This is part two of Matthew Waterman's reflections on the subject of anti-black racism and the church. Read part one here. Matthew graduated with his Master of Divinity from Wycliffe College in 2020.

In the wake of events in Minneapolis, Wycliffe College Principal Stephen Andrews reached out to some of Wycliffe's black students to ask them how they are doing.

Europeans generally think of Americans as very religious. They see things like a public swearing-in with a hand on the Bible and read a lot into that—even as it is somewhat of a formality that may have no obvious religious significance for those taking an oath.

My wife and I live in a small village—a hamlet—in rural France, and as in all the villages around us, we have an ancient parish church, with its strong bells regulating life. The painting “The Angelus” shows peasants with heads lowered in a field. They are our neighbours.

“[Wycliffe] College has balanced change with tradition, the building itself reminding faculty, trustees and students alike that they did not start Wycliffe, that each new generation stands on the shoulders of all who have been there before, that to become part of the College is to be received

My wife and I were in the United States over the holidays, to see my mother who is aging, wider family, and just enjoy some warmer weather.

J. Ryan Smith is a transplanted prairie boy and a first year PhD student at Wycliffe College who studies divine violence in the Scriptures.

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Shaun Christopher Brown will go down in the history books as Wycliffe College’s first successful conjoint PhD graduate in Theological Studies.

Witthaya Phuttharaksa is a PhD student at Wycliffe College, Toronto and a Langham Scholar. Now entering his second year of New Testament studies, his eventual goal is to help strengthen the Church in his homeland of Thailand.