{"id":6877,"date":"2026-03-17T17:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/?page_id=6877"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:04:04","slug":"dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Dignity from Below: Race and Religion Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <style type=\"text\/css\">\n.cc--hero-basic-with-link { display: none !important; }\n.container {\n  display: flex;\n  flex-wrap: wrap;\n  gap: 100px;\n  padding: 20px;\n  margin: 0 auto;\n}\n.column {\n  flex: 1 1 100%;\n  display: flex;\n  flex-direction: column;\n}\n@media (min-width: 768px) {\n  .column {\n    flex: 0 0 calc(50% - 50px); \n  }\n}\n.image-placeholder {\n  background-color: #e0e0e0;\n  width: 100%;\n  aspect-ratio: 1 \/ 1;\n  display: flex;\n  align-items: center;\n  justify-content: center;\n  border-radius: 8px;\n  margin-bottom: 15px;\n}\n.btn-arrow:hover span:last-child{opacity:0.7;}\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center; color: #990000;\"><strong>Engaging Across Difference:<br \/>\nRace and Religion Today<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #990000;\">Culture of Encounter: Race and Religion in America<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Race and religion\u2014divisive topics. Topics anyone could be forgiven for avoiding at the office or over a family dinner.<\/p>\n<p>But topics that must be addressed\u2014given our divided society and, for Christians, given the centrality of reconciliation to the Gospel.\u00a0 How then to begin healing divisions, making a way forward together?\u00a0 For Pope Francis the idea of encounter, a culture of encounter, was vital to moving forward.\u00a0 \u201cI would like to encourage everyone to engage in constructive forms of communication that reject prejudice towards others and foster a culture of encounter, helping all of us to view the world around us with realism and trust.\u201d (<em>Message for the 51<sup>st<\/sup> Day of Social Communications, Jan. 24, 2017)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At IACS we encourage scholarly dialogue as part of a culture of encounter. Dialogue is intrinsic to the best research and scholarship. One scholar or group of scholars introduces an idea\u2014to be discussed with and tested by other scholars and by thoughtful practitioners in the Church, in business, in philanthropy, or other sectors. In that way, research and knowledge advance in dialogue with the wider society. In the best possible world scholars also broaden the understanding of their research outside the narrow confines of the ivory tower through popular articles or public forums. The Race and Religion events recently hosted by IACS provide a perfect example.<\/p>\n<p>We invited two leading theologians, Vincent Lloyd and Jonathan Tran, to present their ideas for how our society can move beyond racial identity as the primary way to think about race in America. To do so, Drs. Lloyd and Tran engaged in two kinds of dialogue\u2014two kinds of encounter. The first was academic. A group of scholars\u2014from sociology, history, ethnic studies, African American studies, political science, religion, and Islamic studies\u2014read drafts of Lloyd and Tran\u2019s book-in-progress and came together to challenge their assumptions and ask hard questions about their methods and conclusions. The scholarly encounter, as usual, was frank and sometimes rough-edged. But it was tempered with humor and good will and the shared goal of moving the conversation forward.<\/p>\n<p>The encounter, however, didn\u2019t conclude with the academic conversation.\u00a0 Scholars are not, as one theologian memorably put it, simply \u201cbrains on sticks.\u201d Over dinner they shared family news, commuting woes, holiday plans and hopefully broadened the encounter to include more than academics in their relationships.<\/p>\n<p>In the second kind of encounter, Professors Lloyd and Tran presented their scholarly ideas at two public meetings. At the USC Caruso Catholic Center, Professor Lloyd discussed the dignity of the poor and oppressed, the importance of prioritizing their knowledge of a situation, and the significance of approaching others with \u201can attitude of attentiveness,\u201d as Pope Leo emphasized in his 2025 exhortation \u201cDilexi te.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At Christ Cathedral, the center of the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, Professor Tran shared both the blessing and the difficulties of growing up as part of an immigrant Asian family in Orange County. Attendees reflected on their own encounters with race in the context of religion. Both meetings took Lloyd and Tran\u2019s scholarship into the public sphere of \u201creal life\u201d where people listened and learned and attended carefully to those marginalized in society and to those with differing views on race in American society.<\/p>\n<p>Were the encounters successful? Measured in terms of concrete policy changes\u2014probably not, yet.\u00a0 Measured in terms of openness to encountering others, to listening and learning new ways to think about race and religion in America, and perhaps in laying the cultural groundwork for better public policy\u2014absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <div style=\"width: 100%; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid #990000; margin: 0px; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<div class=\"image-placeholder\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/03\/Lloyd.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Vincent Lloyd\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Dr. Vincent Lloyd<\/strong> is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University, where he directs the Center for Political Theology. He is a former director of the Africana Studies Program at Villanova. His books include Black Dignity: The Struggle Against Domination, Black Natural Law, and the co-edited Anti-Blackness and Christian Ethics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"column\">\n<div class=\"image-placeholder\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/03\/Tran.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Jonathan Tran\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Dr. Jonathan Tran<\/strong> is Professor of Theological Ethics at the Divinity School at Duke University where he also serves as core faculty for Asian American and Diaspora Studies. He is co-editor of the \u201cReflection and Theory in the Study of Religion\u201d book series for American Academy of Religion\/Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--spacer \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--spacer\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":944,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6877","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dignity from Below: Race and Religion Today - Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Hancock and DePaul Fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC support scholars conducting cutting-edge research across different academic disciplines that contributes to Catholic thinking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IACS Hancock and DePaul Fellowships\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The IACS Hancock and DePaul Fellowships support scholars conducting cutting-edge research across different academic disciplines that contributes to Catholic thinking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IACSUSC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-06T00:04:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/IACS_Logo_Secondary_Cardinal-e1673642813489.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"263\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"IACS Hancock and DePaul Fellowships\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The IACS Hancock and DePaul Fellowships support scholars conducting cutting-edge research across different academic disciplines that contributes to Catholic thinking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/IACS_Logo_Secondary_Cardinal-e1673642813489.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@IACSUSC\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dornsife.usc.edu\\\/iacs\\\/dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dornsife.usc.edu\\\/iacs\\\/dignity-from-below-race-and-religion-today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dignity from Below: Race and Religion Today - 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