Grounded in the evangelical confession that reconciliation with God and neighbor is rooted solely in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, this course explores the missio Dei as God’s relentless pursuit to make peace through the blood of the Lamb (Col 1:20; 2 Cor 5:18–20). Students will engage James Cone’s later insistence that genuine forgiveness is cruciform—never cheap, always costly—and requires repentance and reparative justice as fruits of the Spirit’s work. Drawing on Scripture’s unambiguous demand for both personal and structural righteousness, the course examines the Black church tradition’s witness to the gospel’s power to heal historical wounds while refusing sentimental reconciliation that bypasses truth-telling and restitution. The goal is to form gospel-centered ministers who proclaim and embody the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to all who have been reconciled to God.
