Year: 2017

Two Precious Gifts in one single day!

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

​I’m a very blessed man. Today, I received two important gifts: copies of my new book: “Thinking in Public,” and my PhD diploma for the degree in Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics from the University of Pretoria.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the doctoral commencement that was held last month. I was too broke to buy the airplane ticket to Pretoria. LOL

Endorsements of Thinking in Public

 

By the way, The publisher just reduced the price of my new book (web special).

Don’t forget to order your copy today:
“Thinking in Public: Faith, Secular Humanism, and Development in Jacques Roumain” (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016)

http://wipfandstock.com/thinking-in-public.html#endorsement

Help Me Choose a Novel to Teach

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , , ,
Help Me Choose a Novel to Teach
 
I will be teaching two literature classes in the Fall semester 2017. I’m going to assign two different novels, that is each course will not be reading the same novel. I have a pre-selected list of novels to choose from; however, I want you friends and literature people to help me choose two of the novels below. The order of the list is unimportant.
 
1. “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson
2. “Massacre River” by René Philoctete
 
3. “General Sun, My Brother” by Jacques Stephen Alexis
 
4. “Dance on the Volcano” by Marie Vieux-Chauvet
 
5. “Hadriana in All My Dreams” by René Depestre
 
6. “Native Son” by Richard Wright
 
7. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 
8. “Americana: A Novel” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
 
9. “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
 
10. “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
 
11. “Half of A Yellow Sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
 
12. “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
 
13. “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones
 
14. “Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga
 
15. “Go Tell It on the Mountain” by James Baldwin
* With this novel, we will watch the documentary on James Baldwin, “I am not Your Negro,” directed by Raoul Peck

Life in a Small College Town Called Graceville!

Dr. Celucien Joseph My Autobiography, Uncategorized , , ,

Life in a Small College Town Called Graceville!

In the year 1999 or 2000, I was supposed to begin the Pre-medicine program with an emphasis in Biology at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, Florida) as a transfer student, which meant I would have had two years left to complete my Baccalaureate in Biology at FAU. I postponed my admissions for personal reasons, which I will not discuss in this post.

As a result, I attended a small liberal arts Christian College (The Baptist College of Florida) in Graceville, Florida for my undergraduate degree. My graduation class of 2001 was very small.

When I was living there, the population of the town of Graceville was under 2600 people. We had one police officer, one gas station, one fast food restaurant (Hardee’s), and one grocery store: Piggy Wiggly. Although Graceville was a boring place to live and grow, the College environment was pleasant, and the people were quite calm and loving. I have enjoyed it, immensely. Graceville was indeed full of grace!

Here’s the Graduation Photo of my Class of 2001.
Can you see me?

College Graduation pic

In Honor of the Legacy of Jacques Roumain and In Honor of the Haitian Poor

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , ,

In Honor of the Legacy of Jacques Roumain

and In Honor of the Haitian Poor

Roumain2

 

I will not take a dime or any royalty from the publisher (Wipf and Sock) for my new book on Jacques Roumain: “Thinking in Public: Faith, Secular Humanism, and Development in Jacques Roumain” (May 2017).

 

I would like to honor the legacy of Jacques Roumain in three ways: (1) by writing a book about his life and ideas, which I have already done, (2) by emphasizing the importance of his ideas and legacy for Haitian democracy and Social Uplift programs in Haiti, and (3) to give all the royalties earned from this book to improve the literacy program and build a trade school in Port-Margot, Haiti.

 

After Jacques Roumain moved back to Haiti from Europe, he would spend the rest of his life fighting and protesting against the forces (both internal and external powers) that exploited Haitian workers and the poor in Haiti, and by  working on behalf of Haiti’s underclass, peasants, and the economically-disadvantaged in order that their social and economic conditions could be improved, and their children could have a promising future.

 

*Hence, when you order my new book on Jacques Roumain, I can assure you your contribution will help accomplish the stated goals or objectives. To me, to honor the legacy of Jacques Roumain is to be sensitive to the plight of the Haitian poor, to walk in solidarity with the peasant class and the disfranchised in the Haitian society, and to serve them and invest our talents, skills and money to improve the life and future of the least among us in the Haitian society.

Jacques_Roumain3

E. P. Sanders on Paul’s views about Sex and Homosexual Activity (Part 1)

Dr. Celucien Joseph Homosexuality, Human Sexuality, Lesbianism, LGBTQ, Uncategorized , ,
E. P. Sanders on Paul’s views about Sex and Homosexual Activity (Part 1)
 
I have always wanted how E. P. Sanders interprets the controversial passage of Romans 1: 25-7. In my reading of his new book, “Paul: Apostle’s Life, Letters and Thought” (Fortress Press, 2015), Sanders writes the following about Paul’s understanding of human sexuality and sexual relations:
 
“The most striking aspect of gentile sexual immorality was the ‘exchange’ of the ‘natural’ sexual connection between male and female for same-sex relationships (Rom. 1:25-7). ‘Natural’ sexual relations are those that could lead to conception.
 
For the modern reader, the elements of Paul’s vice lists that most require explanation are those that point to homosexual activity…If the statement in Rom. 1:26, that gentle women ‘exchange natural intercourse for unnatural,’ stood alone, this might mean that women performed anal or oral sex with men, rather than vaginal, but the following verse indicates that Paul had homosexual activity in mind:
“in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for another” (1:27).
 
Male homosexuality is also condemned in 1 Cor. 6:9, where Paul refers to pornoi, which we have already seen can appropriately be translated “the sexual immoral,” and to malakoi and arsenokoitai, which the NRSV translates “male prostitutes and sodomites.”
 
Pornoi (“the sexually immoral”): all those people of whose sexual behavior Paul disapproves
 
Malakoi (“catamites”: males who are the passive recipients of anal intercourse
 
Arsenokoitai: males who penetrate catamites” —Sanders, “Paul,” 343-4)
 

The Burden of Race as The Burden of the Gospel

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

Racism and racial/racist ideologies  are not  distractions to the Gospel; they are indeed Gospel issues. The problem of race in modernity and post-modernity is a profound theological conundrum.

If the message and messenger of the Gospel can’t heal the deep racial wound of American Evangelicalism and American society, then they’re not relevant to the modern life and should be rejected. If the messenger segregates Gospel issues and race issues, there lies a problem with the messenger’s understanding of the telos of the Gospel, which is arguable reconciliation. Reconciliation has both horizontal and vertical aspects. The Gospel provides the remedy for individuals to be reconciled with God; this act of reconciliation urges individuals to be reconciled with each other.

The Burden of Race is the Burden of the Gospel.

I’m deeply saddened by this report below:

“Why a racially insensitive photo of Southern Baptist seminary professors matters” (The Washington Post)

By Jemar Tisby

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/04/27/why-a-racially-insensitive-photo-of-southern-baptist-seminary-professors-matters/?tid=ss_tw-bottom&utm_campaign=buffer&utm_content=buffer9840f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=.0511f3ed9e6b

Invitation to The First Haitian Heritage Symposium

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , , , ,
You are cordially invited to the First Haitian Heritage Symposium that will take place on May 27, 2017 at the African American Research Museum and Library in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 11am-5pm.
Symposium
Circulate widely!!!
 
Please Share this flyer with your friends!