Thursday, July 24, 2008

Campaign 2008

10 Things You Didn't Know About the Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Posted May 2, 2008

1. Jeremiah Wright Jr. was born on Sept. 22, 1941, in Philadelphia.

2. Wright comes from a family of pastors. His father, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Sr., was the pastor at Grace Baptist Church, and his grandfather and an uncle were pastors as well.

3. After high school, Wright entered the seminary at Virginia Union University, but he left because he was troubled by the prejudice he saw and felt that the church was not doing enough to support the civil rights movement.

4. Wright left school for six years to serve in the Marines and the Navy. He was a cardiopulmonary technician in the Navy, once working on President Lyndon Johnson.

5. Following his military service, Wright continued his education at Howard University. He would go on to complete two masters' degrees and one doctorate.

6. Wright originally planned to become an instructor at a seminary but decided to turn to preaching when he saw that many African-Americans were leaving Christian denominations for other faiths.

7. Wright became pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ (motto: "Unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian") in 1972.

8. The church, which was struggling at the time, had only 87 members then. By Wright's retirement earlier this year, Trinity had more than 8,000 parishioners, including Oprah Winfrey and the rapper Common, and operated dozens of outreach ministries.

9. Wright's sermons are aligned with black liberation theology, which seeks to meld Christianity with the African-American experience and address racism and injustice.

10. A Wright sermon called "The Audacity to Hope" inspired Barack Obama's remarks at the 2004 Democratic Convention and provided the title of Obama's second book.

Sources:
Bill Moyers Journal (PBS)
Chicago Tribune
Detroit Free Press
Los Angeles Times
Trinity United Church of Christ
Virginian-Pilot
Washington Post

Reader Comments

Wise old Parson

I was once told by my bishop "Son I am going to give you two pieces of advise 1) Do not get in a pissing contest with a skunk because you will always end up smelling and 2) Don't try to swap spit with a jackass, you will always lose. During 35 years as a parish priest I took this advise to heart and I will do so now. However, I would suggest that one hear the comments of the Rev. Mr. Wright in context before forming an opinion.

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Ken Walsh (Charlie Archambault for USN&WR)

Having covered the White House for U.S. News full time since 1986, Ken Walsh brings perspective and insight to his magazine column.

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