All Rev’d Up: When The Moral Dilemma Hits Home

Rev. Emmett Price III may not be willing to comment on his ousting from the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary just yet, but that didn’t stop his All Rev’d Up co-host from directing ire at the institution, of which Price was the lone full-time Black professor until earlier this month.

“I think what troubles me most about it,” Rev. Irene Monroe said, is that Emmett has “worked his butt building this institution — and it’s a million-dollar institution.”

During his tenure, Price founded the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience.

Monroe and Price spoke on Monday’s Boston Public Radio about the recent events.

In reaction to the organization's decision not to renew Price’s contract, a group of 200 people — including many community and faith leaders — signed an open letter decrying it as the latest instance of racism among white evangelicals.

“The relationship between white evangelical Christians and Black Christians is at a tense crossroads after exceptionally painful years,” one paragraph read. “Demoting one of Gordon Conwell’s very few Black full faculty members is offensive. Gordon Conwell’s senior faculty is notably lacking in honoring Black leadership. All the while, the school is promoting a vision of ‘Diversity, hospitality and culture’ that refers to Dr. Price’s work, and is dependent upon the ISBCE and the very Black intellectual capital and labor which you just fired.”

In a letter sent to the campus community Monday, Gordon-Conwell President Scott W. Sunquist framed the decision as a financial matter, noting that the seminary’s budget has been reduced by $2.5 million during the last two years. He added, “We pray God’s blessings on Dr. Price in his next area of ministry and teaching.” Gordon-Conwell could not be reached for comment.

Monroe went on to call her colleague’s ousting “a pox on the institution” and similarly accused Gordon-Conwell of reneging its social justice commitment.

“This is really a pattern of behavior in predominantly white institutions, where they suck up, drain and exploit Black labor,” she said.

Later in the discussion, Price called the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience a crowning personal achievement, and an extension of the mission laid out by his former mentor, the Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes.

“I’m proud of the work that I did, I’m proud of those who worked beside me,” Price said.

Rev. Irene Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Rev. Emmett G. Price III is the founding pastor of Community of Love Christian Fellowship in Allston. Together, they host GBH’s All Rev’d Up podcast.