Prophetic Mourning. Cries of Liberation and Justice in the age of Chaos

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Theology - Biblical Theology, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: As far back as I can remember, I heard my parents say to ministers 'Don't forget your Bible and newspaper.' My parents always judge preachers who had no social or political understanding of biblical texts. They would see ministers in their communities who would not touch on what the people were facing and would consider those sermons empty and devoid of substance. My parents believed that they were not just responsible for handing out government cheese to welfare recipients during the Reagan years, but that as elders in the church, their responsibility, along with the ministers, was to advocate for and sometimes create public policy. They thought there must be a balance between the theology of prophetic action that supports protest and organizing the protest called for by the prophetic message. I put this memory out of my mind until I had started seminary. However, when I came to seminary and I met people like Obery Hendrix, Jeremiah Wright, Peter Heltzel, and Father Michael Pfleger the message of my parents came back. Each of them in their own way has echoed the sentiment that real ministers have a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other hand, that Jesus always advocated for rights and never against rights as he preached against injustice and bigotry. Howard Thurman, mystic and philosopher, believed preachers must have a word for the men and women with their backs to the wall as the preachers seek to marry the historical Jesus and the Jesus of Faith.

TJ Williams-Hauger was born in Columbus, Ohio, raised in Youngstown Ohio and was adopted by Idella and Leonard Thomas who provided a supportive and nurturing family environment. TJs family grew up in an all-black area on the eastern part of Youngstown, Ohio and was active in the Church of God and Christ.Influences and Beliefs of Social Justice: In 2017, TJ earned his Masters of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary in the field of Liberation Theology and Global Justice. He has also participated in number of educational seminars and has coordinated efforts to organize to advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention with the RedCross and Communities of color Global Organizations From 2000-2001, he coordinated the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS in Youngstown, Ohio, which is a Balm in Gilead event. He has performed at the World AIDS Conference in Atlanta Georgia and the Staying Alive Conference sponsored by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) in Chicago. His personal story has been featured in The Faces of AIDS concerning his brother who died of complications of AIDS.From 2003 to 2007, he has also served as Chicago Coordinator for clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq under the leadership and support from the Reverend Osagyefo Sekou who is a pastor from St. Louis, Missouri and believes in social justice for African Americans.In 2014, TJ became a part of the Religion and Foreign Policy group at the US State Department sponsored by President Barack Obama and Sectary of State John Kerry. This was a sub-working group which emphasized the role and impact that faith leaders and government officials can be involved, individually and collaboratively, by providing conflict resolution techniques in preventing violence and discrimination from sexual orientation and gender identity in our Global Community. In September 2016, TJ participated in the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign and became a Special Immersion intern. The purpose of this event was to provide implementation of the Marrakesh Declaration among policy stake holders, NGO, and faith leaders with a panel discussion on how international faith Leaders, who identify as Christian and Muslim, can walk with our Muslim brothers and sisters as they seek to implement the declaration in their communities. In November 2016, he was on the Standing Up for One Another press event in Frisco, Texas that focused on showing multi-faith solidarity in the face of bigotry, xenophobia,and Islamophobia.