Some celebrate being more included, but some feel that denominations have not responded enough to the Gospel call to inclusivity. The Barton Lecture, established in 1996, honors the founder of Perkins' Mexican-American studies program and focuses on Hispanic issues in the church. The project, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, provides scholarships for Hispanics to earn theological doctorates in order to teach in seminaries, where they are currently only 1.2 percent of the faculty nationwide. Their moral position is far better than any civic organization.
Congregations are vital sites for both social and personal transformation.
Yet most seminaries are so disconnected from them that they belittle congregations' contributions and ignore their needs for leadership. Globalization is about change. It's about human dignity, human rights, about the place the Gospel has in our cry for the end to racial struggle.