forth of abolition as resurrection would manifest itself in the everyday living out - by all people - of Christ’s announcement of his mission in Luke 4:18,19. Captives to every oppression and burden placed by humans upon humans or any part of creation would be freed to fully live in accordance with God’s call on their lives. Persons who are blinded by self-interest, bias, hatred and every “ism” would have their eyes opened to the truth of their actions or inaction and would hold themselves and each other accountable for the welfare of the community and everyone in it. Economic justice would reign in every aspect of life. This is abolition as resurrection bursting forth.”
Join the conversation:
Respond to the question: What does it look like for abolition as resurrection to burst forth?
Send your written response ( 150 words or less) to acrittenden@mccormick.edu.
Or, submit your 1- to 2-minute video or audio recorded response using VideoAsk, a very user friendly platform. Click here to record your response.
Podcast miniseries explores questions of abolition and resurrection
In addition to insights from alumni, SBI is producing the Abolition as Resurrection podcast miniseries. Listen in as SBI explores: What is abolition? What’s its relationship to Christian spirituality? And, how can we pursue a lifestyle of practicing abolition in our everyday lives while making it a systemic reality?
Listen to the Abolition as Resurrection podcast here.
"Abolition is the willingness to leave our elaborately decorated tombs and accept the resurrection invitation to transform our tombs into wombs birthing new life."
Rev. Dr. David Latimore, D.Min.'15.
"Persons who are blinded by self-interest, bias, hatred and every “ism” would have their eyes opened to the truth of their actions or inaction and would hold themselves and each other accountable for the welfare of the community and everyone in it."
Michelle Day, M.Div.’04