CH213: American Church History — The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Church, and Theological Responses to Cultural Upheaval (1950s–1970s)

This episode examines the pivotal role of the Black Church as the primary driver for social reform and spiritual resistance during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s through the 1970s. The text highlights a profound theological fracture in American Christianity, contrasting the Black Church’s focus on structural liberation and the Exodus narrative with the white evangelical emphasis on individual soul-winning and personal conversion. By analyzing the works of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Cone, the source explores how natural law and Black Liberation Theology challenged traditional power structures and forced a national debate on whether the gospel requires the active pursuit of social justice. Ultimately, these materials serve as a historical and dogmatic framework for understanding how different ecclesial traditions responded to the era's intense cultural upheaval.