{"id":40781,"date":"2019-01-02T09:42:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T14:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=40781"},"modified":"2019-04-08T09:59:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T13:59:54","slug":"christian-scholars-respond-to-ta-nehisi-coates-in-new-book-edited-by-emu-professors-david-evans-and-peter-dula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/christian-scholars-respond-to-ta-nehisi-coates-in-new-book-edited-by-emu-professors-david-evans-and-peter-dula\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholars respond to Ta-Nehisi Coates in new book edited by EMU professors David Evans and Peter Dula"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"848\" height=\"477\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SliUpzBuGTQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new book edited by Eastern Mennonite University professors <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/faculty-staff\/?show=dfe2222\">David Evans<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/faculty-staff\/?show=pd767\">Peter Dula<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> engages with author Ta-Nehisi Coates from a Christian perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between the world of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Cascade, 2018) includes essays by theologians, ethicists and religious studies scholars responding to Coates\u2019 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between the World and Me<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Random House, 2015) on various topics, including hope, fatherhood and whiteness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his book, a National Book Award winner and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/09\/common-read-selection-world-challenging-invitation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the 2017-18 Common Read at EMU<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Coates challenges readers to examine assumptions about race, history, education, faith and social change in a series of letters to his teenage son about his experiences as an African American male.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_40782\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40782\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40782 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/01\/1-1000-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/01\/1-1000-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/01\/1-1000-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2019\/01\/1-1000.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40782\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">EMU professors Peter Dula (left) and David Evans discuss their new book in a Wipf and Stock video.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The book quickly became the topic of discussion across the nation, including a summertime conversation between Dula, department chair and professor of Bible and religion, and Evans, professor of history and mission at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. At that meeting they first discussed the possibility of creating such a volume, the duo recalls in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SliUpzBuGTQ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wipf and Stock video about the book<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just months later, Coates tweeted that \u201cthe best thing about between the world and me is seeing the engagement from Christians. Serious learning experience for me.\u201d To Dula and Evans, that tweet felt like an invitation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Coates writes in a spiritual way, he is an atheist and has a \u201creticence to engage fully in any kind of metaphysical reality,\u201d Evans says in the video. \u201cBut it\u2019s kind of there and wanting, and so we [Christian scholars] have something to say in the midst of that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coates expresses direct criticisms of Christianity that are \u201cnot something that theologians like myself can ignore,\u201d Dula says. For theologians to show a non-defensive eagerness to learn from Coates would be an opportunity to have \u201cpotentially really productive conversations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their book, they say, is a model for engaging with Coates, which, as Evans observes, can be no easy task, in part since Coates doesn\u2019t offer hope and comfort. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That, Dula adds, puts him in the company of Biblical prophets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contributors include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cheryl J. Sanders, senior pastor of the Third Street Church of God in Washington, DC and professor of Christian ethics at the Howard University School of Divinity;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vincent Lloyd, associate professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jennifer Harvey, professor of religion and faculty director of the Crew Scholars Program at Drake University;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reggie L. Williams, associate professor of Christian ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tobin Miller Shearer, associate professor of history, director of the African-American Studies Program at the University of Montana, and a 1987 graduate of EMU; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joseph Winters, assistant professor of religious studies at Duke University with a secondary appointment in African and African-American studies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new book edited by Eastern Mennonite University professors David Evans and Peter Dula engages with author Ta-Nehisi Coates from a Christian perspective. Between the world of Ta-Nehisi Coates and <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/christian-scholars-respond-to-ta-nehisi-coates-in-new-book-edited-by-emu-professors-david-evans-and-peter-dula\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Scholars respond to Ta-Nehisi Coates in new book edited by EMU professors David Evans and Peter Dula<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":40783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5589,17562,5642,265],"tags":[14201,6795,9439],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-40781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-and-religion","category-digest","category-faculty-and-staff","category-seminary","tag-david-evans","tag-diversity","tag-peter-dula","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scholars respond to Ta-Nehisi Coates in new book edited by EMU professors David Evans and Peter Dula - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/christian-scholars-respond-to-ta-nehisi-coates-in-new-book-edited-by-emu-professors-david-evans-and-peter-dula\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scholars respond to Ta-Nehisi Coates in new book edited by EMU professors David Evans and Peter Dula - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new book edited by Eastern Mennonite University professors David Evans and Peter Dula engages with author Ta-Nehisi Coates from a Christian perspective. 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