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Fred Gray Plenary Lecturer:David Gushee, ChristianEthicistThe 2019 Fred D. Gray Plenary lecturer will be ProfessorDavid P. Gushee who serves as the DistinguishedUniversity Professor of Christian Ethics and Director ofthe Center for Theology and Public Life at MercerUniversity in Georgia. One of the premier Christianethicists in the world, Professor Gushee is the author oreditor of twenty-four books, including Righteous Gentilesof the Holocaust, Kingdom Ethics, The Sacredness ofHuman Life, Changing Our Mind, Still Christian, and hislatest book, Moral Leadership for a Divided Age which heco-wrote with Colin Holtz. Professor Gushee is the immediate Past-President of the AmericanAcademy of Religion, and is Past-President of the Society of Christian Ethics. A husband,father, and grandfather, he lives with his family in Atlanta.

Director's CommentsI am pleased that David Gushee has accepted our invitation todeliver the fourth annual Fred D. Gray Plenary Lecture in Humanand Civil Rights. In his AAR Presidential address six weeks ago in Denver, Gusheeargued that the moral credibility of white American evangelicalismstands in ruins, that he has been complicit, and that whiteevangelicalism lacks the resources within itself to address its moralcollapse. Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading Christianethicists, Gushee turned to historic and contemporary African-American intellectual resources, seeking within them an answer to

two basic questions: What went wrong with white American (evangelical) Christianity? Wheremight redemption be found? The Fred Gray plenary lecture is named after the one who was Rosa Parks’ original lawyer,MLK’s lawyer when he was in Alabama, successfully argued several Civil Rights cases beforethe Supreme Court, including gerrymandering, voting rights (he is featured in the recent filmSelma) and the case for the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. He introduced John Lewisto Dr. King. Fred Gray is a kind and thoughtful Christian who has practiced law brilliantly, tenaciously andsuccessfully. I once heard the great attorney asked if he had any regrets, after his stellar career.“Regrets?” he replied. “My only regret is that while I was able to change the laws, I wasn’t able tochange the hearts.” That is the work that remains for us: changing of the hearts. Gushee will be the fourth Gray Plenary speaker. The 2016 plenary featured an interview withWilliam Lofton Turner and Attorney Gray on the trajectories of his stunning career. It was theperfect foundation ~ and James Cone was the perfect person to follow. Last year Molefi Asantegraced the program and Gushee will be the first Euro-American Gray lecturer, a position weknow he will take with great respect, understanding the gravitas and the possibilities that areavailable for a white man to speak to a predominately white audience on race.

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