Black History Month

Online Course

Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm: The History of Anti-Black Racism in The Church

How did the U.S. Christian movement founded by John Wesley stray from his strong abolitionist teachings to largely embracing anti-Black racism for more than two centuries? And why did so many of white Methodism’s highest decision-makers throughout history balk at declaring racism as antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

This three-session, self-directed course—based on the book, Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm: The American Methodist Church and The Struggle with White Supremacy by the Rev. Dr. John Elford—offers a no-holds-barred look at the denomination’s checkered history of systemic and institutional racism targeting African American people.