FAITH & COMMUNITY
Joe Tomlinson
Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton, president of the Princeton Theological Seminary. Photo, Joe Tomlinson, The Oklahoma Eagle
Parishioners packed into the Grace Lutheran Church sanctuary on Feb. 2 to hear Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton, president of the Princeton Theological Seminary, deliver an interfaith lecture on how religious institutions can teach “the common good” in a society focused on individual spirituality.
Walton used the lecture to discuss the decline of institutions as a symptom of individualist mindsets.
“Unfortunately, we see this in politics, we see this in our religious spaces — institutions have become performative spaces. Spaces that allow us to perform particular identities. They become stages on which we can do what? Expand our brands,” Walton said.
Walton explained that the growing trend of people who identify as “spiritual but not religious” play a strong role in these individual attitudes.
“We cannot ignore the correlation between disaffiliation, people not attending religious communities, particularly under the guise of spiritual and non-religious, and the privatized banner of religion born of the individual brand,” Walton said. “Spiritual — it connotes that interiorization of religious faith that undercuts group solidarity and social commitments.”
“When we all think of ourselves as self-made or self-sufficient, the harder it is for us to learn gratitude and humility,” Walton said. “And without having gratitude and humility, virtues that are formed within institutions like this, then it’s hard for us to care at all about any kind of common good.”
Walton’s 45-minute lecture captivated those in attendance. His talk also underscored the robust interfaith community that has existed in Tulsa for decades.
“I think it speaks to the level of respect Tulsa’s interfaith community has earned nationally,” Rev. Ray Owens, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, said of Walton’s visit to Tulsa. “People don’t know that there’s a rich kind of diversity here in terms of faith.”
Walton’s lecture was the latest installment of an annual series honoring the late Rev. Clarence Knippa, a long-time pastor of Grace Lutheran Church who pioneered Tulsa’s interfaith community during the 1950s and 1960s.
On the 50th anniversary of Knippa’s ordination in 1986, an endowment fund for the Knippa Interfaith Lecture Series was established. Since then, nationally recognized religious scholars such as Donald Shriver and Paula Fredriksen have traveled to Tulsa to speak at the yearly lecture. The series seeks to promote and respect the religious traditions and concerns of others.
Aside from his work in the church, Knippa served as the chairman of the task force that launched the creation of the Tulsa Day Center for the homeless. He also played a critical role in the revitalization of the Kendall Whittier neighborhood.
Rabbi Charles Sherman, who served as the senior rabbi at Temple Israel for 37 years before retiring in 2013, now serves as president of the Knippa Interfaith Lecture Series Board of Trustees. Sherman reminisced about Knippa’s character during his opening remarks.
“I had the privilege and pleasure of knowing pastor Knippa for 37 years. His remarkable ministry, commitments in his community, his respect for other faiths and his friendship were an example and a blessing for me,” Sherman said.
The Rev. James Haner, who succeeded Knippa as Grace Lutheran Church pastor in 1979 and is the founding chairman of the lecture series, said Sunday felt like a “seminary prep day” due to the number of Princeton Theological Seminary alumni in attendance. Haner, Owens, and Walton each graduated from PTS.
Prior to beginning his lecture, Walton emphasized the importance of interfaith dialogue.
“It’s a bold affirmation of the belief that our religious traditions, while distinct and diverse, must be in conversation with one another. Spaces like this where we engage one another across faith traditions are essential for dousing the flames of xenophobia and religious intolerance,” Walton said.
Walton said he previously spent time in Tulsa while writing and researching his first book, “Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism.”
“As you all know, if you’re studying televangelism then guess what? All roads come through Tulsa, Oklahoma,” Walton said. “I spent many hours in the archives of Oral Roberts University, and I had the privilege of conducting extensive interviews with many people whose ministries were associated with this city, including the late bishop, Carlton Pearson.”
Walton said Tulsa and the PTS have a deep connection.
“It’s First Presbyterian, it’s Metropolitan Baptist, (…) and it’s our current academic dean, Dr. John Bowlin, who actually served for 15 years on the faculty here in the religion department at the University of Tulsa,” Walton said. “I pray that these points of connection will lead to even greater collaboration between Princeton Theological Seminary and this remarkable city in the years to come.”
“The kingdom of God is not a brand.”
After Morehouse College awarded Walton with the Benjamin Elijah Mays Leadership Award in Religion a few years ago, a senior religion major approached him and asked for advice, Walton said.
“Can you tell me how to expand my brand?” the student said. Walton immediately took offense.
“Well, I need you to remember this — the kingdom of God is not a brand,” Walton said. “And for good measure, I added a line that Dr. Mays often offered to aspiring ministers at Morehouse: Dr. Mays would tell us that preachers ought to be more concerned with their service to humanity than the wheelbase of their Cadillac.”
But after reflecting upon his interaction with the student, Walton said he regretted his response.
“The kingdom of God is not a brand, I declared. Well, that’s true, and it made for a cute quip, but this young man wasn’t asking me about the Kingdom of God. He was talking to me,” Walton said. “He was asking about me, somebody who was being awarded and recognized for religious leadership, somebody who in his eyes and probably in the eyes of the selection committee, had attended all the right private schools, had earned the appropriate degrees, had taught at elite universities and preached from prominent pulpits — and somebody who from prevailing, successful brand standards in our society, presents as sufficiently bourgeois, appropriately masculine, ostensibly heterosexual, convincingly articulate and presumably well-connected.”
Whether or not he knew it, Walton had been branded, he said.
“Those brand markers that I just referenced quite possibly had as much to do with my leadership and character in the eyes of the public and in the eyes of that selection committee as any acts of integrity, generosity, and empathy that I sought to live out in life,” Walton said.
Walton said he “missed the moment” when answering that student’s question.
“Our job is to help our communities see the social invitations of our privatized decay — to show leadership in our profession is to courageously and candidly identify the cultural pressures that undercut and asphyxiate young men like that senior at Morehouse College,” Walton said.
During the Q&A portion following the lecture, Walton said he has not yet reconnected with the student but plans to do so.
“I am working on this, and hope to publish this in my next book,” Walton said. “I pray that because our networks tend to be pretty small, that he will read it, and that he will read it as an apology.”
Tulsa’s Interfaith Community
After Sunday’s lecture, Owens highlighted Tulsa’s interfaith community for their continued cooperation across religious lines.
“All Souls is probably the largest Unitarian congregation in the nation right here in Tulsa but also works with our Muslim community and our Jewish community, which are very vibrant and strong as well. All these people have come together to do important work during the pandemic. We’ve worked together to address food insecurity over the years,” Owens said. “Every time there was a need to come together as the faith community, we didn’t let faith differences divide us. We worked together to address some of the pressing issues in our city. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Joe Tomlinson is a contributor to The Oklahoma Eagle.
