Race in the US: Pastoring a Multiethnic Church. Training Pastors for a Multicultural World (3 of 3)

Although there is still a long way to go, many seminaries and educational institutions are already taking steps towards racial and cultural sensitivity to produce pastors more attentive to racial issues. Among other qualities, our future pastors will need a strong sense of vocation and to be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in the church, who is, ultimately, the one who has the gift of reconciliation.

Biography

Michael Emerson (Ph.D., Sociology, 1991, University of North Carolina) teaches courses in race and ethnic relations, religion, urban sociology, poverty and justice, and research methods at Rice University. Emerson’s recent research interests include race in shaping social action in the United States, focusing on health, residential segregation, and on the institution of religion. Publications in this area include Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (Oxford University Press, 2000), named the 2001 Distinguished Book of the Year by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States (Princeton University Press, 2006). Emerson currently directs the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity (PS-ARE), and is the co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Other areas of research interest include urban growth, development, inequality, and urban life.