Angela N Parker (Mercer, Atlanta), The Empire MUST Fail: Re-Imagining Black Ecological Futures with Paul's Creation Language in Romans 8

Keynote as part of the workshop “Ecologies in Black Liberation,” hosted by the DFG-Network “Bridging Black Freedom Struggles,”

Through a nuanced reading of Romans 8:18-24, Parker re-imagines what black ecological futures must entail as we engage Paul's language of solidarity with creation. In previous verses, Paul has shown solidarity across the family of God and other identities (including Creation). However, in taking Paul further, Parker asks how contemporary Jesus followers should move forward in these solidarities today? Can movements that claim to care for Creation ignore the continued "groaning" that Black Lives Matter? Further, how do movements bring about the failure of Empire so that marginalized Black bodies AND Creation experience transformation and move out of "groaning?" For all of this to happen, Empires must fail. How do we bring about that failure?

The workshop and the lecture are supported by the DFG and the BAA.