The Gospel According to Pauli

My project is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of Pauli Murray’s thinking and work from 1941 to 1985. It reads Murray’s writings as both a lawyer and a priest as advancing a social justice gospel that is fully articulated as legal theology after Murray completes seminary. Murray’s writings bear witness in the tradition of both law and religion. As law, Murray’s testimony narrates the unfree and unjust life Supreme Court cases such as The Civil Rights Cases (1883) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) portended for Black people like herself. As religion, Murray speaks “truth to power” in the prophetic tradition of the Black Church and liberation theologians. As legal theology, Murray’s testimonies ground an interdisciplinary gospel that fulfills the 13th Amendment’s promises of justice and freedom. It also challenges some of the basic premises on which Murray’s 14th Amendment jurisprudence relies.

A research partner could be involved in a variety of ways, depending on their skill set and interests as well as the needs of the projects. An ideal research partner would either be familiar with or have an interest in womanist theology, Black theology, and liberation theology.