Curiosity and humility are Christian virtues, says Willie James Jennings
Channel: Maxwell Institute
Date: 2020-12-04

"Now again, allow me to highlight three things that I've said that point to things Christians and all of us concerned with overcoming what I've called 'the racial condition' might be able to do. This is also a way forward. First, Christians must rethink what it means to be learners as fundamental to Christian witness. Christianity in the western world, my friends, formed without the humility of a learner. That is, that basic posture, that basic disposition is missing from the logic of Christian witness. We have been taught to believe that God is only present in the talking and the teaching, and in this way we never fully learned the crucial lesson of the incarnation, God becoming flesh. God becoming flesh. And becoming the human being who learned before he taught. God was yet God, learning, not speaking."

Professor Willie James Jennings virtually visited Brigham Young University on Friday, December 4 to present a lecture and participate in workshops on the theme "Race and Christianity." The event was sponsored by the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding, in partnership with many entities including the Neal A. Maxwell Institute. This excerpt is from his opening lecture on his book 'The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race.'

Dr. Jennings will be with us again on Friday Dec. 11 for another lecture and workshop series discussing his new book 'After Whiteness: An Education In Belonging.' If you would like to watch live, go to ro.byu.edu/jennings.