The Imposing Preacher: Samuel DeWitt Proctor and Black Public Faith

5 Preparing Public Theologians

5 Preparing Public Theologians Black Preachers and Racial Uplift Samuel D. Proctor moved into retirement in 1989 with a desire to enhance the work of Christian ministry in America. He wanted to pass along the knowledge he had accumulated over his long and fruitful career. The instruction he sought to provide for up-and-coming church leaders brought together his public, practical, and pastoral theologies. He especially wanted to convey his understanding of preaching and the role that preachers should play in society. During the latter part of his career, he returned to and/or expanded his understanding of the importance of the preacher in the public sphere. This understanding entailed the desire to develop a literate clergy that could address the problems in society. In this light, his stints in numerous seminaries, publications on preaching, and sermons and lectures all provide a basis for arguing this idea. Proctor wanted to produce public theologians, black public theologians specifically, who would discern the ills of the American environment and proclaim a truth that would resolve the problems in the black community and in the world. Proctor spent the last years of his career teaching at seminaries, preaching at churches across the nation, and giving lectures at black and white preaching functions and religious conventions. This chapter analyzes his motives and purpose for committing himself as a resource for black public faith. I examine the content of his presentations during his “retirement” ministry. His focus on the sermon was the medium by which the preacher would transmit the content of a public theology that proclaimed, “Everybody is God’s somebody.” For Proctor, the preacher is the person positioned best to address many of the problems caused by racism in the United States. The sermon, moreover, is the religious vehicle of moral suasion. 149 Before continuing, I must define the terms I am applying to Proctor’s ministry. His pastoral theology reflected upon the role of the pastor-preacher in creating and implementing policies and procedures in the local church setting. He defined the vocation of the pastor. In a broad sense, he provided counsel for pastors in various communities and institutions through his lectures and writings. He was a pastor’s pastor. Proctor was a model similar to the Apostle Paul’s mentoring presence for evangelists in the early church. Many of Proctor’s writings were “pastoral epistles.” He focused on practical theology. He was intent upon interpreting and explaining the significance of the tools used in the course of pastoral ministry. For example, preaching and church administration are disciplines within the practical theology curriculum. Proctor’s texts on preaching fall into this category. He became an instructor in the art of preaching (homiletics) during those final years. A public theology also was at work throughout his career, so a final theological term to consider is public theology. Public theology is the way in which a theologian represents a theological perspective in the public sphere in order to converse with and/or influence public-policy considerations. According to Victor Anderson, one arrives upon an “adequate” public theology when it distinguishes the freeing power of life lived in community.1 As a public theologian, Proctor argued for the value of all humanity. Taking this conversation into the public square, he wrote and preached to influence public policy. He called upon the sacred texts of Christianity and his own experiences in a struggle for civil-human rights. Robert Michael Franklin’s words seem a tailored description for Proctor’s ministry. Franklin writes that public theologians enter public conversations with a “profound sense of humility.” They also respect the “sacredness of people and traditions.”2 During his “retirement,” Proctor channeled his public theology into a focused educational curriculum for clergy serving African American churches and communities. He attempted to raise awareness of the social crises in the United States. The Bible’s witness etched, in Proctor’s mind, the need for ethical changes in society. He dedicated the last portion of his life to preachers with these notions as his foci. As an aside, there is a lack of studies on the sermon as a source of public theology or, for that matter, theology in general. The sermon is the primary product of the Christian pulpit, and it is the focus of ministry for many religious leaders. The influence of preachers on religious persons is immeasurable but obvious. Black preaching infused much of the protest and demonstrations during slavery and the civil rights movement. Even...