Theologians for Wright

I just learned on MSNBC that two well respected theologians have come to Jeremiah Wright's defense. Peter Gomes, the minister at Harvard's Memorial Church and Harvard Professor wrote an article called "The Pastor as Prophet" and Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at University of Chicago's Divinity School wrote an article called "Prophet and Pastor."

A quote for Gomes, "Presidential candidates run for office in order to run ‘America the Beautiful,’ forgetting that Katharine Lee Bates in her fourth verse asks God to “mend thine ev’ry flaw/Confirm thy soul in self-control/Thy liberty in law.” She was a brave woman to suggest that in the American ideal, to which her poem was in elegant dedication, there were flaws to be mended; and although ‘America the Beautiful’ did not make the cut as our country’s National Anthem, it should have."

And from Marty, "Having [criticized some of Wright's stands], and reserving the right to offer more criticisms, I've been too impressed by the way Wright preaches the Christian Gospel to break with him. Those who were part of his ministry for years — school superintendents, nurses, legislators, teachers, laborers, the unemployed, the previously shunned and shamed, the anxious — are not going to turn their backs on their pastor and prophet."

It's interesting to note that the pastor of Bill and Hillary Clinton's former church in Washington DC has come to Wright's defense. (Note: it's a PDF). He writes, "To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice do Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage and violence."