Voices of Faith at Work in the World

About this Collection

The historical religion programs in this collection came from the archives, library shelves, and back rooms of many organizations. Faith groups represented include African Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, United Church of Christ, United Methodist, and others. The majority, 1,031 recordings, are from United Methodist national agencies, annual conferences, seminaries, and other sources.

This SoundTheology online archive is an independent service of Audio-Rescue.com, provided in conjunction with the United Methodist General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH). Many of these programs would have been lost forever if not saved in this project. The originating institutions have made the recordings available for public access to further private study, scholarship, and research. They retain the rights to the recordings.
 

This audio collection has been chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force Sound Collection Database.

Randomly-chosen Program From This Collection:

What Was the Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church?

Speaker(s): James Thomas, Jan Snider (interviewer)

Description: The Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church was created in 1844 as the church was divided over the issue of slavery, and most Black Methodist moved to a separated and segregated part of the church. James Thomas was a bishop in the Central Jurisdiction, was part of the movement to re-integrate the church, and became the first Black bishop in Iowa as the Central Jurisdiction was dissolved in 1967. Thomas talks about the history, the new reality, and the vestiges of racism in the church that must still be addressed. He spoke with Jan Snider, a producer at United Methodist Communications, as she prepared an in-depth look at the issues. Thomas, who died in 2010, had written a book called, "Methodism's Racial Dilemma: The Story of the Central Jurisdiction."

Length: 25:15
Recording Date: January 18, 2005
Recorded at: United Methodist Communications, Nashville TN (phone interview)