Five Books: Nick Peterson

On November 16, 2022November 16, 2022 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

In a new Radical Discipleship exclusive series, we are asking radical Christian leaders one question. What are the five books or authors that have seriously shaped your spiritual life? This is how Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson answered.

Belonging by bell hooks
Black Poets Lean South ed. by Nikki Finney
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon
The Overstory by Richard Powers

Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson is an AME pastor and professor at Emory University in Atlanta. He lives with his partner NaKisha, twin five-year-olds, his nieces, his mother-in-law Tutz and a couple precocious house cats.

Hope as an Intervention upon America’s Antiblackness

On October 26, 2020October 24, 2020 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Note: This is part of a series of short posts, in the lead-up to the election, from leaders reflecting on hope and/or resistance.

By Rev. Nick Peterson

Hope, for me, owes nothing to politics. The extent to which we think hope alongside and within the American political apparatus is discouraging at best and soul-killing at worst. At present, the religious right imagines American politics as the right site to enact a near-theocratic rule of law. Holding fast to an American exceptionalism established by the puritans, the right’s religious imagination appeals to a moral yesteryear that never was. Meanwhile, the left opts for a liberal humanism that, on the one hand, narrates inclusion and acceptance as an American God-given birthright. While on the other, liberals insist that the unceasing acts of anti-black violence are not reflections of who we are. On both sides, hope is a means to America.

Continue reading →

Looting

On June 2, 2020May 31, 2020 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson (right) says he was just shooting from the hip in these posts last week. We say he was shooting straight for our heart.

I mean if we want to talk about looting, let’s talk about the “stolen properties” that structure the entire existence of this horrible project. America is a testimony to the sanctity of white looting. #pentecost

Looting in 1607. That’s when the first “permanent” English settlement was established on the “James” river.

Looting, 1607

What 4 centuries, not days, of “looting” look like. Continue reading “Looting” →

White Ain’t God

On September 2, 2019September 2, 2019 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting Empire, Theological Animation2 Comments

As RadicalDiscipleship.net approaches Her 5-year birthday this month, we will start posting more frequently from the archives. This classic is from the prophetic imagination of Nick Peterson, currently pursuing his PhD in Liturgics and Ethics at Emory University.

*Originally re-posted from social media in April 2016.

As a powerful but vain imagination, white supremacy attempts to imprison God to whiteness. In a white supremacist framework – God has a white sentence without parole. While confined, God must look white, talk white, think white, affirm white, bless white, and value, above all things, “his” own image made in whiteness. White supremacy attempts to hold the very God of the universe in chains – theological, liturgical, spiritual, creedal, geographical, social, emotional, and political. Continue reading “White Ain’t God” →

Treat Me Like I’m White

On June 27, 2018June 26, 2018 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, UncategorizedLeave a comment

From the prophetic imagination of Nick Peterson, currently pursuing his PhD in Liturgics and Ethics at Emory University:

Do you find that your race or ethnicity prevents you from getting humane treatment in life? Well, this product is for you. This bracelet will instruct those who you encounter in the real world to treat you like you are white. In an age of colorblindness and implicit bias, nothing can communicate more clearly how you should be treated. When an officer pulls you over – treat me like I’m white. When you are being followed by a clerk in a nice store – treat me like I’m white. When you are in a restaurant and they don’t want to seat you or let you use the restroom – treat me like I’m white. When you go to the bank – treat me like I’m white. Basically, in any formal and mainstream circumstance, there is no better way to be treated. For less than $5, you have a wearable reminder to the world to – Treat You Like You’re White! Order Here!!

The Necessary Condition of Trust

On March 3, 2017March 2, 2017 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Day 3 of our Lenten Journey with Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam.”

I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Vietnam. Neither is it an attempt to make North Vietnam or the National Liberation Front paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they must play in the successful resolution of the problem. While they both may have justifiable reasons to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides. Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Hanoi and the National Liberation Front, but rather to my fellow Americans.
——————-
By Rev. Nick Peterson (above right, with spouse NaKisha), a pastor and prophet pursuing a PhD in liturgics and ethics at Emory University in Atlanta

Fixed in the intellectual heritage of American pragmatism is the notion that every problem has a solution. From the earliest stages of our formal education we are presented with problems that can be solved if we take the time to understand them and apply the methods and rules we learned. Modern medicine and technology are all furthered by a desire to solve our problems and in so doing make our lives better. Continue reading “The Necessary Condition of Trust” →

The Need For Whiteness to be Protected

On August 10, 2016August 10, 2016 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race, Subverting Empire4 Comments

A series of social media posts from Rev. Nick Peterson:

Last night me and a friend were talking inside the Chick fil A when they closed. We continued our conversation outside and after a while 3 male employees came out to tell us that we were not allowed to be in the parking lot after 10:30 pm. We did not know what time it was or that it was already past 10:30. We spent another few minutes wrapping up our conversation. In the intervening time the employees called the police on us. We of course did not know this when we pulled off and one of the young men who initially came to us bid us a good night as we were pulling out of the parking lot.

As we were waiting at the light, two police vehicles pulled in, drove past my white friend in his truck in front of me and when they locked eyes on me pulled a U turn and put there flashers on. My friend was able to make the right turn on Lincoln highway without any officer following him. He proceeded to park across the street and witness both officers round my car for the next 10 minutes. Continue reading “The Need For Whiteness to be Protected” →

Thinking Out Loud: Supremacy

On July 10, 2016July 10, 2016 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn RaceLeave a comment

Nick P A Facebook post from Rev. Nick Peterson (July 1):

some white people are concerned that black people hate them.

there are white people who never hated black people and did little to nothing to challenge the systems that oppress black people.

some people believe hate is a key ingredient to oppression.

if we focus on hate, we can keep the conversation to individual actions that convey hate and bias.

the driving force behind oppression is always material gain.

hate functions as the myth to justifying oppression. Continue reading “Thinking Out Loud: Supremacy” →

White Ain’t God

On April 13, 2016April 9, 2016 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Race1 Comment

A recent Facebook post from Rev. Nick Peterson, Capital Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, PA:

I Need A Hand

On August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

By Rev. Nick Peterson (right, being introduced by Ruby Sales)

Without this effort, the secret place is merely a dungeon in which the person perished; without this effort, indeed, the entire world would be an uninhabitable darkness.
James Baldwin, Another Country (1962)

My friend was in pain. All the things he held dear and cherished were slipping from his grasp. In naming his losses he named his desire to grab ahold of something, something to help him live, to help him cope. I wanted to comfort him, to hold his hand, make some kind of physical contact, to disrupt the isolation he was feeling. But I hesitated, unsure of an appropriate way, a manly way, to comfort my friend. Truthfully, I was paralyzed by the fear of what my touch might communicate about my identity as a man, my sexuality, and my connection to him.
Continue reading “I Need A Hand” →