Jeremiah Wright - Misplaced Pages

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Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. (born September 22, 1941) is the Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), a 8000+-member African-American megachurch in Chicago. He is recognized as a leading theologian and pastor and has published four books and numerous articles.

Background

Wright was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Jeremiah Wright, Sr, was a Baptist minister. In 1959, Wright entered Virginia Union University, a historically black seminary, but became disenchanted and left in 1961 to join the US Navy. Wright then enrolled at Howard University where he received a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a Master’s degree in English in 1969. In 1975, Wright earned an additional Master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary in 1990 (where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor). Wright also has seven honorary doctorate degrees. He has lectured at many seminaries and universities in the nation.

Trinity United Church of Christ

Wright became the senior pastor at TUCC on March 1, 1972. At that time, the church's membership totaled 87. Under his leadership, Trinity adopted the motto "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" and has set out to make activism within and on behalf of the African American community a key aspect of the church's mission. In 1993, Wright was named among Ebony Magazine's top 15 black preachers.

In 2007, Wright announced his retirement from TUCC, which will become effective in May of 2008. His chosen successor is Reverend Otis Moss III.

Other work

Wright has written 4 books: What Makes You So Strong? (1993), Africans Who Shaped Our Faith (1995), Good News!: Sermons of Hope for Today's Families (1995, and What Can Happen When We Pray (2002). Wright is featured on Wynton Marsalis' album "The Majesty of the Blues" where he recites a spoken word piece written by Stanley Crouch entitled "Premature Autopsies".

Relationship with Barack Obama

The title of Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope was taken from a sermon written by Wright.. Obama first met Wright and joined his church while he was working as a community organizer prior to attending Harvard Law School. Obama's connection to Wright first drew controversy in a February 2007 Rolling Stone article which described a speech in which Wright eloquently and forcefully spoke about racism against African-Americans. Citing the article and fears that further controversy would harm the church, Obama scrapped plans of having Wright introduce him at his Presidential announcement. This only drew further interest into Wright's preaching of Black liberation theology which some conservative critics say promotes "a sort of racial exclusivity". Wright has rejected this notion by saying that "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history."

Notes

External links

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