University Press of Mississippi Mobilizing for the Common Good: The Lived Theology of John M. Perkins

Born into a sharecropping family in New Hebron, Mississippi, in 1930, and only receiving a third-grade education, John M. Perkins has been a pioneering prophetic African American voice for reconciliation and social justice to America's white evangelical churches. Often an unwelcome voice and always a passionate, provocative clarion, Perkins persisted for forty-years in bringing about the formation of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA)-a large network of evangelical churches and community organizations working in America's poorest communities-and inspired the emerging generation of young evangelicals concerned with releasing the Church from its cultural captivity and oppressive materialism. John Perkins has received surprisingly little attention from historians of modern American religious history and theologians concerned with questions of race, justice, and reconciliation. In 2009, the Project on Lived Theology hosted academics and practitioners for its Spring Institute on Lived Theology (SILT) at the University of Virginia. This book project grew from the rich interdisciplinary conversations that took place as participants considered the significance of Perkins's life and work. Mobilizing for the Common Good is an exploration of the theological significance of John Perkins. With contributions from theologians, historians and activists, this book seeks to understand Perkins's life in theological and historical context. It contends that Perkins ushered in a paradigm shift in twentieth-century evangelical theology that continues to influence a growing movement of Christian community development projects and social justice activists today. Contributions from Michael Anders, Mae Cannon, Kelly West Figueroa-Ray, Lisa Sharon Harper, Paul Louis Metzger, A. G. Miller, Lowell Noble, Ted Ownby, Soong-Chan Rah, Chris Rice, Cheryl J. Sanders, Ronald J. Sider, Christian T. Collins Winn, and Lauren Winner