A panel discussion at Hope College will explore “Race, Racism and Antiracism: A Dialogue on How Christians Should Think about Race” on Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The event can also be watched via livestream at hope.edu/live or on the Hope College YouTube Channel.
The panelists will be Dr. Matt Jantzen, director of the Emmaus Scholars Program and visiting assistant professor of ministry studies, and Dr. Kevin Kambo, assistant professor of philosophy. The moderator will be Matthew A. Scogin, president of Hope College.
Jantzen is the faculty director of the Emmaus Scholars Program, a living-learning community on campus that combines the practices of intentional Christian community with academic and practical explorations of the relationship between faith and justice in contemporary global society. He teaches coursework in the areas of Christian theology and ethics, and his research explores the relationship between Christian theology, politics and race in the modern world. He is the author of “God, Race, and History: Liberating Providence” (Lexington Books, 2021), which explores the relationship between the doctrine of providence and race in modern Protestant theology.
Kambo is an expert in the history of philosophy, with particular interest in moral psychology in the classical and patristic eras. His recent work focuses on Plato and Augustine of Hippo, as well as with bringing ancient sources to bear in contemporary debates on the natures and roles of technology and liberal education in human life. He is presently working on a project on Plato’s “Phaedo” on the various meanings of death and how the practice of philosophy is a preparation for facing one’s demise. His courses have included Ancient Philosophy, The Invention of Mercy, Wrath and Its Ruins, Philosophy of Technology, and the senior philosophy capstone course Love and Fear in Plato. He coordinates the department’s speaker series and is also the faculty mentor of the student literary club The Order of the Broken Table.
The President’s Office is hosting the dialogue as part of the college’s ongoing emphasis, as a Christian academic institution, on providing substantive opportunities to explore significant topics constructively and while modelling civility. As outlined online in the college’s Virtues of Public Discourse, “Hope students and faculty are committed to exploring together a wide range of issues, and to do so guided by the highest standards of intellectual integrity and in a spirit of Christian love. One mark of an educated person is the capacity to participate thoughtfully in public discourse on a range of issues, expressing clearly one’s own views while at the same time seeking to understand the various counter-positions held within any diverse community.”
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar
Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, Hope is currently requiring that masks be worn by all individuals while indoors on campus unless in their living space or alone in their work space.
The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Ave. between Ninth and 10th streets.