# What God Do They Worship In There? The Black Social Gospel and the Crisis of American Christianity w/ Gary Dorrien

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/homebrewed-christianity-723917/what-god-do-they-worship-in-there-the-black-social-gospel-and-the-crisis-of-american-christianity-w-gary-dorrien
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/homebrewed-christianity-723917/what-god-do-they-worship-in-there-the-black-social-gospel-and-the-crisis-of-american-christianity-w-gary-dorrien.md
Podcast: [Homebrewed Christianity](https://stenobird.com/podcast/homebrewed-christianity-723917)
Published: 2026-03-30T15:11:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NAANT9742274036.mp3?updated=1774840379
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NAANT9742274036.mp3?updated=1774840379
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Duration seconds: 3219

## Resource

In this episode, theologian and historian Gary Dorrien opens Theology for Troublemakers by recovering two of the most important — and most forgotten — figures in American Christianity: Ida B. Wells and Reverdy Ransom. Dorrien traces the birth of the Black social gospel out of one excruciating question: what would a new abolition be? From Wells's explosive anti-lynching journalism and her landmark pamphlet Southern Horrors, to Ransom's vision of a cooperative commonwealth and his decades of prophetic ministry inside a church that kept trying to expel him, this lecture shows that the roots of liberation theology run far deeper than the 1960s — and that the tradition's most radical voices were being erased even as they were still speaking. If you want to go deeper, Gary Dorrien is teaching a full six-week course alongside Aaron Staufer and Tripp Fuller — covering Niebuhr, James Cone, the Welfare Rights Movement, and the challenge of Christian nationalism today. It's donation-based, including $0. Join us at HomebrewedClasses.com. You can WATCH the lecture and slides here. UPCOMING ONLINE CLASS - Theology for Troublemakers: Christian Social Ethics from the Margins⁠ The injustices we face are immense — but they are not unique. Previous generations confronted the same powers with theological conviction and strategic brilliance. The question is whether we'll learn from them. This 6-week online course, led by Dr. Gary Dorrien and Dr. Aaron Stauffer, recovers the radical tradition of Christian social ethics — from Reverdy Ransom and Reinhold Niebuhr to James Cone and the Welfare Rights Movement — and asks what faithfulness demands of us right now. Weekly lectures, live Q&A conversations, guest lecturers, and an online community included. 💰 Donation-based — including $0 🔗⁠ Si…

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