Race & Reconciliation

press release: Sunday, May 13, 2018, Dr. Allan Boesak will make two appearances on Madison’s east side. In the morning, at Lake Edge Lutheran Church (4032 Monona Dr. Madison) he will preach in two worship services and will address the Adult Education class. At 4:00 pm, at New Life Lutheran Church (7564 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison), Dr. Boesak will present on topics surrounding race and reconciliation. There will be opportunity for questions and interaction.

Dr. Boesak’s involvement in public life and South Africa’s freedom struggle began in 1976. In 1983 he called for the formation of the United Democratic Front which would grow into the largest, nonviolent, non-racial anti-apartheid formation in the history of the struggle. He became their most visible leader at home and abroad. He worked with President Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu, Rev. Frank Chikane and a whole array of world leaders to end apartheid.

Dr. Boesak served the church in various ecumenical positions, including as moderator of his church, senior vice president of the South African Council of Churches, and president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Under his leadership the WARC declared apartheid a sin and a heresy and suspended the two white Dutch Reformed churches in South Africa for their moral and theological justification of the apartheid system. Over the years, Dr. Boesak became a world renowned liberation theologian and a coveted speaker at world events, beginning as keynote speaker at the World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver, Canada in 1983, and most recently gave the keynote address at the Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2015.

The author of 22 books, Dr. Boesak has taught across the world, and continues his teaching and preaching, while remaining active in global struggles for human rights. Currently he serves as distinguished professor of religion and social justice at Berea College, Kentucky.

Dr. Boesak is recipient of thirteen honorary doctorate degrees and several awards, among those the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Award from SCLC. Recently he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.

These events are free and open to the public. No registration is required. If you would like more information about this topic, please call Pastor Stephen Marsh at 608-222-7339 or email smarsh@lelc.org.

Lake Edge Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America