Embracing Hopelessness

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Written By Open Plaza

Dr. Joshua Bartholomew and Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre push against salvation history

"Take-over of the TB-testing truck- 1970," original photography by Hiram Maristany featured in Mapping Resistance: The Young Lords in El Barrio, a public-art project organized by artist Miguel Luciano, New York City, 2019. Photo: N. Rosario

"Take-over of the TB-testing truck- 1970," original photography by Hiram Maristany featured in Mapping Resistance: The Young Lords in El Barrio, a public-art project organized by artist Miguel Luciano, New York City, 2019. Photo: N. Rosario

 
 

Dr. Joshua Bartholomew and his mentor Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre discuss how hope has given the dominant culture permission to look away from the injustices of the world.  Dr. De La Torre argues that hope, as an illusion, is responsible for maintaining oppressive structures. But for marginalized people, hopelessness can serve as a catalyst to create change—sometimes by "turning over the bankers' tables at the temple".

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De La Torre, Miguel A. Embracing Hopelessness (Fortress Press, 2017).

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Joshua Bartholomew

Dr. Joshua Bartholomew is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He earned a BS in Psychology with a minor in Theology from Fordham University, an MDiv in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and a PhD in Religious and Theological Studies and Social Ethics from the joint program at The University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology. Dr. Bartholomew is also an Adjunct Professor in Religious and Theological Studies at Iliff School of Theology, an Affiliate Professor at Regis University, and a licensed minister from the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. Dr. Bartholomew serves as minister in residence at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, MA. Dr. Bartholomew’s academic fields of concentration include Christian theological ethics, racial formation theory, and political economics. By recovering intellectual resources and economic social practices from The Black Panther Party as an economic model of racial justice, Dr. Bartholomew’s research deals with the relationship between economic justice and racial equality within the U.S. and its transnational range of influence.

Featured
Miguel A. De La Torre

Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre is a professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology, a scholar-activist, author, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister. The focus of his academic pursuit is social ethics within contemporary U.S. thought, specifically how religion affects race, class, and gender oppression. Since obtaining his doctoral in 1999, he has authored over a hundred articles and published thirty-three books (five of which won national awards). A Fulbright scholar, Dr. De La Torre has taught in Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and Germany. Within his guild he served as the 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics. Within the academy, he is a past-director to the American Academy of Religion; served as the past chair of the Committee for Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession, past chair of the Ethics Program Section; authored the “AAR Career Guide;” served on the Program Committee, and presently serves on the editorial board of JAAR. Additionally, he is the co-founder and present executive director of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion and the founding editor of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. Dr. De La Torre has written numerous articles in popular media and has served on several civic organizations. Recently, he wrote the script to a documentary on immigration, Trails of Hope and Terror the Movie, which has screened in over 18 film festivals, winning over seven film awards.

 
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