You Tube Theology

The Unites States remains unusually religious as a country, but the issue of American racism is inextricably, and very problematically, related to its theological past. The history of white American Christianity is replete with biblical mandates for a racist system, and this may well have wider explanatory implications for police violence against non-white people and the strange incapacity of white people to 'see' elements of 'systemic racism' in the culture at large. Join Sarah Coakley as she explores some of the uncomfortable truths about the historic power of Christianity in the US, and the importance of both theological and philosophical analyses of the 'problem of seeing' what is happening in a racist culture. Speaker: Revd Professor Sarah Coakley FBA, Professorial Fellow, Australian Catholic University; Honorary Professor, University of St Andrews; Honorary Fellow, Oriel College, University of Oxford; Norris-Hulse Professor Emeria, University of Cambridge The British Academy convenes research insights from across the disciplines we represent. The views expressed in our videos are those of the contributors and do not reflect the views of the British Academy. Viewers are welcome to make comments on videos. Comments are governed by the policies of YouTube. We do not monitor or moderate comments and will not reply to them. 10-Minute Talks are a series of pre-recorded talks from Fellows of the British Academy screened each Wednesday on YouTube and also available on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-british-academy-10-minute-talks/id1530020476 Subtitles, also known as closed captions, are available on our YouTube videos. You can access them by clicking on the 'CC' button or gear icon on the video. The 'CC' button and gear icon are usually located at the bottom of videos. For a transcript of this talk, visit our website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/podcasts/10-minute-talks-racism-religion-america-sin-elusive-problem-seeing/ Find out more about the British Academy: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/ For future events, visit our website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/ Subscribe to our email newsletter: https://email.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/p/6P7Q-5PO/newsletter Image: Joy Powell / AFP / Stringer via Getty Images