Date of Award
Summer 8-23-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Religious Studies
Organizational Unit
Joint Ph.D. Program in Study of Religion, Religious Studies
First Advisor
Antony Alumkal
Second Advisor
Jason Jeffries
Third Advisor
Marquisha Scott
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Black Church, Political theology, Urban poverty, Hope
Abstract
In this dissertation, I argue that urban poverty is both a political creation and a Judeo-Christian concern. Urban poverty results directly from public policies—such as the Housing Acts of the 1930s, Reaganomics, and Welfare Reform—implemented by political elites. These policies were designed to advance and protect the economic interests of the wealthy. The policies of benign neglect and intentional deprivation create and sustain urban poverty. Urban poverty hinders human flourishing and, therefore, calls for a response from the Christian faith community.
A political theology is essential for effectively addressing urban poverty in America, as politics creates and sustains it. I contend that Political Black Theology, a form of political theology that takes public policy seriously, may serve as an effective theological approach for the Black Church to engage in meaningful praxis aimed at addressing and reducing urban poverty. Political Black Theology asserts that class has replaced race as the primary determinant in the negative impact of urban poverty on Black people in America.
I suggest that Political Black Theology can offer hope to the poor. I argue that hope is the presence of positive possibilities amid despair, destruction, and death. The Christ-event—birth, life, death, and resurrection—is the ultimate expression of the limitless power of possibility. Because of possibility—the rejection of the permanence of the impossible—there is strength to struggle; this is the power of hope I present in this dissertation.
Copyright Date
8-2025
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Clarence W. Davis
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
256 pgs
File Size
1.4 MB
Recommended Citation
Davis, Clarence W., "Faith and the City: Urban Poverty, Public Policy and Political Black Theology" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2624.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2624
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons