{"id":47770,"date":"2025-02-13T11:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=47770"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:30:13","slug":"the-rev-paul-timothy-roberts-sr-is-the-inaugural-guest-on-a-leading-theologically-series-on-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/resources\/news\/the-rev-paul-timothy-roberts-sr-is-the-inaugural-guest-on-a-leading-theologically-series-on-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud3f4 \ud2f0\ubaa8\uc2dc \ub85c\ubc84\uce20 \uc2dc\ub2c8\uc5b4 \ubaa9\uc0ac\uac00 \ud654\ud574\uc5d0 \uad00\ud55c '\uc120\ub3c4\uc801 \uc2e0\ud559' \uc2dc\ub9ac\uc988\uc758 \uccab \ubc88\uc9f8 \uac8c\uc2a4\ud2b8\ub85c \ucd08\ub300\ub418\uc5c8\uc2b5\ub2c8\ub2e4."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLeading Theologically,\u201d a show hosted by the\u00a0Rev. Bill Davis<\/a> of the Presbyterian Foundation, kicked off a series on reconciliation Wednesday with a guest who\u2019s thought deeply and taken actions to help bring that about \u2014 the\u00a0Rev. Paul Timothy Roberts Sr.<\/a> , president of\u00a0Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary<\/a>. Listen to their 35-minute conversation\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through grant funding and a wiliness to hear from a range of Presbyterians, JCSTS has hosted a number of listening sessions across the country. \u201cOur aspiration was to test the readiness of faith-based communities and congregations to mount up a national reparations effort,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThere are a lot of congregations in the country who are engaged in this work. We wanted to do our homework to see what kind of barometer we could use to determine who\u2019s doing what and how widespread it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Rev. Paul Timothy Roberts Sr.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Among the surprising findings: \u201cFaith communities are all over the map, especially on controversial topics like reparations,\u201d Roberts reported. \u201cWe learned that there is not a consistent understanding of what reparations is\u201d and \u201chow it relates to our theology as Presbyterians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found there is not a readiness for a national effort,\u201d Roberts told Davis. \u201cSome groups are doing great work\u201d but \u201cmany congregations around the country don\u2019t even talk about reparations for fear of conflict and divisiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Davis for stories of \u201cthe good work people are doing at the local level,\u201d Roberts mentioned congregations that are repurposing their buildings \u201cin an effort to make their facilities more hospitable as an act of repair. There are congregations and presbyteries using the proceeds from the sale of buildings for faith-based repair work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also got wind of some faith communities raising money within their congregations and granting those funds to communities and individuals in need as an act of repair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis asked: \u201cWhat\u2019s been the relationship between reparations and reconciliation for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Reconciliation isn\u2019t even a word Roberts uses very often these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s loaded,\u201d he said. \u201cMany of us, although well-meaning when we use the word, are prone to skip over all the work that needs to be done in order to arrive at a place where a community, a group of people, a relationship can be reconciled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Historically, some white people have arrived \u201cat a point where they have acknowledged historic wrongs. It\u2019s often, \u2018OK, we admit the wrong. Y\u2019all come on over and we welcome you into our space.\u2019 There\u2019s no parity there,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reconciliation. At its core, reconciliation involves not only the acknowledgement of a wrong, but it engages a certain process in order to repair the harm felt and experienced by the harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The acknowledgement is a starting place, he said. Then there are \u201cthose acts of healing that we call repair, which is the nature of reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we have learned is when people are talking about reparations, they go right to the money,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat\u2019s not where it\u2019s at. Reparations is about repair. It\u2019s about implementing a healing process that leads to repair. Sometimes that involves money because we live in a capitalistic society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who have been harmed have been harmed by deprivation of opportunity, education or access, and all that involves money,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThe heart of the matter is, how do we repair a breach, a wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Rev. Bill Davis<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAre there things folk like me who are white can do to accompany the work you\u2019re doing around this reparations study? I was about to ask you for advice to soothe my white soul,\u201d Davis said, and Roberts laughed.<\/p>\n

Davis shared this quote from the South African cleric\u00a0Allan Boesak<\/a>: \u201cReconciliation devoid of justice is under savage strain. Social cohesion remains elusive, and racism never conquered is resurgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Davis wondered: \u201cHow are we partners in this work of reparations and repair?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts recalled meeting Boesak about eight years ago at a\u00a0Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s a man who values all people, and that is the point,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat is the point of any authentic reconciliation work, and that is the point of any discussion about reparations. Allan Boesak<\/a> helps people wrap their brain around the societal hurts that people experience, and even the hurts that happen within any faith-based community. Some of those hurts are part of the human experience, but some of them cut very deeply and run along racial lines, gender lines, orientation \u2014 you name it. They are deeply entrenched in our society. Allan Boesak helps people understand you are very much \u2014 even 400 years in as we are in the United States \u2014 what you were at your origin.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mentor of Roberts once \u201claid it out for me that despite our Constitution and all of our beautiful rhetoric, America has always been an oligarchy. It has always been governed by a few despite our structures and our rhetoric. Those few tend to have the deepest pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order for white people to be in partnership with Black people and vice-versa \u201cand for our Presbyterian slice of the world to rally around a Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary or any other community, it first begins with a deep understanding of human value, an appreciation for human flourishing at all levels,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThen it\u2019s an acknowledgement of our history and our origin as a country, and we\u2019re not doing that well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ignore the history of Black and brown people,\u201d Roberts said, although \u201cwe\u2019re doing a little better with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ignoring that history \u201ccan\u2019t stand, because when that happens, the net impact is that people who look like me are misunderstood and undervalued, and people who look like [Davis] are overvalued,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe have to understand the value of every human being, and we have to embrace our history \u2014 the good, the bad and the ugly of it. That\u2019s a huge step toward repair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a good, hard conversation. I don\u2019t think any of this work is easy,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIf I cannot acknowledge my complicity in action in the world, I can\u2019t even begin to do repair and reparations work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts reminded Davis of something John Donne pointed out four centuries ago: No one is an island.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when I\u2019m with white people who are getting it, there is a sense of personal responsibility, sometimes at the expense of collective responsibility,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe\u2019re all part of a wider community, a network, a society, and what we\u2019re talking about in these conversations about repair and reconciliation is the harm of a collective \u2014 ways for the harming collective to repair the hurt, harm and brokenness of the other collective, the deprived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to underscore is there is a personal responsibility that goes with this work, and it falls within the context of a larger collective responsibility,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cPart of the work for white people, as I understand it, is to do both in equal measure \u2014 not just hand off some money or befriend a Black or brown person, but to work within the white community to ensure that these values and these principles are understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch previous editions of \u201cLeading Theologically\u201d <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLeading Theologically,\u201d a show hosted by the\u00a0Rev. Bill Davis of the Presbyterian Foundation, kicked off a series on reconciliation Wednesday with a guest who\u2019s thought deeply and taken actions to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47770"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47776,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47770\/revisions\/47776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}