“Listening well first and letting minorities lead those conversations in terms of what needs to be done is something that for many of us hasn’t been done enough. Often, whites come in with agendas. They come in with the way in which they believe the conversation should progress. What we encourage our brothers and sisters to do who are white is actually assume a position of subordination and let Asian leaders and Latino leaders and African-American leaders and immigrant leaders lead the discussion in terms of how to move forward.”

Anthony Bradley is a professor at The King’s College in New York City, but his influence extends well beyond the campus there. He’s a research fellow with the Acton Institute, a regular contributor to WORLD Magazine, and the author of a number of books, including Liberating Black Theology and Keep Your Head Up: America’s New Black Christian Leaders, Social Consciousness, and the Cosby Conversation. He received his Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary, and early in his career taught at a Presbyterian seminary while also serving as the director of the Francis Schaeffer Institute. I had this conversation with Bradley at his office at The King’s College in New York City.

Tell me about your journey to Reformed theology.

I was raised United Methodist, and in that tradition [there is] a strong emphasis on Wesley’s burden for both justice and holiness. When I went to college, I went to Clemson University and got involved in Reformed University Fellowship. That was when I was really introduced to a theological system that I didn’t realize my church back home actually taught but didn’t use the same categories. For example, the idea that God is sovereign above all things is something that the black church has always believed because it was the only way to reconcile the black experience in light of slavery, in light of reconstruction, in light of the civil rights movement.

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