Hope on the Brink - Paperback

by Lewis Brogdon (Author)

African Americans have always wrestled with hopelessness. Yet in the face of hopelessness, African Americans fought for hope that America can be a land of equality, opportunity, and justice. The fight for hope has been difficult and has taken a toll on African Americans. Today the signs of hopelessness abound in black communities across the nation as an increasing number of leaders express concern about a pervasive problem that they could not identify. Beyond the continuing injustices and inequities linked to systemic racism, they recognize a growing internal apathy in African Americans. This internal apathy is nihilism, the embrace of nothingness, meaninglessness, and internalized oppression. Nihilism has been slowly emerging since the 1980s and is the reason there is an increasing number of blacks who turn to defeating and destructive behaviors that only worsen their plight. In nihilism's wake, leaders and communities are left trying to help people who have turned on themselves and abandoned hope that things can get better. The first step toward hope requires an understanding of hopelessness. Only then can we step into a world that pushes people to the brink and hope to make a difference. Hope on the Brink offers an exploration into this hopelessness.

Author Biography

Dr. Lewis Brogdon currently works at Simmons College of Kentucky, a growing HBCU in Louisville, as the new Provost and Dean of the School of Religion. He formerly worked at Claflin University, an HBCU in Orangeburg South Carolina, as an Assistant Professor of Religion and Biblical Studies, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary as an Assistant Professor of New Testament and Director of the Black Church Studies.



Dr. Brogdon has written numerous books such as No Longer a Slave But a Brother: An African American Reading of Paul's Letter to Philemon (2013), The New Pentecostal Message? An Introduction to the Prosperity Movement (2015), and Dying to Lead: The Disturbing Trend of Clergy Suicide (2014), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. He is a sought out preacher, public speaker, and panelist that receives invitations to the White House, is a regular guest on Black Politics Today, and presents workshops at major conferences like the Hampton Ministers Conference at Hampton University and the Global 21 Congress in Jerusalem.