6.10.2007

race, class, theology and a church

A few months ago I went to a conference on Faith & Poverty sponsored by Fordham University. Reverend James Forbes of Riverside Church was one of the keynote speakers. I was impressed by his fiery preaching style and commitment to Gospel justice.

It wasn't until a short while ago that I connected Reverend Forbes and Riverside Church with the beautiful structure I see across the Hudson River from my local Target & Barnes & Noble. I've been wondering what that is for months now!

Anyway, today's New York Times has a very interesting article about Riverside Church, Dr. Forbes and his retirement.
In the coming year, as the church’s leadership searches for a successor to Dr. Forbes, a small, admittedly poorly organized but vocal minority, dissatisfied with the shift the church has undergone during his tenure, is intent on having a say in the hopes of bringing about a sort of Restoration era for Riverside. ...

Though the contretemps appears at first blush to be a simple clash over management styles and church governance, at the core it is a conflict of race, class, theology and the future of one of the country’s most prominent churches.

2 comments:

Mollie said...

It took me a long time to figure out what that building was, too. I don't know if you've ever been to New Haven, but there's a Gothic tower very much like that one at the heart of Yale's Campus, so when I came into the city via the GWB/West Side Highway, I always thought of it as "that Harkness Tower-y Building." When I moved to the neighborhood, I finally took a walk in that direction, just to find out what it was attached to! (And to finally get a look at Grant's Tomb.)

Anonymous said...

by the by, I changed hosting providers and broke your picture link. If you're looking for a picture of Riverside Church (as I don't know which one), feel free to look here and pick whatever you like to illustrate your blog post. (All I ask is credit and link back to the appropriate Flickr page, per the terms of my CC license.)