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Quick to Listen

What Ahmaud Arbery’s Death Recalls About Lynching and Church History

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. Last week, a video was leaked of a white man shooting and killing Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery in his neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia. While Arbery’s death occurred in February, the alleged shooter and his father were only arrested last week following a massive public uproar following the release of the tape. Many Christians, of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, have condemned the Arbery’s killing. But widespread condemnation from the church for these types of killings was not always the case.For years, for white Christians, “the critique of lynching rarely moved beyond ‘Lynching is anarchy, and we need to kind of reinforce the rule of law,’” said Malcolm Foley, a PhD candidate in Baylor University’s Department of Religion, whose dissertation examines African-American Christian responses to lynching from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Not surprisingly, the black church took a much more forceful response to these atrocities.“Many black pastors were commenting on this and saying, ‘If you can either stand in a mob of thousands of people and watch a black man be set on fire alive, or if you are one of the people holding the rifles that riddled this body with bullets, you're most likely not a Christian,’” said Foley, who is also the director of discipleship at Mosaic Waco. Foley joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss the colonial history of lynching, how beliefs about white women provided justification for this violence, and how lynchings changed the theology of the black and white church. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Follow our guest on Twitter: Malcolm Foley Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you by Character Matters, a new book from

0:05.0

Aaron Minnachoff. In helping others become more like Jesus, pastors can neglect caring for their own souls.

0:11.8

Your heart matters. Your character matters. Character Matters is available at moodypublishers.com.

0:19.7

Last week, a video was leaked of two men pursuing Amad Arbery in a neighborhood in

0:26.7

Brunswick, Georgia.

0:28.5

In the video, a truck blocks Arbery from running.

0:33.4

After Arbery tries to change direction to avoid the truck, he and one of the men, Travis

0:39.2

McMichael, begin fighting.

0:41.5

Three shots are fired and Arbery falls to the ground.

0:45.1

Dead.

0:46.8

While Arbery's death occurred in February, the father-son pair, who were in this car, were only arrested last week following a massive public uproar after this tape was released.

1:00.1

For many, this was not just a tragic death or even a murder.

1:04.3

As Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms put it, it's 2020, and this was a lynching of an African-American man.

1:11.4

Lynching, for some, may feel like a word from the late 19th or early 20th century.

1:16.5

But discussion of the nature of lynchings has become increasingly mainstreamed,

1:20.5

especially after the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Birmingham, Alabama.

1:26.1

The monument opened in 2018 and honors the memory of

1:29.1

all the recorded Limchings in the United States. We wanted to learn more about the past and

1:35.4

present of Lynchings and where this violence and Christian history intersect.

1:43.0

You're listening to Quick to Listen, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes, discuss a major cultural event.

1:49.0

I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity Today.

1:52.4

And I am Ted Olson, editorial director at Christianity today as well.

...

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