Pressing Toward the Mark: Christian Ethics for the Black Church Today

E. Hammond Oglesby offers a new method of moral discourse that can speak to ongoing critical issues in the black community such as the AIDS pandemic an absence of young-adult participation in many black churches and a continuing battle against racism. In Pressing Toward the Mark he demonstrates that ordinary people of faith become ethical not by chance but by choice. He also helps readers understand the importance of Christian ethics in light of the deep spiritual and cultural roots of the black church in America. Through stories theological reflection and case studies meant to encourage small-group discussion Oglesby builds a case that Christian ethics begins--in the rhythmic flux of the black religious experience--with a love of freedom because no child of God can be fully Christian without being free (Galatians 5:1). [The endorsements appear in this field in the order requested by the author. sjs] Professor Oglesby does not disappoint. Pressing Toward the Mark: Christian Ethics for the Black Church Today provides ethical guidelines for dealing with the thorny problem of sexuality in the Black Church Womanist Ethics and the use of the Bible. Replete with case studies this text is ideal for church study groups theological schools and departments of religion. --Noel Leo Erskine Emory University author of From Garvey to Marley: Rastafari Theology Representing the mature reflections of a distinguished teacher and author in the field of Christian Ethics Professor Oglesbys volume grounds Christian Ethics in the black church tradition in the inseparability of love and justice. . . . [T]he four case studies will be valuable resources that effectively invite and facilitate further reflection dialogue and group discussion both in the black church and beyond. --J. Clinton McCann Jr. Eden Theological Seminary I had no idea I was raised on the principles of Womanist Theology until I read E. Hammond Oglesbys Pressing Toward the Mark. . . . Indeed the unique contribution of this book to ethics in the black church in the twenty-first century is its reminder to us that our moral traditionshave Womanist roots. --Edward P. Wimberly Interdenominational Theological Center To articulate an ethic that is less a matter of logic and theory than the byproduct of a life engaged in struggle Dr. Oglesby recounts some of the key moments in Black Americas pursuit of justice equality and liberation. He claims a voice hewn from the rocky crevices of a racist culture but polished and refined to reveal a durability a beauty and a resolve intended to inspire and to educate. --Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer Associate Conference Minister St. Louis Association Missouri Mid-South Conference E. Hammond Oglesby is the United Church Professor of Theology and History at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis Missouri and an ordained minister in the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc. He is the author of nine previous books including O Lord Move this Mountain: Racism and Christian Ethics (1998).