Black August: A Freedom Stories Roundtable Retreat

August 30, 2025, 10:30am Eastern US Time ~ 4:30pm South Africa Time

“My soul looks back in wonder, how I got over…”

How did we, how are we, how will we make it over? How does the ideal of freedom — from Christian, Pan-Africanist and Abolitionist perspectives — relate to the process of struggling for liberation, both within our own lives and bodies, and within our religious traditions and social structures? What guidance can the stories of scripture and the stories of Black lives offer as we seek to discern, comprehend and walk this path of overcoming?

CLBSJ will center these questions in a freedom stories roundtable retreat, held in honor of Black August. We will hear testimony and guidance from biblical scholars Mitzi J. Smith and Funlola Olojede, and faith-rooted social justice activists Tarik Greene and Jeremy J. McCants.

Dr. Smith will share based on her new book, Not Wanting a Thing to Be the Thing: An African American Woman Biblical Scholar’s Stroke Memoir, and Dr. Olojede will share about her efforts to uplift Black women’s biblical understanding, and bring us into communion with South Africa’s observation of Women’s Month. Mr. Greene will share based on his experience as a formerly incarcerated person advocating for fair chance policies for the reentry population, and Rev. McCants will share based on his organizing around reclaiming public space and building the power of Black workers through the Oakland-based Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy. We will then engage in a participatory session, drawing from contemplative, Pan-Africanist and abolitionist perspectives, in which we explore how our experiences of struggle and overcoming reflect and refract biblical understandings of freedom.

This session will be co-hosted by CLBSJ Board President Rev. Nicholas Johnson and CLBSJ Contemplative Traditions Advisor Sr. Sharifa Meytung. We are grateful for the co-sponsorship of Music Media Ministry and the Justice Center for Sacred Theological Studies. People of all faiths and backgrounds are invited to join in this gathering!

Speaker and Host Bios

Dr. Mitzi J. Smith is J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. She has authored and edited eleven books, including Not Wanting a Thing to Be the Thing: An African American Woman Biblical Scholar’s Stroke Memoir (2025) and Chloe and Her People: A Womanist Critical Reading of First Corinthians (2023). Smith is currently completing a book on the Gospel of Luke and is the host and producer of the Beyond the Womanist Classroom podcast.

Rev. Dr. Funlola Olojede is a research fellow at University of Stellenbosch, a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, and the co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature’s African Biblical Hermeneutics Section. Her research foci include Hebrew Testament, Postcolonial and Feminist Hermeneutics, and the Bible and Immigration. She is co-editor of Transgression and Transformation: Feminist, Postcolonial and Queer Biblical Interpretation as Creative Interventions (2021). She also serves as senior pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Desire of Nations Parish, Stellenbosch.

Tarik Greene is a leader and expert in reentry services and fair chance employment, serving as CEO & Founder of The Reentry Institute of America (TRIOA). With the passion that comes from firsthand experience, Tarik advocates for fair chance employment and stable transitional housing to reduce recidivism. Under Tariks’ leadership, TRIOA has built a program of tailored support to empower individuals coming out of prison to rebuild their lives. His mission is to break barriers, create opportunities, and ensure returning citizens have a fair shot at success.

Rev. Jeremy J. McCants is a community organizer and pastor rooted in the Black Baptist tradition. He serves as a Faith-Rooted Organizer at Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy (FAME), an interfaith component to economic justice campaigns led by East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, and is also the Senior Pastor at Imani Community Church in Oakland, CA. Originally from the little town of Senoia, Georgia, Jeremy attended Morehouse College and Duke Divinity School, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry at Eden Theological Seminary.

Rev. Nicholas Johnson is the senior pastor at the First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church in Newark, NJ, and the Board Chair of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice. Nicholas is also a PhD candidate in New Testament and Early Christianity at Drew University in Madison, NJ, where his research focuses on Paul’s epistles, Revelation, and the intersections of Africana, postcolonial, and New Testament studies.

Sr. Sharifa Vernice Meytung is a Catholic-Buddhist lay contemplative practitioner; teacher of young children; haijin (writer of haiku poetry) and an abstract painter. She serves as Contemplative Traditions Advisor for the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice, Senior Teacher for the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia and Board member of the Philadelphia Buddhist Association.