Motivation to Teach Social Action:
I am interested in learning about non-violent social engagement tools and tactics, especially the role AI can play in social action.
Course Description:
The Azusa Street Revival, which took place from 1906 to 1915, introduced the African American Holiness-Pentecostal tradition to American religious life. After this movement began in the early twentieth century, it became an important part of religious life for African Diasporic communities in the United States. In African American Religion: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation, Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer, and in The Black Church in the African American Experience, C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya point out that Black Holiness-Pentecostal sects clearly avoid confronting systemic inequalities. While Baer and Singer and Lincoln and Mamiya expose the problematic nature of Black Holiness-Pentecostal communions and their social justice initiatives, these publications acknowledge that pneumatology is a significant component in the ethical frameworks of this religious tradition. HREL 465 The Anointing, Advocacy, and Artificial Intelligence highlights pneumatology, one key feature of the habitus in Black Holiness-Pentecostal traditions and examines this belief considering how Black Holiness-Pentecostal churches interpret, critique, and engage emerging technologies in their social justice work. While review of theological materials and beliefs is a central component of this class, this course analyzes these data from a non-confessional angle of vision. At the completion of this course, the student should be able to put forth a model for how leaders of African American Holiness-Pentecostal communities can respond to the increasing significance of artificial intelligence in their advocacy and social action initiatives.
Taught By:
Harold Bennett
Professor
Philosophy & Religion
Morehouse College
Read profile here.