David P. Cline
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630434
- eISBN:
- 9781469630458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630434.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) was a seminary-based, nationally influential Protestant civil rights organization that drew on the Social Gospel and Student Christian Movement traditions to ...
More
The Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) was a seminary-based, nationally influential Protestant civil rights organization that drew on the Social Gospel and Student Christian Movement traditions to simultaneously dismantle Jim Crow and advance Prorestant mainline churches’ approach to race. Entirely student-led and always ecumenical in scope, SIM began in 1960 with the tactic of placing black assistant pastors in white churches and whites in black churches with the goal of achieving racial reconciliation. In its later years, before it disbanded in mid-1968, SIM moved away from church structures, engaging directly in political and economic movements, inner-city ministry and development projects, and college and seminary teaching. In each of these areas, SIM participants attempted to live out German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's exhortation to “bring the church into the world.”
From Reconciliation to Revolution demonstrates that the civil rights movement, in both its “classic” phase from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s and its longer phase stretching over most of the twentieth century, was imbued with religious faith and its expression. It treats the classic phase of the civil rights movement as one manifestation of a theme of Liberal Protestant interracial reform that runs through the century, illustrating that liberal religious activists of the 1960s drew on a tradition of Protestant interracial reform, building on and sometimes reinventing the work of their progenitors earlier in the century to apply their understanding of the Gospel’s imperative to heal the injustices of the modern world.Less
The Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) was a seminary-based, nationally influential Protestant civil rights organization that drew on the Social Gospel and Student Christian Movement traditions to simultaneously dismantle Jim Crow and advance Prorestant mainline churches’ approach to race. Entirely student-led and always ecumenical in scope, SIM began in 1960 with the tactic of placing black assistant pastors in white churches and whites in black churches with the goal of achieving racial reconciliation. In its later years, before it disbanded in mid-1968, SIM moved away from church structures, engaging directly in political and economic movements, inner-city ministry and development projects, and college and seminary teaching. In each of these areas, SIM participants attempted to live out German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's exhortation to “bring the church into the world.”
From Reconciliation to Revolution demonstrates that the civil rights movement, in both its “classic” phase from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s and its longer phase stretching over most of the twentieth century, was imbued with religious faith and its expression. It treats the classic phase of the civil rights movement as one manifestation of a theme of Liberal Protestant interracial reform that runs through the century, illustrating that liberal religious activists of the 1960s drew on a tradition of Protestant interracial reform, building on and sometimes reinventing the work of their progenitors earlier in the century to apply their understanding of the Gospel’s imperative to heal the injustices of the modern world.
Ansley L. Quiros
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469646763
- eISBN:
- 9781469646787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469646763.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter analyzes the years from 1965-1976 in Americus and Southwest Georgia. It discusses school integration and shifting race relations, the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM), the transition ...
More
This chapter analyzes the years from 1965-1976 in Americus and Southwest Georgia. It discusses school integration and shifting race relations, the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM), the transition of Koinonia Farm to Koinonia Partners, and the political rise of Jimmy Carter. Even in a changing region, the role of theology remained central, as race and religion continued to influence American politics and American life.Less
This chapter analyzes the years from 1965-1976 in Americus and Southwest Georgia. It discusses school integration and shifting race relations, the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM), the transition of Koinonia Farm to Koinonia Partners, and the political rise of Jimmy Carter. Even in a changing region, the role of theology remained central, as race and religion continued to influence American politics and American life.
