Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School and the Institute of Anglican Studies at Beeson will host the Racial Reconciliation and the National Covenant conference at Samford, Feb. 12-13. The conference will be jointly sponsored with The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) based in Washington D.C. This event will bring Protestants, Catholics and Jews together to answer the question, How does thinking about God change the way we think about race? 

Talks at the conference will address covenant and race in the Hebrew Scriptures, exile and return from slavery, white supremacy, Martin Luther King Jr.’s appeal to the national covenant, and many other subjects.

Speakers include former gang member and Pentecostal minister Eugene Rivers, Seymour Institute Executive Director on Black Church and Policy Studies Jacqueline Rivers, economist Glenn Loury, former civil rights leader Robert Woodson, and activist Alveda King.

Beeson’s renowned professor of homiletics Robert Smith Jr. will preach “I Don’t Want No Trouble at the River,” based on Josh. 22:9-34. Beeson Founding Dean Timothy George will offer concluding remarks. 

“This country suffers from continuing racial tension. We are convinced that the tension cannot be resolved by politics alone because our racial divides have vital spiritual, moral and cultural dimensions,” said Gerald McDermott, director of Beeson’s Institute of Anglican Studies and organizer of the event. “Our hope is that this new approach will help bring repentance, forgiveness, and healing.”