Introduction
This small book is about how to bear witness to more liberating futures in theological education. Yet before we can envision potential futures, we must be honest about experiences of trauma, pain, and brokenness that now mark the theological academy. Here I offer extended “notes” or meditations on the struggles so many African Americans confront and endure within theological institutions. My account might be read less as a philosophical argument and more as a testimony, a form of speech that unapologetically bears witness to how theological education is experienced among those from the underside of American society. Testifying is a familiar mode of religious speech for me. I grew up in a black Pentecostal church, and at the center of our worship experience was testimony service. Testimony service was visceral and verbal, emotional and demonstrative, a collective and highly democratic enterprise. Often testimony service ended up being the entire worship experience. When one stood up to testify, one offered a narrative of how one had overcome through the work of the Spirit. A woman might stand up and testify, only to hear others respond with cries, laughter, celebration, or even a song. Testifying was a highly unpredictable style of worship, as the Spirit could be felt at any moment, pulling the entire congregation into a series of communal shouts and dances. Most important, testifying was a way to mediate divine presence. When one testified in the midst of the congregation, God’s presence was 1
