In this section:

About|Details|What our students say|Tutor(s)|Related short courses

Home Short Courses Theology, Imagination & Culture God is Not a White Man: Race, gender and the imago Dei

God is Not a White Man: Race, gender and the imago Dei course

What does it mean when God is presented as male?

What does it mean when – from our internal assumptions to our shared cultural imaginings – God is presented as white?

These questions will be explored during the course, drawing on personal experience of being a Black woman in the white-majority space that is the UK church – a church that is being abandoned by Black women no longer able to grin and bear its casual racism, colonialist narratives and lack of urgency on issues of racial justice.

This online course will explore theological concepts of the imago Dei through the lens of womanist and liberation theology.

About the Tutor

Chine McDonald is a writer, broadcaster and author of God Is Not a White Man: And Other Revelations (Hodder & Stoughton, 2021).

Chine is Director of Theos, the religion and society think tank. She was previously Head of Public Engagement at Christian Aid and spent two decades working in journalism, media and communications across faith, media and international development. She also speaks and writes regularly on issues of race, faith and gender, and is the author of ‘God is not a white man: and other revelations’ (Hodder & Stoughton, May 2021).

Chine is a regular writer, broadcaster, and media commentator, including regularly presenting the BBC’s Thought for the Day on Radio 4’s Today programme and appearing on BBC Sunday Morning Live. Chine is vice–chair of Greenbelt Festival and a trustee of Christian Aid.

She studied Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge University. Her upcoming book Unmaking Mary: The Myth of Divine Motherhood will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in early 2025. 

The Early bird online ticket #2464 ticket sales has ended!

The Online ticket # 2464 ticket sales has ended!

The Salisbury CMD ticket # 2464 ticket sales has ended!

The Portsmouth CMD ticket #2464 ticket sales has ended!

Details

Dates & Times

26 Jun 2024

Expired!

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Course code

2464

Other Notes

This is an online course to be delivered via zoom.

Please note that discount codes are not applicable for this course.

Free places are set aside for those eligible for Salisbury and Portsmouth CMD.

What our students say

PhD Research Programmes

Visual Artist Claire Reed

The complex and sometimes fractious relationship between contemporary art and religion has intrigued me throughout my art career, informing my direction as an artist. It has led me to work in sacred spaces with their immediate and wider communities, to study an MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture at Sarum College, and recently to become artist–researcher at Leo Baeck College of Jewish scholarship and learning.

My aim is to examine the extent to which this creative approach might generate fruitful inter-religious theological insights within a Jewish and Christian ministry training context.

Sarum College combines an open-minded embrace of the imagination and the arts with a supportive, questioning and diverse community. Crucially for me, the Sarum-Winchester PhD programme is one of the very few UK university programmes to offer a hybrid thesis in art and theology in which the creative process and resulting art output along with a written critical component are presented for examination.

This PhD research is a key part of my development as an artist engaged with theology and inter-religious dialogue.

Read full article

Stimulating and Challenging

What is Successful Ageing? led by James Woodward

I enjoyed the course immensely from beginning to end – the seamless interweaving of knowledge, ideas and research and the linking with belief and faith.

The content was stimulating, challenging, thought provoking and I was greatly appreciative of the contributions and questions from other participants, your considered and sensitive responses and integration with your presentations.

Thank you!

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

View all courses

God is Not a White Man: Race, gender and the imago Dei

God is Not a White Man: Race, gender and the imago Dei course