Brandt Montgomery

April 20^th and 27^th
10:00 a.m. 
Adult Classroom

Booker T. Washington once said that “if a Black man is anything other than a Baptist or a Methodist, someone has been tampering with his religion.”  This statement, uttered well over 100 years ago, is one that still rings true among many in America’s black community.  In black ecumenical circles, the person that has experienced the most subjection to unfair comments has been the black Episcopalian.  Among American blacks, the Episcopal Church has the reputation as being an institution reserved for the elite of wealthy white society, and black Episcopalians constantly find themselves explaining their membership in a church that is, as Kortright Davis puts it, “…cold, stiff, formal, hierarchical…” lacking “…the warmth, flexibility, informality and communality of Africanism.”  Often brandished as “Uncle Toms” and “Aunt Jemimas”, black Episcopalians are confronted with battles of conveying the genuineness of their Christian beliefs, seeking acceptance as legitimate Christians proud of their heritage. 

 

In “The Stone-Trodden Road,” Brandt Montgomery, using Harold T. Lewis’s book Yet With a Steady Beat and the documentary Mine Eyes Have Seen the Savior, will help guide class members in examining significant black events in the life of the Episcopal Church, the role that blacks have played in the Episcopal Church’s life and witness, and the reasons why blacks are attracted to Anglicanism.   

 

 For more information, you can call Brandt at (214) 363-5471 ext. 281
or the Adult Education office at (214) 363-5422.