Dr. Carl Ellis | January 5, 2021
On this episode of Mind and Heart, Dr. Carl Ellis joins host Phillip Holmes. Dr. Ellis is the Provost's Professor of Theology and Culture, Assistant to the Chancellor, and Senior Fellow of the African American Leadership Initiative at RTS. Between 1986 and 2009, Carl served as an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Urban Theological Studies and as Dean of Intercultural Studies at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Carl was recently the Associate Pastor for Cultural Apologetics at New City Fellowship. Dr. Ellis completed his MAR (Theology) at Westminster Theological Seminary, and holds a D.Phil. from Oxford Graduate School.
Holmes begins the conversation by asking Dr. Ellis about his early life and how he came to faith. Dr. Ellis became a Christian in high school before leaving for college at Hampton University. During his time at Hampton, there was a cultural revolution happening in the African American community, which led Dr. Ellis to read the entire Bible. Over the next decade, he developed his book Free At Last?: The Gospel in the African American Experience, which looks at God's sovereignty at work in the history and culture of African Americans.
During a Wisdom Wednesday Q&A, Dr. Ellis tackled the question, "What is the root of racism?" In the episode, he explains that racism is one of many issues whose root is creaturism, which can be traced back to the fall in the garden of Eden. When man took it upon themselves to determine good and evil by their standards instead of God's, it lead to racism and other manifestations of creaturism.
Holmes asks Dr. Ellis about some of the reactions to racism in the church today. Dr. Ellis begins by discussing oppression. Throughout the Bible – and even now – people who are oppressed tend to attribute all their problems to that oppression, leading them to forget about their internal problems. When liberation comes, their internal problems come back to the surface. Dr. Ellis explains that this cycle of oppression, liberation, and resurfacing of sin will continue until thwarted by cosmic justice. The cosmic treason committed by Adam and Even and all of our guilt is covered by Christ's fulfillment of cosmic justice.
As the episode ends, Dr. Ellis explains what the church's role is when we see problems in society and the world around us. He and Holmes also discuss the importance of the Word of God and our identity in Christ as we seek to further the kingdom of God.
Learn more about Dr. Carl Ellis.
Check out Dr. Ellis' book.
Phillip Holmes: Before we dive into this week's episode of Mind + Heart, we want to take a moment to highlight RTS Global, the online program at Reformed Theological Seminary. Do you want to earn a graduate degree from a trusted seminary but don't know if you have the time? Reformed Theological Seminary offers three Masters of Arts programs available 100 percent online. These degrees are perfect for anyone pursuing full-time vocational ministry, interested in Ph.D. work, or any aspiration where theological education might enhance your gifts. These programs allow you to study at your own pace, attend class completely online, and have regular interactions with your professor and teacher's assistants. Study in a way that suits you. Learn more today at rts.edu/online.
Welcome to the Mind + Heart podcast, which features interviews and more from the faculty and friends of Reformed Theological Seminary. We created this podcast to assist you in your daily quest to love God and love your neighbor. I'm your host, Phillip Homes, and this week I'm joined by my guest, Dr. Carl Ellis. Dr. Carl Ellis is the Provost's Professor of Theology and Culture at Reformed Theological Seminary. In 1969, Carl Ellis began his ministry as a senior campus minister with Tom Skinner Associates in New York. Between 1986 and 2009, Carl served as an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Urban Theological Studies (CUTS), as well as the dean of intercultural studies at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has authored several books, including Free at Last and Saving Our Sons. He is married to Karen Ellis, and they reside in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dr. Ellis, welcome to the show.
Carl Ellis: Good to be here, Phillip.
Holmes: Yeah, thank you for joining us, man. Before we dive into this week's episode, tell us a little bit about yourself. Could you give us briefly, in two or three minutes, your origin story? Where did you grow up and how did you become a follower of Jesus?
Ellis: I was born in Brooklyn, New York. I guess I consider myself a native New Yorker. At a very young age, my folks moved to Chicago. They stayed there for a couple of years. Then to Gary, Indiana, where I spent most of my childhood. But of course, every summer, I was back in New York a lot. Graduated from high school there, went to Hampton University in Virginia. Going back to when I followed Jesus: I became a Christian the summer before my senior year in high school. When I went to college, I was already a Christian. I ended up getting connected with InterVarsity. We didn't even have a chapter on that campus, so we got one started. It was a very interesting time because about halfway through we had this cultural revolution. Hampton is a predominantly African American school—HBCU as we would say—and about halfway through my time there, there was a great cultural revolution where everybody switched from being Negro to Afro-American and then to Black. There was a big rise in Black consciousness when we came in.
Holmes: What year was that?
Ellis: The fall of '67 when the revolution actually happened. In the spring of '67, everybody was a Negro and claimed to be a Christian; in the fall of '67, everybody was an Afro-American and claiming to be an anti-Christian. It was quite a change. I was kind of in water over my head. What in the world do I do with all of this? Let's put it this way: as a baby Christian, I read books. As soon as I got saved, I started reading a lot of Christian books designed for young Christians. Of course, all the people who wrote Christian books for people of my stature were dispensationalist. I became a hardcore dispensationalist. I even went so far with that to say that I believed that only Paul's letters applied to us.
When all of a sudden this cultural upheaval happened, as much as I love Paul, Paul wasn't helping me too much. I did a Hail Mary pass by reading the rest of the Bible. I got hit with the sovereignty of God, number one, and number two, the covenant, and number three, when I got around the prophets, I saw that God was saying some of the same kind of things that the militants were debating about, things about justice and oppression and all the rest of it. Then I began to realize that my theology was inadequate. I just believed what the Bible said, and I didn't know it then, but I actually became Reformed like that. I didn't know that I was Reformed until years later. That was a great growth time in my life.
Holmes: That's really good. So this past summer, IVP re-released your classic title Free at Last: The Gospel in the African American Experience.
Ellis: It's an amazing thing. I got the original vision for the book back in '69, actually. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning with this seed idea, and then it started exploding on me. It started coming like a fire hose. I got up; I wrote all this stuff down. It was coming fast and furious. All these things were connecting, and by about 8:00 that morning I had several pages written, and I organized it into an outline. I realized that I was looking at a book outline. But some of the entries in the outline were concepts that I hadn't even begun to unpack. It took me like 12 years to unpack some of those things, to be able to articulate them. I had feelings for what they were, but I didn't have the tools to do that. When I went to Westminster Seminary, they really helped me out with a lot of the tools and I was able to articulate some of the ideas I had.
God works through the history and culture of every people group.So long story short, in '82, I ran into some people from InterVarsity Press, and I shared with them. I said, "I think I've got a book in me that I'd like to get out." They asked me to send them some of the writings that I had, and I did. And they said, "Yeah, I think you got something." They accepted it, and it became published in '83 as Beyond Liberation. It's funny, just before it was published, I let my sister-in-law read the manuscript because I thought that the book was like 10 years behind the times. I wished it had been published in '73. And I thought, "Well, it's kind of late now." But she read it and she said, "This book is way ahead of its time." I couldn't believe it, but now I do. It came out in '83 and stayed in print for about eight years or so, went out of print in about '91. Then it just seemed like the whole country let out a howl about it. IV approached me again. They said, "Let's do it again." I said, "Well ok, let's do it." We republished it as Free at Last. I did some major revision on it. That was in '96, and it did pretty well on that run. It did better than it did the first time, and it didn't do bad the first time.
Then when it went into publish-on-demand, there was a groundswell of complaints. People said, "Oh, you need to make it available again." So they came at me and they said, "Hey, let's publish it again. Let's do a Signature Series." That's kind of how that happened.
Holmes: That's good. Dr. Ellis, briefly, if you can kind of summarize your aim or the purpose of the book. What were you hoping to accomplish when that was released? Give me a quick one-minute answer.
Ellis: Back in the 60s, there was a whole lot of talk about a rediscovery of African American history. Having begun to really get into the Old Testament, I realized that God works through history and culture and all that. He did some remarkable things through Nebuchadnezzar and other people. I began to realize, "Well, wait a minute. Now, if God is really sovereign, and if he raises people up and takes them down and all the rest of that, God has probably been working in African American history, as he has in the history of every other people group in this world. I'm going to ask God questions about that." He showed me and I could see things in the Scripture that really helped me to open my eyes to some of the things that God has been saying in our history. I published the book with the conviction that God works through the history and culture of every people group. I said, "OK, I believe this," and I used the African American experience as my case study.
How can Christianity be the white man's religion? It didn't even start in Europe and Jesus wasn't white.The other reason I wrote it is because I was trying to dispel the myth that had been developed that Christianity is a white man's religion. I knew that wasn't the case. How can Christianity be the white man's religion? It didn't even start in Europe and Jesus wasn't white.
It was for a couple of reasons that I published it. I just really wanted to make a statement and get away from the Christian clichés. A lot of people back in those days were just mouthing Christian clichés, which really weren't answering the questions. I sought to answer the questions that were being asked.
Holmes: Yeah, that's helpful. Are there any other books or any other works that you're working on that continue in that tradition?
Ellis: I have a manuscript right now that's just about ready to go. Three out of the four parts have already been written, and I've got pieces of the fourth part. The problem is, in the last few years, every time I've gone to a publisher and say, "Hey, this is kind of like Free at Last, only it's updated. It can stand on its own, too." All the publishers I approached would always tell me, "Well, we don't know how to market it." In the meantime, I go around the country and I lecture on some of the stuff that will be in the new manuscript, and people just get all excited about it. Again, I get a lot of feedback from social media: "Hey, when is that book coming out?" etc. So with the success of Free at Last, this time I think the door has been opened to publish this new one. I'm kind of glad it didn't come out earlier anyway because there's a lot of things that have happened in the intervening years that I would want to put into it anyway.
Then there is Going Global, which is kind of a little glimpse into the new one, about the role of the African American church in the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. I trace some of what the African American participation in global missions was all about. It's really a fascinating story. Tragic, too, in a lot of ways.
Then Saving Our Sons is designed to equip pastors and people who are discipling young African American men and women to resist the lure of Islam. I used to be in prison ministry at one time, and I had a lot of Muslims who would come to my seminars. Just about all of them had been a Baptist or something or other. I would ask them, "Why did you leave Christianity?" They'd say, "Well, because it didn't answer my questions and address my issues." When I asked what the questions were and what the issues were, I would show them right out of the Bible where it would address these things. So many times they would respond, "I became a Muslim because I was looking for what you just told me." God blessed that ministry. I must have done seminars in about a hundred prisons across the country, and about a half to two-thirds of those who would show up at my seminars were always Muslims, and about half of them would become Christians at the end of the seminar. I didn't do an altar call at the end, I just told them to think about it. But a couple of weeks later, I get a word from the chaplain that about half the attendees had become Christians.
Holmes: That's really interesting, as I've been reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and then I just finished A Life of Reinvention, which was Marable's take on Malcolm X's life. There's one that just released in October that I'm working through right now. I'm really fascinated with Malcolm's journey into the Nation of Islam and then eventually into Sunni Islam. He felt like Christianity did not give a satisfactory answer to how to navigate white America. He was also confused by the fact that the very people that profess Christianity, who were supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ, were also his oppressors as well. Then on the flip side, there seems to be this tension that he felt like Christianity was giving him pat answers, in a sense, to a lot of his questions, and it didn't have the prophetic fire that he thought the Nation of Islam offered.
Ellis: Well, it's interesting that Malcolm's problem was not so much with Christianity, it was with American Christianity. A lot of American Christianity was, as my wife says, Ameri-centric. Let me say this: all forms of Christianity have flaws in them. I'm not going to say that Western Christianity is any more flawed than anything else. But the point is, the particular flaws that American Christianity had were partly rooted in the cultural sin of America, which was racism, slavery, that kind of thing. And of course, there were a lot of people out there who claimed to be Christian who thought that American slavery was biblically sound. Whatever you might want to say about slavery, the point is American slavery was based on ontological racism, the belief that Black people were not equal to whites in terms of their being. The Bible is foursquare against that because the Bible says that we're all made in God's image. There were arguments over the years about whether slavery was biblically sound, but the thing is, American slavery was built on a foundation of racism, and that is definitely anti-biblical. If the foundation is wrong, the whole system was wrong. Those are the kind of things that we need to address.
We have to do some serious theological spadework from the Scriptures, not from ideology.Today now everybody is running around with these ideologies, and everybody is looking for a magic bullet, and the magic bullet is not doing it. We have to do some serious theological spadework from the Scriptures, not from ideology, from the Scriptures, to really deal with this, Because we see that while racism is a very grievous evil in our world, it is not the only evil. It's one among many. If we fight the battle just on the level of racism only, then everything else is going to flare up. Some of us are called to fight the racism battle, but we have to recognize that there are other evils out there, and we have to recognize that ours is not the only one. There are issues that we face, but, of course, as serious as racism is, it's not the only thing. There's other things we have to deal with.
That's kind of what Free at Last was trying to do, trying to show that a lot of our problems—I mean, I don't care what race we are or whatever, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The sin has different manifestations; we have to recognize the manifestation. The analogy I like to use is trying to cure a tree by pulling off all the leaves. Well, that's not really going to do much to cure the tree. It might make it look a little better. That's ok to pull off the dead leaves, but you're not going to cure the tree unless you do something with the root, unless you heal it at the root. That's the thing that's missing in a lot of ideologies today.
Holmes: That's the perfect transition into our subject for today. The topic of racism is charged among evangelicals, it's a very charged subject among evangelicals, which is why I think it's so important that we address the topic from a biblical worldview. You talked about how important it was for us to understand these things from the Scriptures, not from other ideologies. I think that's extremely important and key. In 2018, Dr. Ellis, you answered the question, "What is the root of racism?" via Wisdom Wednesday, which is our weekly Q&A video series. Let's take a moment and listen to Dr. Ellis's response to the question: what is the root of racism?
Ellis: Creaturism goes all the way back to the garden. In one way or the other, you can say that Adam and Eve, when they decided to eat of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil or the determination of good and evil, they weren't getting the information about good and evil. They knew what good and evil were. They knew what good and evil were by the Word of God. The real temptation is: how do you determine what good and evil is? How do you distinguish? Do you distinguish these two by the Word of God or do you distinguish them by your own opinion?
When they did that, they said, "We will determine what good and evil are by our opinion." In essence, the creature then becomes the standard of judgment and even the standard of judgment of the Creator. So the creature then becomes the standard of judgment for everything. That's creaturism. Having taken that, then there are many manifestations of creaturism. There's me-ism, when I judge everybody else by the standard of myself. There's culturalism, when I judge other cultures by the standard of my culture. There's racism, when I judge other races by the standards of my race, on and on and on. Sexism: I judge the other gender by the standard of my gender. Whenever you judge anything or anybody by the standard of yourself, the other person is inferior by definition because nobody could be me as well as I could be me. No race can be my race as well as my race can be. That's where racism comes. So it's one of the manifestations of creaturism.
Whenever you judge anything or anybody by the standard of yourself, the other person is inferior by definition because nobody could be me as well as I could be me.You go to some other places, it's tribalism. You go to some other places like India, it's the caste system. It's classism, like you had in Europe. It goes on and on and on. All of these are manifestations of the same thing. They have the same basic patterns. Racism is only one of the manifestations. It's kind of akin to the dead leaves on a sick tree. You can shake the dead leaves off all you want to, but you're not going to cure the tree. You've got to get at the root, and the root is creaturism.
Holmes: So, Dr. Ellis, you talked about how racism is not the only issue. It's one of many issues. I oftentimes wonder if racism is the only thing that we oftentimes know how to talk about because it's the only issue that we've been given vocabulary to articulate and also because it's been made to sometimes even be a scapegoat in some ways. I definitely think that racism is important. I talk about it all the time in social media outlets. I've written about it. I think that is a grievous issue that America still is not ready to deal with, which is one of the reasons why I've been doing so much reading in regards to Malcolm X because I thought that he had a very, very firm grasp on Christian America and America in general. The way that he talked about America, particularly white America in his day, a lot of those things still ring true in much of America today. I thought that was fascinating. How would you respond to the problem of racism and why we're obsessed with either denying that it's that big of a problem or making it the number one and main problem?
Ellis: It all kind of depends on whose ox is being gored, doesn't it? If I find out that a certain neighborhood is undergoing a lot of incidents of theft and everything, but if it's not my neighborhood, I'm not going to be all that concerned about it. But if it's my neighborhood, I'm going to be all of a sudden concerned about it. The thing that really happens is that there's a tendency, and you see this in the Bible too, there's a tendency for people who are oppressed—Now let me explain what I mean by oppression. Oppression happens when you try to impose your sin or the consequences of your sin on someone else. That will be my definition of oppression. Everybody has problems, oppressed/oppressor alike, everybody has problems. But when people are oppressed, their tendency is to attribute all of their problems to their oppression.
Oppression happens when you try to impose your sin or the consequences of your sin on someone else.Case in point would be Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah. If you would ask any Jerusalemite at the time, "How are things going?" "Oh man, they're not going well." "What do you mean?" Well, the walls are broken down and the gates are burned with fire." That would be the standard response. Then Nehemiah comes on the scene, and he empowers them to rebuild the walls, to restore the gates, and all the rest of that. They had attributed their problems to the condition of the walls and the gates, and of course, that was enforced by Sanballat and Tobiah.
Once Nehemiah empowers them and, in a sense, liberates them, something even more sinister comes up that was plaguing the Jerusalemites all along. It was Jew-on-Jew exploitation. Through tax manipulation people were forced to sell themselves into slavery. The families would sell themselves to the rich as slaves in order to pay their taxes. And the daughters, the beautiful daughters, would be in turn sold to Gentiles. Really it was a tragic thing. But that was what was happening within the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So what happens is that when people attribute all of their problems to their oppression, their own internal problems kind of get forgotten about. When the liberation comes, then their own internal problems come back to the surface.
That's one of the reasons why I say it's a good thing to liberate the oppressed, so they can find out that they're sinners too. It's very easy to be lulled into thinking that if you are oppressed, you're not as sinful, let's say, as your oppressor. But everybody is equally sinful. But within that relationship, oppressed versus the oppressor, the oppressed are more righteous in that because it's more righteous to resist oppression than it is to perpetrate it. Does that make sense? But that phenomenon is only temporary, situational, and relational. As soon as you get rid of the oppression, then your own sin comes back to the surface.
The problem with [many] ideologies is that they have a very poor and inadequate understanding of simple human nature.Now, the problem with a lot of the thinking of the ideologies out there, they say that that differential in righteousness is permanent and ontological. They think, "That's just the way it is." That's why people don't give any thought to this and they said, "Well, let's just take the oppressors and put them on the bottom, put the oppressed on the top, and everything will be just fine." Well, it'll be ok for a while until things degenerate and eventually the oppression will come back with a vengeance. That's the problem I have with a lot of ideologies. The problem with these ideologies is that they have a very poor and inadequate understanding of simple human nature. That's the Achilles heel.
That's where the Christian comes in. We know, yes, oppression does exist, but we recognize that everybody is a sinner. As you seek to free the oppressed, you also have to help them to understand that they are sinners too and they need the saving grace of Jesus Christ. That's often forgotten in our ideologies today. Then you see it over and over and over again, you see revolution after revolution after revolution: "If we could only get rid of this terrible dictator." Everybody rises up, they overthrow him, and they end up with a worse tyrant. The Bible gives us the wisdom that we need if we're going to flourish. It's a shame that the people out there are not really listening to the wisdom of God. Creaturism is the main problem, and all these other things are manifestations of that.
The Bible gives us the wisdom that we need if we're going to flourish.Holmes: This will be our last question: how do we avoid that pattern that we continually see? A revolution takes place, all of a sudden the oppressor becomes the oppressed, the oppressed becomes the oppressor. There are different types of manifestations of this pattern that have happened throughout history, whether the oppressed began to oppress the former oppressor, or the oppressed goes somewhere else and becomes the oppressor.
Ellis: Or what happens is that somebody else comes to power, and he puts the former oppressed back into oppression. That happens, too. Well, let's try to tackle that. I think at the end of the day, the only way that this thing is going to be solved is for every wrong to be made right, every oppression avenged, every inequality corrected, all the rest of that. In order for it to happen, and it's all got to happen, and the only thing that's going to do that is cosmic justice. That's it. It's going to require an absolute cosmic justice. It's going to also require transformation of people because people are sinners. As long as you have sinners, you're going to have problems.
The only way to deal with cosmic treason is with cosmic justice.Now, what happened in the garden when Adam and woman decided that they were going to be the ultimate judges of right and wrong and even judge over God, that was cosmic treason. The only way to deal with cosmic treason is with cosmic justice. Now, the problem with cosmic justice, though, if we're going to make all wrongs right and bring justice to all injustices, if that's going to happen, then all of us are going to be found guilty and be condemned because all of us fall short of righteousness anyway. If we really want to solve the problems that are out there, ultimately, it's going to require a cosmic justice which will obliterate all of us. I heard a rap song the other day; it was called "Loophole." There's one loophole to it, and that is when cosmic justice is applied, if cosmic justice for me and you and others has been satisfied, has been already paid for, then we will see the benefits of cosmic justice without having been condemned by cosmic justice. And of course, that is the essence of the good news.
The good news is that, yes, God is going to fix it. He's going to make everything that's wrong right. But he's going to save us from the judgment because Christ took the punishment upon himself, and he's going to fix us. That's the wonderful news of the gospel. Now, what we need to do then as those who are part of the body of Christ, what we need to do is approximate what it's going to look like under cosmic justice. We can't do it perfectly. It's going to be imperfect, but we can approximate it and at the same time point toward the absolute consummation of it all. That seems to be the role of the church. The role of the church is not to go out and reform society. The role of the church is to live a lifestyle and think in certain ways that are an indictment to the world as we point to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the only solution.
I really have problems when people say, "Well, since we can't solve it, let's not do anything." That's not it either. Because it's one of the things that God calls us to do. What motivates us to do good works? Jesus says, "Let your light so shine so others may see your good works and glorify your Father who lives in heaven." But doesn't the Bible say that we are not saved by works? We are saved by grace. So what's the point of works? Well, the reason I do good works has nothing to do with my salvation. The reason that I do good works has everything to do with the glory of God. It's doxological. I do good works to glorify my Father who is in heaven. The reason that I like to glorify my Father who was in heaven is because I have great gratitude for what he's done for me. So the Christian community, the body of Christ, then needs to be an alternative society as it were that indicts the larger society and points the way toward the ultimate solution, even though we are imperfect at it. That seems to be our role.
But we're not doing that. The problem is that we have conformed to the culture around us. When you enter into cultural captivity, then you end up participating in cultural sin. And that's the problem with the church in America. That's the problem with the church all over the place. If you look at the Bible itself, look at Israel. Those are the people God, and look at the mess they made of things. God had intended Israel to be an international body of people because the temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations. And what do they do? They turned it into a Hebrew holy hill. They were discriminatory against immigrants and the poor, the widow and the orphan, and all the rest of that. So if we in the church can get that vision to say we need to look forward to the cosmic justice that's coming, the ultimate cosmic justice that Jesus is going to bring but live on that basis today, and so be a witness to who Christ is, then we will be functioning correctly. The reason we need to do that, like I said, is not because our salvation depends on it but because it is related to the glory of God. If I don't show gratitude for something, then maybe I don't have something that I claim to have. It seems to me that that's where we need to be, and we need to contextualize it, too.
So, yeah, racism is a horrible thing. The church, the body of Christ, should not participate in racism, whether it is individual racism or institutional racism or systemic racism or whatever. That should not be where we are. But our problem goes all the way back to the early days, back to the Old Testament. We are absolutely saturated with idols. It's the idolatry that gets in our way. We like our style of music. We like our way of doing things. We like our order of service. We don't want to change. You see this all the time. People come to church, and they sit in the same place all the time, all the time. If anybody sits in their spot, some people get incensed about that. When I was a pastor, often before the service started, I would make everybody get up and go to the other side. Make everybody switch seats.
Holmes: I could totally see you doing that.
Ellis: But Calvin said that we are idol making factories, and that's our problem. That's where our problem is. The best way to protest is to live a life that's contrary to the sin that surrounds you. That seems to be the approach that we should take. Karen and me, we go around trying to help people understand that, that it's all about being the people of God and approximating and demonstrating what the ultimate solution is, even though we do it in an imperfect way. We're not going to be perfect; we're going to have a lot of failings. But we should be redemptive though. That's the thing.
Holmes: So I fear that—this is sort of summarizing our conversation—unless we become Bible people and we understand how to use the Bible to answer the core concerns of the oppressed as well as the oppressors . . . . Many people were born into a world where they were part of the dominant culture, and they have questions about what does that mean regarding their status with the holy God, and their status with their relationship with those who are in the subdominant culture, who might be marginalized or oppressed. They're trying to figure this stuff out, just like those who are a part of the subdominant culture and are marginalized and oppressed. When you have earnest people who are asking questions, we have to make sure that we're pointing them to Scripture first and foremost.
I had a brother when all of this went down, a white brother, a good friend of mine. He reached out to me and he said, "Hey, I'm preaching on racism tomorrow. Any recommendations?" My recommendations were simple: stay close to the text.
Ellis: That's it. Peach the Word.
Holmes: Stay close to the text, talk about it, deal with it. But make sure you're dealing with it within the context of Scripture. Otherwise, if you start pulling on Dr. Ellis's book, your people in the church don't know Dr. Ellis. I often find my white brothers and sisters, when they're trying to address these issues, they're always quoting these other books. Don't get me wrong: extra-biblical material and resources are profoundly helpful. But when you are teaching other people, especially Christians, you need to go at them with the Scriptures. They need the text.
So Dr. Ellis, in all of those final words, what are some of the things that came to mind as I was kind of talking through some of those things.
Ellis: You said it all. The Scriptures has got to be where we start. Everything that we do and think and say has got to be disciplined and critiqued by the Scripture. It shouldn't be the other way around. If you're not biblical, then you're not sound. The Bible is God's Word for crying out loud. It's the ultimate in wisdom. God wouldn't go through the trouble of giving us a Word that would have mistakes in it and all the rest of that. It is where we need to be. It is far more radical, let's say, than all of these ideologies out here. There's nothing more radical than transformation, and the Scripture has a transformative message. And we just have to do that.
I get the question, some people say, "Well, do you believe in white guilt?" Of course I believe in white guilt. You know why? Because the Bible says all of us are guilty. There's black guilt, there's green guilt and brown guilt. One of the things I have to tell my brothers and sisters who are in the "dominant culture" is that there's no sin in being born in the dominant culture. Some people want to make that a sin in and of itself. No, the real issue is: you have no control over where you were born. The question is, what are you going to do with it? As an African American, I have certain advantages that my white brothers and sisters don't have. So how am I going to use those advantages? I'm going to use those advantages for the glory of God. That's what I'm going to do. Whatever situation I'm born into, in a sense, it's a gift that God has given me to use for the furtherance of his kingdom. If we don't do that, then we are squandering what God has given us.
We have to think of ourselves as the body of Christ, and that supersedes every other affinity group we have.There are people that I needed to talk to that I couldn't talk to. A white person could do it, but I couldn't do it, because of the situation. And vice versa: there are some people that they wanted to talk to, but they couldn't because I had the inside track and they didn't. So we worked like that. We worked together that way for the furtherance of the kingdom of God, not for the furtherance of any earthly cause. It's for the kingdom.
Now, we have to be careful, though. We have to think of ourselves as the body of Christ, and that supersedes every other affinity group we have. My ultimate ethnicity, if you want to call it this, is that of being in Christ. My blackness, as wonderful as it is and everything, my ultimate identity is my identity in Christ. My Black identity, like I said, it's a wonderful thing. I'm very proud of it. But it can only have fulfillment as a secondary identity at best, because blackness cannot bear the full freight of my humanity. There's a whole lot more to me than my blackness. But being in Christ, he's the perfect human being, and if my identity is in him, that identity carries the full weight of my humanity. It's the fulfillment of what my humanity is all about. It's bigger than me.
That's one of the problems today: we get into these limited identities. We try to make them absolute, and then we build politics around it. We get identity politics. I understand what identity politics is all about, but it's inadequate if we're going to make any progress and bring glory to God. We have to be very careful about that.
Now, there's a lot of times that people in the dominant group will say, "OK, yes, we need to be the body of Christ, as long as you follow the dictates of the dominant culture." Well, no, no, no, no, no. That's not the point. I'm not going to conform to a particular culture. I'm going to conform the truth of the Word of God, whether it agrees or disagrees. There are things that some of my Black brothers or sisters or some of my fellow African Americans are into that I'm not into because it disagrees with Scripture. There are some things that I'm into because it agrees with Scripture. It's the same thing. If it agrees with Scripture, I'm with it. If it disagrees, then I'm not. So that's my ultimate reference point.
Holmes: Dr. Ellis, thank you so much for joining us today. I always enjoy talking to you and always enjoy learning from you.
Thank you for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed this week's episode featuring Dr. Carl Ellis. I would like to thank the RTS family, church partners, students, alumni, and donors for the many ways you make the work of Reformed Theological Seminary possible. The clip we listened to earlier is from our weekly video series, Wisdom Wednesday, where relevant matters of the Christian faith are addressed by RTS faculty and friends with truth, candor, and grace. Access our entire archive or submit a question at rts.edu/wisdom-wednesday.
Mind + Heart is powered by Reformed Theological Seminary, where we desire to raise up pastors and other church leaders with a mind for truth and a heart for God. Thank you.
Dr. Carl Ellis, Jr.
Carl Ellis, Jr. (D.Phil., Oxford Graduate School) is the Provost's Professor of Theology and Culture for the RTS institution, as well as the Assistant to the Chancellor and Senior Fellow of the African American Leadership Initiative. You can follow him on Twitter.


Resources for Exploring Systemic Racism
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Community, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Equity Task Force Decolonizing Global Health Resources for Exploring Systemic Racism
Introduction Reading Watching & Listening Resources from Duke Suggestions for Being an Ally Organizations & Training Resources Resources on the History of Durham
Racism is woven into the fabric of American life, both overtly and subtly; within its institutions and policies. It divides us by delegating power and defining stations of superiority and inferiority.
The United States has an immutable history of injustice and violence against Black people, and the effects of systemic racism towards Blacks also extend to other people of color.
Racism affects us all because it dehumanizes us all. But it is our hope is that by sharing resources — books, articles, podcasts, videos, and training opportunities — we, as individuals will:
EDUCATE ourselves about current and historical events of racial divide.
EXAMINE our own actions and how they play into racial inequity.
JOIN IN CONVERSATIONS. Be honest, genuine. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know."
LISTEN with the intent to listen.
This list is only a starting place. It is a living document that we'll be updating regularly and we encourage your suggestions and thoughts.
Racism affects us all because it dehumanizes us all. Through education, examination and active listening, we can challenge ourselves to do better.
Kimberly McNeil, Diversity & Inclusion Director at DGHI and Associate Director for the Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Books on Racism by Joe Feagin
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl
Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Racial Contract by Charles W. Mills
To Live Woke: Thoughts to Carry in Our Struggle to Save America by Dr. Rupert Nacoste
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Eyeseeme.com, children's bookstore with books that promote positive images and stories about African American culture and history.
Loyalty Books, a family-owned DC-based bookstore with diverse books and events.
ARTICLES & BLOGS:
5-Decade-Long Friendship That Began with a Phone Call. An NPR.com article about the enduring friendship between NPR reporter Nina Totenberg and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Coronavirus News for Black Folks. A monthly curated round-up of stories and news produced by @SpeakPatrice that is focused on coverage related to how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacts the Black community.
For Black Scientists, the Sorrow is Also Personal. Op-ed by Kafui Dzirasa, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and biomedical sciences at Duke. This article was originally published in Cell Press and was reprinted in Duke Today.
Telling the Truth About Race. Blog by Don Taylor, Duke professor of public policy.
The History Behind "When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts." NPR article by Barbara Sprunt.
The Link Between Experiences of Racism and Stress and Anxiety for Black Americans. An article by Jessica Graham-LoPresti, Tahirah Abdullah, Amber Calloway and Lindsey West.
Anti-Racism Resources for Students and Professionals in Healthcare An article on the Nursing License Map website.
Risk of Police-Involved Death by Race/Ethnicity and Place, by Frank Edwards, Michael H. Esposito and Hedwig Lee, American Journal of Public Health
Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth, Race Ethnicity and Education, byTara J. Yosso
Watching & Listening
13th. Netflix documentary by Ava DuVernay highlighting the criminalization of African Americans and the racism and injustice within the U.S. prison system. Now also available for free viewing on YouTube.
"A Riot is the Language of the Unheard" Martin Luther King Jr. Explained 53 Years Ago, in The Week
Durham: A Self-Portrait. Sensationalized in national media and misunderstood in its own region, Durham, NC, has played a historic role in the story of race and class in the American South.
Justice Ginsburg on Public Interest Law. A 2017 C-SPAN interview with US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who talked about her life, legal career, equality and social justice.
Let the Fire Burn. PBS documentary film recounting the May 13, 1985, tragedy in Philadelphia.
RBG. Documentary film about the life and career of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who developed a breathtaking legal legacy and became a pop culture icon.
Skin. Award-winning short film about a young man, raised by racist skinheads and notorious among white supremacists, who turns his back on hatred and violence with the help of a black activist and the woman he loves.
The Other America. A recording of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech.
Brene Brown and Aiko Bethea on Inclusivity at Work: The Heart of Hard Conversations.
Zora's Daughters. A society and culture podcast that uses Black feminist anthropology to think about race, politics, and popular culture. Producers Alyssa A.L. James and Brendane Tynes dig deep into social issues in an accessible and entertaining way with the aim of empowering listeners to develop the tools and language that sparks conversations and change.
Follow #BlackintheIvory on Twitter. The hashtag is being used by academics to express thoughts, emotions and solutions to dealing with racism in academic institutions in the U.S. and around the world.
Resources from Duke
Living While Black: Raw Discussions on Race at Duke. A daylong virtual event attended by 6,300 Duke community members. Research and personal narratives were shared about the impact of racism and how to create change.
Vice Provosts Mary Pat McMahon and Gary Bennett released a joint message detailing Duke's next steps to address racism on campus.
Dean Paula McClain's announcement of her plan for The Graduate School at Duke.
Chancellor Washington and President Price address recent tragedies.
Duke Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) remote support.
Let's Embrace Duke's Entire History. Duke University Archivist Val Gillispie writes in Duke Magazine about the complexity of loving the university and acknowledging its history.
Suggestions for Being an Ally
Listen to, receive, and believe the truth and hurt of People of Color when they relay incidents of racism and bigotry.
Spend time in diverse places and build meaningful, honest relationships with People of Color.
Invest in intentional anti-racist education.
Search these topics to learn more: Race-Based Traumatic Stress, the Biopsychosocial Model of Racism as a Stressor, and Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs) studies, such as the one in Philadelphia.
Organizations & Training Resources
• Training: Racial Equity Institute (REI) Training
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Organizing Against Racism (ROAR)
Resources on the History of Durham
• Durham, a Self-Portrait, a book by Steven Channing and the accompanying website and documentary
• Durham 150 website


The Free Library > Business and Industry > Business > NBER Reporter > March 22, 2003
The Free Library > Science and Technology > Economics > NBER Reporter > March 22, 2003
The Free Library > Date > 2003 > March > 22 > NBER Reporter
Economic Fluctuations and Growth. (Bureau News).
<a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Economic+Fluctuations+and+Growth.+(Bureau+News).-a0101862546
MLA style: "Economic Fluctuations and Growth. (Bureau News).." The Free Library. 2003 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 22 Jan. 2020 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Economic+Fluctuations+and+Growth.+(Bureau+News).-a0101862546
Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. Economic Fluctuations and Growth. (Bureau News).." Retrieved Jan 22 2020 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Economic+Fluctuations+and+Growth.+(Bureau+News).-a0101862546
APA style: Economic Fluctuations and Growth. (Bureau News).. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jan 22 2020 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Economic+Fluctuations+and+Growth.+(Bureau+News).-a0101862546
The NBER's Program on Economic Fluctuations and Growth met in San Francisco on February 7. Fernando Alvarez, NBER and University of Chicago, and Robert King, NBER and Boston University, organized this program:
Andrew Ang, NBER and Columbia University; Monika Piazzesi, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles; and Min Wei, Columbia University, "What does the Yield Curve Tell us about GDP Growth?"
Discussant: Urban Jermann, NBER and University of Pennsylvania
Susan Athey, NBER and Stanford University; Andrew Atkeson, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles; and Patrick J. Kehoe, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, "The Optimal Degree of Discretion in Monetary Policy" Discussant: Lawrence Christiano, NBER and Northwestern University
Boyan Jovanovic, NBER and New York University, and Peter L. Rousseau, NBER and Vanderbilt University, "Mergers as Reallocation" (NBER Working Paper No. 9279) Discussant: Andrew Atkeson
Marcelo Veracierto, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, "On the Cyclical Behavior of Employment, Unemployment and Labor Force Participation"
Discussant: Robert E. Hall, NBER and Stanford University
Yongsung Chang, University of Pennsylvania, and Sun-Bin Kim, Concordia University, "From Individual to Aggregate Labor Supply: A Quantitative Analysis Based on a Heterogeneous Agent Macroeconomy"
Discussant: Thomas E. MaCurdy, NBER and Stanford University
Aubhik Khan, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and Julia K. Thomas, University of Minnesota, "Inventories and the Business Cycle: An Equilibrium Analysis of (S,s) Policies"
Discussant: Valerie A. Ramey, NBER and University of California, San Diego.
Ang, Piazzesi, and Wei build a dynamic model for GDP growth and yields that completely characterizes expectations of GDP. The model does not permit arbitrage. Contrary to previous studies, this paper concludes that the short rate has more predictive power than any term spread. The authors confirm this finding by forecasting GDP out-of-sample. The model also recommends the use of lagged GDP and the longest maturity yield to measure slope. Greater efficiency enables the yield-curve model to produce superior out-of-sample GDP forecasts than unconstrained ordinary least squares at all horizons.
Athey, Atkeson, and Kehoe analyze monetary policy design in an economy with an agreed-upon social welfare function that depends on the randomly fluctuating state of the economy. The monetary authority has private information about that state. In the model, well-designed rules trade off society's desire to give the monetary authority flexibility to react to its private information against society's need to guard against the standard time-inconsistency problem arising from the temptation to stimulate the economy with unexpected inflation. The authors find that the optimal degree of monetary policy discretion is decreasing in the severity of the time-inconsistency problem. As this problem becomes sufficiently severe, the optimal degree of discretion is zero. They also find that, despite the apparent complexity of this dynamic mechanism design problem, society can implement the optimal policy simply by legislating an inflation cap that specifies the highest allowable inflation rate.
Jovanovic and Rousseau argue that takeovers have played a major role in speeding up the diffusion of new technology. The role of takeovers is similar to that of entry and exit of firms. The authors focus on and compare two periods: 1890-1930, during which electricity and the internal combustion engine spread through the U.S. economy, and 1971-2001, the Information Age.
Veracierto evaluates how well a real business cycle (RBC) model that incorporates search and leisure decisions simultaneously can account for the observed behavior of employment, unemployment, and being out of the labor force. This work contrasts with the previous RBC literature, which analyzed employment or hours fluctuations either by lumping together unemployment and out-of-the-labor-force into a single non-employment state or by assuming fixed labor force participation. Once the three employment states are introduced explicitly, Veracierto finds that the RBC model generates highly counterfactual labor market dynamics.
Chang and Kim investigate the mapping from individual to aggregate labor supply using a general equilibrium heterogeneous-agent model with an incomplete market. They calibrate the nature of heterogeneity among workers using wage data from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics. The gross worker flow between employment and nonemployment, and the cross-sectional earnings and wealth distributions in the model, are comparable to those in the micro data. The authors find that the aggregate labor supply elasticity of such an economy is around one, bigger than micro estimates but smaller than those often assumed in aggregate models.
Khan and Thomas develop an equilibrium business cycle model in which final goods' producers pursue generalized inventory policies with respect to intermediate goods, a consequence of nonconvex factor adjustment costs. Calibrating the model to reproduce the average inventory-to-sales ratio in postwar U.S. data, the authors find that it explains half of the cyclical variability of inventory investment. Moreover, inventory accumulation is strongly procyclical, and production is more volatile than sales, as in the data. The model economy exhibits a business cycle similar to that of a comparable benchmark without inventories, although the authors do observe somewhat higher variability in employment and lower variability in consumption and investment. Thus, equilibrium analysis, which necessarily endogenizes final sales, alters our understanding of the role of inventory accumulation for cyclical movements in GDP. The presence of inventories does not substantially raise the variability of production, because it damp ens movements in final sales.
COPYRIGHT 2003 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
list of papers discussed at the February 7, 2003 National Bureau of Economic Research meeting
NBER Reporter
Entrepreneurship. (Bureau News).
Industrial Organization. (Bureau News).
United States economic conditions
Business cycles.
The seasonal cycle and the business cycle.
Economic fluctuations.
Seasonal fluctuations and business cycles.
U.S. Economic Expansion Longest on Record: Can the "New Economy" Take the Credit?
China rolls along.
Montana avoided U.S. economic travails of 2001-2003: the Montana outlook.
The conference on research in income and wealth.


HAAM Day, beer fest and more events to enjoy this week
Arianna Auber
aauber@statesman.com
1. HAAM Day
6 a.m. Sept. 24. Most shows are free; donations accepted. Various locations. myhaam.org
The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians holds its biggest annual fundraiser with music all over town all day long, from clubs and record stores to restaurants and coffee shops to grocery stores and pharmacies to bank lobbies and even Austin City Hall. Rob Mahoney kicks things off at 6 a.m. at the downtown Whole Foods. Highlights include a "Latinapalooza" show at Scoot Inn in memory of Theresa Jenkins with Bidi Bidi Banda, Lesly Reynaga, Tiarra Girls, Leti Garza and Patricia Vonne; Grammy winner Shawn Colvin (5 p.m.) and pop singer Madison McWilliams (1 p.m.) at Waterloo Records; and a KUTX show at the Four Seasons with Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis and Sir Woman. There will be more than 100 other performances around town. — Peter Blackstock
2. 5.12K Run to Brunch
7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sept. 22. $5-$65. Vic Mathias Shores, 900 W. Riverside Drive. eventbrite.com/e/512k-run-to-brunch-registration-64011938431
What could be better motivation than the finish line for running a race? If that finish line is brunch. Keep Austin Weird's 5.12K Run to Brunch starts off with 5K or 10K races. At the end of them is the Finish Line Expo with such activities as tug-of-war, a Texas Roller Derby kick-off and a performance by the Travis High School Rebel Drumline. Plus, of course, there will be brunch cocktails and small plates from restaurants including Eberly and Grizzelda's.
3. Scholz Garten's Autumn Equinox Celebration
6 to 11 p.m. Sept. 23. $12. 1607 San Jacinto Blvd. eventbrite.com/e/autumn-equinox-celebration-tickets-69801645601
Welcome fall the way Austinites do with every season — with live music. The Autumn Equinox celebration is the second in a series of four shows over the next 12 months occurring every solstice and equinox. All of them feature the Matt Gilmour Band, with additional performances, from Redd Volkaert and others, curated by Gilmour. The Austin-based nonprofit Earthbound Astronomers will be on hand with telescopes for night sky viewing and additional demonstrations.
4. Banned Books Bash
7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 25. $15. Spider House Cafe and Ballroom, 2908 Fruth St. facebook.com/events/354686742152108
The Library Foundation's annual Banned Books Bash, thrown in conjunction with American Library Association's Banned Books Week, returns as a slightly raucous variety show celebrating the freedom to read whatever we please. Hosted by Evan Narcisse, writer for Marvel's "Black Panther" series, the night will have several fun activities. There will be an homage to Toni Morrison, a drag queen storytime, banned books trivia and more.
5. "Holmes and Watson"
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 29, with additional 2 p.m. matinees Sept. 21 and 28. $17-$34. 6001 Airport Blvd. austinplayhouse.com
Austin Playhouse celebrates its 20th anniversary season by revisiting two beloved characters in literature. In this production, John Watson receives a telegram three years after Sherlock Holmes went over a waterfall with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, that suggests Holmes might not really be dead after all. Watson is compelled to investigate, and a web of intrigue, murder and suspense begins to unravel.
6. ATX Asian Night Market
5 to 11 p.m. Sept. 27-28. $5-$10. Austin American-Statesman, 305 S. Congress Ave. austinnightmarket.com
ATX Night Market is inspired by the famous open-air nighttime bazaars of Asia, where people from all backgrounds come together to eat, drink and socialize. Expect something similar at this large foodie event, which will have street food from a variety of vendors as well as games, live music and crafts. Tickets, available via Eventbrite, include $10 two-day passes. Buying tickets at the door is possible, but expect lines and bring cash.
7. Texas Craft Brewers Festival
2 p.m. Sept. 28. $15-$90. Fiesta Gardens, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia St. texascraftbrewersfestival.org
The Texas Craft Brewers Festival is routinely one of the best ways to get a taste of the state's thriving beer industry. This year, nearly 80 breweries will offer almost 200 beers at Fiesta Gardens on Saturday (and that's not even counting the 27 more that are part of the rotating tap list, the rarer stuff that releases at certain times throughout the day). Taste your way through your favorites; there will also be food trucks, live music and more.


An impressive movie portraying the estrangement of two people caused by social media
Set in the near future, Rebecca and Kevin are in a relationship in a world where only digital contact exists. Rebecca wants to go back to basics and seeks non-digital contact with Kevin. This proves to be difficult, because how do you seduce someone without typing…?
Still from the film I<3 U VR
Director Mark Stevens
The festival of filmfestivals
Launch: September 2014
Organisation and director: Mark Stevens
Director and producer Mark Stevens
Kevin Jakob Nieuwenhuijsen
Rebecca Frederike Migom
Camera Mark Lindenberg
Lighting Julian Wunderle
Sound design Timothy van Nieuwenhuysen
Editing and special effects Tim Prudon
Music Daniele Tucci
Each year various entrepreneurial spirited young adults come to CODE043 for help. In most cases their talent is not left unrecognised. 'I <3 U 4VR', the debut of director and producer Mark Stevens was shown at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival in the Short Film Corner. The movie was produced in cooperation with CODE043 and architect Mathieu Bruls. This is probably not the first and last time you will see the work of this young director. Plans are in the works for a sequel, so stay tuned!
"Two years ago I wanted to create a short movie based around the estrangement of people caused by social media. It seemed a logical step to contact CODE043, where I was warmly welcomed. They helped me out whenever I needed guidance and were always around to give new and interesting insights. This helped me to get the movie to a higher level. Even better still, my creation was shown at the Cannes Fim Festival, which I would never been able to do without the help of CODE043!
– Mark Stevens
More information about this young director:
Interview I Heart Cinema
1Limburg
L1 Avondgasten


New India presents itself to the world with self-confidence and aspirations of development: PM Modi
Published By : Admin | November 12, 2022 | 16:04 IST
Dedicates Fertilizer plant at Ramagundam
"Experts around the world are upbeat about the growth trajectory of Indian economy"
"A new India presents itself to the world with self-confidence and aspirations of development "
"Fertilizer sector is proof of the honest efforts of the central government"
"No proposal for privatization of SCCL is under consideration with the central government"
"The Government of Telangana holds 51% stake in SCCL, while the Central Government holds 49%. The Central Government cannot take any decision related to the privatization of SCCL at its own level"
Greetings to everybody!
Governor of Telangana Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan ji, my colleagues in the Union Cabinet Shri Kishan Reddy ji and Bhagwanth Khuba ji, my fellow parliamentarians Bandi Sanjay Kumar ji and Shri Venkatesh Netha ji, other dignitaries, brothers and sisters!
My respectful greetings to the whole of Telangana from the land of Ramagundam! I was told and I was also watching on the TV screen that thousands of farmer brothers and sisters from 70 assembly constituencies of Telangana are also associated with us in this program. I also welcome all those farmer brothers and sisters.
Today, development projects worth more than Rs 10,000 crore for Telangana have been either inaugurated or their foundation stones laid. These projects are going to give a boost to both agriculture and industry here. Along with a fertilizer plant, a new rail line and a highway, industries will also expand. These projects will create new employment opportunities and improve the Ease of Living of common man in Telangana. I congratulate the countrymen and the people of Telangana for all these projects.
The entire world has been battling the Corona pandemic for the last two-and-a-half years. On the other hand, the ongoing conflicts, tensions and military operations are also affecting the country and the world. But in the midst of these adversities, today we are hearing one more thing prominently all over the world. All the experts of the world are saying that India will become the third largest economy in the world very soon and India is moving rapidly in that direction. All the experts are also saying that the amount of growth that happened in the 30 years after the 90s is going to happen in just a few years from now. After all, why do the world and the economic pundits have so much faith in India today? The biggest reason for this is the changes that have happened in India in the last eight years. The country has changed the old ways of functioning in the last eight years. There has also been a change in the thinking about governance as well as the approach in these eight years. Be it infrastructure, government processes or Ease of Doing Business, these changes are driving the Aspirational Society of India. A new India aspiring to develop and full of self-confidence is before the world.
Development for the country is a 24-hour, 7 days and 12 months mission for us. When we launch one project, we start working on many new projects simultaneously. We are experiencing this here today as well. And it is also our endeavor that the work for the project for which the foundation stone is laid should be done expeditiously and it should be completed quickly. This fertilizer factory in Ramagundam is one such example. Its foundation stone was laid in 2016 and today it has been dedicated to the nation.
The India of the 21st century can move forward only by setting big goals and achieving them fast. And when the goals are big, new methods have to be adopted and new systems have to be developed. Today, the Central Government is sincerely engaged in this effort. The country's fertilizer sector is also witnessing this. We have seen that the country used to import fertilizers from foreign countries for the last few decades. The factories which were set up to meet the demand of urea were also closed due to obsolete technology. And this included the fertilizer factory in Ramagundam. Apart from this, there was another huge problem. Instead of reaching the farmers, the expensive urea imported from abroad was siphoned to illegal factories stealthily. As a result, farmers had to stand in queues overnight for urea and at times had to face sticks. Farmers faced the same problem every year, every season before 2014.
The first thing the Central Government did in this regard was 100 percent neem coating of urea after 2014. This stopped the black marketing of urea. The urea which used to reach the chemical factories also stopped. The farmers did not have the expertise how much urea has to be applied in the field. Therefore, we launched a nationwide campaign to give soil health cards to farmers. The soil health cards helped the farmers to make informed decisions regarding the use of urea and not use urea unnecessarily to increase the yield. Moreover, they also started to understand the nature of the soil.
We also started a huge task regarding self-reliance in urea. It was necessary to restart the five big fertilizer factories of the country which were lying closed for years. Now fertilizer production has started in Gorakhpur in UP. The Ramagundam fertilizer factory has also been inaugurated. When these five factories become operational, the country will start getting 60 lakh tonnes of urea. It means thousands of crores of rupees will be saved from going abroad and farmers will get urea more easily. The Ramagundam fertilizer plant will help farmers in Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. With the opening of this plant, other business opportunities will also be created around the region and work related to logistics and transport will start. In other words, the 6,000 crore rupees that the Central Government has invested here is going to benefit the youth of Telangana much more.
We are laying equal emphasis on new technology to modernize the country's fertilizer sector. India has developed the nanotechnology of urea. The benefit that accrues from one sack of urea is equivalent to one bottle of nano urea only.
The importance of self-sufficiency in fertilizers can be seen in the context of the present global situation. The fertilizer prices increased across the world following the outbreak of Corona and war (between Russia and Ukraine). But we did not burden our farmer brothers and sisters following the increase in prices of fertilizers. It costs the Central Government Rs. 2,000 for every bag of urea which is imported. But the government does not charge Rs 2,000 to the farmers. The Government of India bears the major part of the expenses and the farmers get one fertilizer bag for just Rs. 270. Similarly, a bag of DAP also costs the government about Rs 4,000. But we don't charge 4,000 rupees to the farmers. The government gives subsidies of more than 2,500 rupees per bag to the farmers.
The Indian government has spent about 10 lakh crore rupees to provide cheaper fertilizers to the farmers in the last eight years so that they are not overburdened. Remember this figure, friends, and do tell it to others as well. This year itself, the Central Government will spend more than 2.5 lakh crore rupees to provide cheap fertilizers to the farmers. Two-and-a-half lakh crore rupees! Apart from this, our government has also transferred about 2.25 lakh crore rupees directly to the bank accounts of the farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. When there is a government in Delhi which keeps the interests of the farmers paramount, it takes forward many such projects and works for the betterment of the farmers.
For decades, the farmers of our country were also struggling with another problem related to fertilizers. Such a fertilizer market had developed over the decades that different types and brands of fertilizers were being sold in the market. As a result, farmers used to be cheated. Now the Central Government has also started providing relief to the farmers in this regard. Now there will be only one brand of urea in the country and that is 'Bharat Urea'. Its price as well as its quality has also been settled. All these efforts are proof of how we are reforming the system for the farmers of the country, especially the small farmers.
Another challenge has been the infrastructure of connectivity in our country. Today the country is also taking care of this issue as well. Rapid work is in progress on highways, modern railways, airports, waterways and internet highways in all the states of the country. Now it is getting new energy from the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan. Do you remember what used to happen earlier? Special zones were declared for industries. But it used to take several years for the basic facilities like road, electricity and water to reach there. We are now changing this working style. Now all the stakeholders and agencies involved in the project work together on a defined strategy on infra projects. As a result, the possibility of unnecessary delay in projects is also coming to an end.
The new railway line connecting Bhadradri Kothagudem and Khammam districts is dedicated to your service today. This rail line will not only benefit the local people here, but will also benefit the entire Telangana. This will benefit the power sector and industries of Telangana and create new employment opportunities for the youth. Due to continuous efforts in the last four years, this railway line is ready and its electrification has also been done. There will be reduction in the transportation cost of coal to power plants and pollution will also be reduced.
Today, the widening of three highways has started which will directly benefit the coal belt, industrial belt and sugarcane farmers. Here, our farmer brothers and sisters are also engaged in increasing the production of turmeric. Be it sugarcane farmers or turmeric growers, it will now become easy for them to transport their produce. Similarly, the widening of the road between the coal mines and power plants will provide convenience and will reduce time. The connectivity to Hyderabad-Warangal Industrial Corridor and Kakatiya Mega Textile Park will also improve.
When there is speedy development in the country, some people with a perverted mind and for their political interests start spreading rumours to instigate the people. Similar rumours are being circulated in Telangana these days regarding 'Singareni Collieries Company Limited-SCCL' and various coal mines. And I have heard that it is being instigated from Hyderabad by giving new colours to it. Now that I am amongst you, I would like to share some facts with you. The people spreading this rumour do not even know that their lies will be exposed. Understand the biggest lie and journalist friends who are sitting here should take a closer look at it. The State Government of Telangana holds 51% stake in SCCL, while the Government of India holds only 49% stake. The Central Government cannot take any decision regarding the privatization of SCCL on its own as 51% stake is with the state government. I reiterate that no proposal for privatization of SCCL is under consideration with the Central Government nor does the Central Government have any such intention. And therefore, I urge my brothers and sisters not to pay any heed to such rumours. Let these traders of lies live in Hyderabad.
We have seen scams of thousands of crores of rupees in the country regarding coal mines. The country as well as the workers, the poor and the areas where these mines were located suffered losses due to these scams. Today, keeping in view the increasing demand of coal in the country, coal mines are being auctioned with complete transparency. Our government has also created DMF i.e. District Mineral Fund to give benefits to the people living in the area from where the minerals are extricated. Thousands of crores of rupees have been released to the states under this fund also.
We want to take Telangana forward by following the mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas'. With this belief that we will continue to receive your blessings for the rapid development of Telangana, once again many congratulations to you for the numerous development works. I am very thankful to my farmer brothers who came in such large numbers. Today some people in Hyderabad will not be able to sleep. Thank you.
Speak with me Bharat Mata ki – Jai. Clench your fists and speak with full force:
Neem Coating Urea
Soil Health Card
Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
Ramagundam
National Logistics Policy
Bharat Urea
PM Gati Shakti Master Plan
One Nation One Fertilizer
Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas
Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas
Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas Sabka Prayas
UNGA President Csaba Korosi lauds India's calls for peace amid Ukraine war


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Alpha Boys' School
RSM in JA
Alpha's History
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CELEBRATE KINGSTON IN LONDON! DUB VENDOR REUNION DANCE TO BENEFIT ALPHA INSTITUTE
(London, England) Dub Vendor is a long-standing, and pioneering, London vendor of Ska and Reggae music. In 2006, Time Out magazine termed it "the best source of Jamaican music in Europe". The growth of the online business meant that in 2011 the decision was made to close the store at Clapham Junction and concentrate solely online.
Following requests from patrons, and to mark its 40th anniversary, Dub Vendor will be staging a fund raising reunion dance. Hosted by Daddy Ernie and featuring Tippa Irie as well as other fabulous artists, this event will be in support of Alpha Institute. Please see the flyer below for complete charity details. Tickets are £15.00 plus £1.50 booking fee. £5 from every ticket sold will go to Alpha Institute. Purchase your tickets now on the Dub Vendor website.
LET'S GO! ALL ROADS LEAD TO REGGAE SUMFEST
The Reggae Sumfest road trip from Kingston to Montego Bay is one of the best of the summer. This year there is a whole week of Sumfest dance sessions and activities July 16-22. Click here to buy tickets on the Sumfest site! To get to Montego Bay from Kingston its a quick drive north through the mountains to Ocho Rios, take a left and one and a half hours of seaside towns and long stretches of beach later you've arrived at your destination--the 25th staging of the legendary Reggae Sumfest. The new toll road from Kingston to Ochi is always there for those in a rush. But if you have the time, the old road through Moneague and Fern Gully is the thing to do!
CARNIVAL IN JAMAICA
The first signs of Carnival in Jamaica began in the 1940's with the opening of the University of the West Indies. This happened when the students from the Eastern Caribbean, especially those of Trinidad and Tobago, recreated the festival on campus of the elaborate Carnivals they enjoyed from back home. A tradition that continues on the campus to this day. However, Carnival at the time was still viewed as a foreign concept for the rest of the Jamaican public.
In 1989, the late Jamaican music pioneer, Byron Lee, along with a small band of believers, conceptualized a plan to bring the music, energy and vibe of Trinidad & Tobago's annual Carnival event to Jamaica.
LISTEN. RAE TOWN OLD HITS IS A LOCAL KINGSTON RITUAL
The Rae Town Old Hits dance session now takes place next to the Kingston Cricket Club in Sabina Park every Sunday, starting at 10:30PM. Hundreds of loyal patrons return every Sunday to hear local and international hits as well as rare cuts from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. The entrance charge is JA$200. Listen to a special Rae Town Old Hits tribute below!
Rae Town, a well known fishing community in South East Kingston became the home of Rae Town Old Hits in 1982 when Sister Norma and her husband Bunny Wright hosted Senor Daley for the first sound system event at the Capricorn Inn. This event has developed into a world renowned example of Jamaican culture and its cultural economy. Click here to listen to an audio clip.
JAM ONE SOUND SYSTEM EXPERIENCE
Watch Tony Myers, founder Jam One Sound System and co founder of the Jamaica Sound System Federation, introduce the history and purpose of sound system culture in Jamaica. From making their own speakers to creating the foundation of Jamaica's music industry, the sound system is at the centre of music and entertainment in Kingston and around the island.
The Jam One yard is still where local sounds are built, tuned and repaired. Located in Kingston, near Halfway Tree, Jam One welcomes visitors who want to experience how sound systems are built from the ground up. Visitors may also test how they sound on the microphone on the house sound system, Jam One Sound. For more information contact Alpha Boys School Radio by email alphaboysschoolradio AT gmail DOT com.
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Coombe Keynes (Holy Rood)
Former Church of the Holy Rood, Coombe Keynes (October 2015)
This beautiful church, now sadly redundant, has an interesting thirteenth century tower with a pyramidical roof made of Purbeck stone. Much of the rest of the building reflects the substantial rebuilding carried out in the 1860s under the Dorchester architect John Hicks. The building is now in the care of the Coombe Keynes Trust.
John Hutchins, The History and antiquities of the County of Dorset, 3rd ed., edited by William Shipp and James Whitworth Hodson. Westminster: John Bowyer Nichols, 1861, Vol. 1, pp. 362-363.
J.E. Nightingale, The church plate of the County of Dorset. Salisbury: Bennett Brothers, 1889, p. 60-62 (with plate).
J.J. Raven, The church bells of Dorset [part 2]. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, Vol. XXV, 1904, pp. 33-128 [Coombe bells described on p. 117].
H.B. Walters, Dorset church bells. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Vol. 60, pp. 97-120. [Coombe bells are mentioned on pp. 101, 115].
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol. 2, South-East Dorset. London: HMSO, 1970, pt. 1, pp. 49-50.
John Newman and Nikolaus Pevsner, The buildings of England: Dorset. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, p. 161.
Christopher Scoble, "Coombe Keynes Church: an object lesson in Victorian self help". Dorset: the County Magazine, No. 95, [c. 1981], pp. 4-19.
F.P. Pitfield, Dorset parish churches A-D. Milborne Port: Dorset Publishing Company, 1981, pp. 201-203.
F.P. Pitfield, Purbeck parish churches. Milborne Port: Dorset Publishing Company, 1985, pp. 15-18.
Clive Hannay and John Newth, "Coombe Keynes". Dorset Life, September 1998.
Current church guide (available May 1999):
Coombe Keynes Church: an object lesson in Victorian self help by Christopher Scoble.
This is not a traditional church guidebook but a photocopy of an undated article published in Dorset: the County Magazine, no. 95. The article is copiously illustrated and comprises a history of the parish church, though concentrating on its restoration in the 1860s. The article includes information on the three bells and the fifteenth century silver chalice (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum). The article also prints an interesting drawing of the font made by Thomas Hardy in 1861.
Until the church became redundant, there were three bells in the west tower (Raven, 1904, p. 117):
Angelus [device] Michael [device] Gabriel [device] Maria.
Anthony Bond made me. 1636.
Love God. I. W. 1599.
The Treble
The treble is the oldest of the three bells. Its foundry mark indicates to Walters (1938, p. 101) that it was cast by Thomas Hey in the 14th century. Walters (1912b, p. 196) describes Hey as a man local to Dorset - Dalton (2000, p. 219) suggests Montacute in Somerset - and notes that his other bells remain at Wraxall, Stock Gaylard and Turners Puddle, and also at West Chinnock and Low Ham in Somerset. The Montacute connection is suggested by the inscription on the West Chinnock bell: [device] SANCTE [device] KATERINA [device] DE [device] MONTE [device] ACUTO (Ellacombe, 1875, p. 38).
Founders mark on treble bell at Turner's Puddle (from Raven, 1903, p. 137).
Walters notes that Hey used "a very pretty cross in a quatrefoil, of Early English type" (see above), and that the bell at Wraxall is inscribed "Thomas Hey makede". Raven (1906, p. 206) compares the bells at Stock Gaylard and Wraxall.
The former presents a strange contrast in shape to its fellow just mentioned, the diameter being four-thirds of the height. The A's are all placed sideways - As Thomas Hey "makede" the latter, no doubt he also "makede" the former.
In contrast to the treble, the second bell's inscription tells us both who founded it and its date of casting: "Anthony Bond made me 1636". Very little is known about Anthony Bond , he was the founder of two other bells in the Purbeck area - at Steeple (Raven). He also cast the old tenor at Wimborne Minster that was re-cast in ca. 1910 by Gillett and Johnston.
The Tenor
The third (and heaviest) bell from Coombe Keynes has the inscription "Love God I.W. 1599". I.W. stands for John Wallis, who cast bells at the Salisbury foundry from about 1580 to 1624. By the early twentieth century, 216 of Wallis's bells still remained in Wiltshire and its adjoining counties, 77 of them in Dorset (Walters, 1912a, p. 294). Little is known about Wallis as an individual except for the phrases that he recorded on his bells. The inscription on the Coombe tenor, "Love God" is representative of the types of inscription that he used.
Lukis (1855, p. 46; Lukis, 1857, p. 7) wrote that
There appears to have been an extraordinary demand for his bells; and he seems to have been a man of few words, but of great deeds. A man is known by his works, and a man's character and tone of mind may be known in some measure by his words. If we estimate him by his works, he was a great man; and if we take his laconic epigraphs as an index of his heart, he was a trustful, religious character - "In the Lord do I trust"; "Give thanks to God"; "God be our guide"; "Praise God"; "Hope well", "Serve God"; these are some of his short expressive epigraphs.
The earliest Wallis bell that remains in Dorset is the current second at Buckland Newton, dated 1581. His bells remain also in two parishes that adjoin Coombe Keynes, one in East Lulworth and two in Wool (inscribed "Love God IW 1606" and "Praise God IW 1606")
Walters (1912a, p. 295) says that Wallis is noteworthy as the founder of the earliest ring of eight bells in an English parish church, that cast in 1602 for Bishops Cannings (Wiltshire), some of which still remain in the current ring.
All three bells from Coombe are currently on public display in the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.
Dalton, C., 2000, The bells and belfries of Dorset, Pt. 1. Ullingswick, Hereford: Upper Court Press.
Ellacombe, H.T., 1875, The church bells of Somerset to which is added an olla podrida of bell matters of general interest. Exeter: William Pollard.
Hutchins, J., 1876, The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset 4, 3rd edn, ed. W. Shipp and J.W. Hodson. Westminster: J.B. Nichols.
Lukis, W.C., 1855, On church bells: with some notices of Wiltshire bells.Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 2, 40-82.
Lukis, W.C., 1857, An account of church bells: with some noticies of Wiltshire bells and bell-founders. London and Oxford: J.H. Parker.
Lukis, W.C., 1859, History of Salisbury bell-foundry. Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 141-150.
Raven, J., 1903, The church bells of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 24, 103-148.
Raven, J., 1904, The church bells of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 25, 33-128.
Raven, J., 1906a, The church bells of Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 27, 97-137.
Raven, J., 1906b, The bells of England. London: Methuen.
Victoria County History, Wiltshire.
Walters, H.B., 1912a, The church bells of Wiltshire.
Walters, H.B., 1912b, Church bells of England. London: Oxford University Press.
Walters, H.B., 1938, Dorset church bells. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 60, 97-120.
Former Church of the Holy Rood, Coombe Keynes in the snow (January 2010)
Maintained by Michael Day, Last updated: 11 January 2016.


Home Brand Architecture BMW Welt with three million visitors per year
BMW Welt with three million visitors per year
BMW Welt in Munich (Photo: BMW)
More than three million people come through the doors of BMW Welt every year, making it one of the most visited attractions in Munich and Bavaria. Together with the BMW Museum and BMW Group Classic, it combines the past, present and future of the BMW Group.
At BMW Welt, each brand in the BMW Group receives visitors in its own experience area. Children, teenagers and families can also explore the city and the mobility of the future in the Junior Campus. A comprehensive range of guided tours rounds off the BMW Welt brand experience.
Visitors can discover the BMW and MINI Lifestyle & Accessory flagship store with its vast assortment of high-quality products from the two brands. The four restaurants, which are run in cooperation with a traditional Munich purveyor of fine foods, provide the culinary delights. The two-star EssZimmer restaurant, the domain of top chef Bobby Bräuer, is one of Munich's most fashionable gourmet addresses.
A special experience for BMW customers is to pick up their new car at BMW Welt. They first set their eyes on their new vehicle on the Premiere stage, making this initial contact an unforgettable experience.
BMW Welt is also an exceptional and exclusive event location and provides a unique setting for more than 400 events annually. With its TV and streaming studios the BMW Group Event Forum also offers a fully featured digital event platform.
BMW Group Event Forum
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Barbican offering hybrid events
New Production Board Member for Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand
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Autostadt finishes succesful year in 2019


Early Modern London Theatres
How to Track a Bear in Southwark
REED Team
How to Cite EMLoT
An Introduction to EMLoT
You will better understand and get the most benefit from this website if you read the Introductory paragraphs which follow and the Help section, which explain the kinds of information in the database and how to search it effectively. Because one of our main goals is to help people who want to examine how period documents were used in later writings that inform our understanding of early London theatre history, EMLoT only includes those historical occurrences that got recorded before 1642 and then were copied by others after 1642.
How we know what we know about early London theatres
Most of what we know about the early London theatres, which developed before, during and shortly after the life of Shakespeare, has been passed down to us through a complex process of filtration. Documents written at the time have been selected, copied, adapted, and interpreted over subsequent centuries, and that process has shaped our understanding. In turn, what we do with this received information will determine how future generations view the early theatres.
There is nothing wrong with such a process of filtration: it is both inevitable, and a fit subject in its own right for cultural history. On occasion, it may even preserve lost originals through copying. At its best, the filtration process is called 'scholarship', and even at its worst, it still reveals the attitudes of those who did the filtering. But we need to be aware of its methods and effects if we are fully to comprehend why we think as we do about the early London theatres. Admittedly, being aware of this filtration does not permit us to escape the cultural limits which define our interpretations any more than those earlier writers who passed on original documents about the theatres could escape the cultural limits of their own time. But, while we cannot be innocent, we need not be naïve, and this database, amongst other things, is designed to prevent naïvety by revealing the filtration process at work. It helps to show us what we know about the early London theatres, and how and when we came to know it.
This database does not include everything that ever happened in or to the early modern London theatres and the people who had dealings with them – it only includes those historical occurrences that got written about before 1642 in documents that then also got recopied by others after 1642. If this sounds rather disappointingly narrow, think about the countless events that happen in one's own life. Only some of them get noticed; fewer still get remembered, even by oneself; fewer still generate written records (even one's diary doesn't contain everything) and fewer still of these written records will be recognised as sufficiently important to get copied down again by other people. And so in 500 years time, what will remain of all the things which happened in one's life? If one is lucky, some of the original documents will have survived, together with those later documents which copied them out. So, if people 500 years from now were to ask themselves what had happened in your life, the big events would not be what actually happened to you, they would be the documents. The documents would be the only 'events' left, and that is the kind of 'event' that this database includes.
How EMLoT helps
By identifying Sources
The core function of the Early Modern London Theatres (EMLoT) database is to show how information produced at the time of the early London theatres was transmitted in later years.
Consequently, the database only includes information from Primary Sources, that is documents written before 1642, which were subsequently seen and transcribed (copied) by writers in Secondary Sources, that is documents written after 1642. In this way, the database both provides information which was contemporary with the early theatres and also identifies the means by which that information came to be known more widely in the centuries afterwards.
Of course, one Primary Source might have its information transcribed in more than one Secondary Source, and the same Secondary Source could transcribe more than one Primary Source. The database manages and reveals both situations.
The database describes where in the Primary or Secondary sources you will find the relevant information about the early London theatres, and it describes each source, whether Primary or Secondary, exactly, so that you can cite all its publication details. This includes its original title and how it is now known; its short and full title; its author(s); where it can be consulted in full, including its presence in any digitised collection; whether it is now lost or can be considered a forgery. All the bibliographical facts necessary for you to identify, describe, access and record a source of information, whether created before or after 1642, are included in the database.
The database also provides a summary and an Abstract of that information in the Primary Source which was subsequently transcribed in the Secondary source. It tells you how the Primary Source was treated by the later transcriber, for example, whether it was copied in full or excerpted, or had its spelling and punctuation updated. By recording transcriptions of every kind, faithful, excerpted, emended or otherwise adulterated, the database enables you to consider not only the frequency with which a primary source was published, but also its various treatments over time, and at the hands of different editors: which documents tend to be preserved whole, and which heavily excerpted; which preserved in facsimile, and which modernized.
By categorising Sources
The database categorises both the Primary and Secondary Sources in considerable detail, so that you know exactly what kind of documents you are dealing with. For example, letters, accounts, and jest books appear among the many categories of Primary Sources; anthologies, diaries, and monographs appear among the rather fewer categories of Secondary Sources. It also tells you whether the Source was produced under the auspices of any institution, listing, for example, the Primary Sources generated by the Court of Chancery or the many Secondary Sources which are the products of single authors with no significant institutional links.
It also tags each source in a more thematic way using a number of helpful descriptors to enable you to refine your searches: for example, it might identify a source as 'anti-theatrical' or 'topographical' or 'parliamentary' in character.
By categorising the information in Sources
The database also categorises the contents of all its sources into the people, the places, the acting troupes, and the events about which they include information. From this you can learn both about the pre-1642 theatres themselves, by accessing the contents of those Primary Sources which were later transcribed, and also about the filtration process through which that original information has come down to us in Secondary Sources: who was involved in passing on that information, what they selected, and when and where they passed it on.
The database also sub-categorises its people, places, troupes and events in a more descriptive way so that, for example, you can look for all events of a particular kind, public disturbances, for instance; or for the different social and situational roles which the same person might have performed in an event, such as a widow who also appeared as plaintiff in a court case; or for the countries of origin of playing troupes, or for all the theatrical information related to a particular London locale, such as St Martin in the Fields. The original historical occurrences about which the Primary Sources recorded information are themselves dated since there could be a considerable delay before they were referred to in the Primary Source document.
By interlinking all information
This database is not only a finding tool, like an Index, or an alphabetical bibliography. It can be used like that: you can conduct a simple Keyword Search for a specific item which you already know you want to study. But by linking up all the categories and sub-categories of its sources, and of the information they contain, the database has enabled you to explore, starting anywhere in the records and discovering how pieces of information are related. This is called a Browse Search. With it you can search and sort any combination of terms while preserving the discrete identity of the Primary Sources in which the information originated and the Secondary Sources through which it passed.
By including a Learning Zone
The database also includes a Learning Zone. This has three distinct areas: first, an Acknowledgements section where we thank those who have permitted us to use their material; second, suggestions for Learning activities and Related projects and sites which you might find useful; and, third, a Workspace where you can select items from the database and put them in an order suitable for your own purposes, such as giving a class presentation. You can save items to this workspace by using the workspace button on each database entry, but you will first have to Register that you want to have a workspace. See 'How do I register for workspace?' in the Help menu.
What EMLoT does not include
Pre-1642 information about the theatres will only appear if a subsequent transcriber has picked it up and passed it on. However, this process of filtration is still going on: if a hitherto-untranscribed pre-1642 Primary Source comes to be transcribed in a Secondary Source, now or in the future, these linked Sources will duly be included in the database.
EMLoT aspires to be a major encyclopedic resource on the early London stage, as well as a comprehensive historiographical survey of the field. However, it does not include every subsequent quotation of a particular Primary Source. Even if such completeness were possible, it would obscure the route by which Primary Sources become known to a wider audience. So the database cites only those Secondary Sources where the database compilers are reasonably confident that the Primary Source was actually seen (in reality or photographic facsimile) before being transcribed — allusions and paraphrases are generally not enough to earn a place in EMLoT!
This database does not include play texts, but, for example, it will reveal which play texts became more widely available through eighteenth-century collections and thus it charts the formation of the canon of early modern English drama. Playtexts can be accessed electronically through other sites such as EEBO and ECCO.
What EMLoT will eventually include
The database has yet to cover the important theatres on the South Bank of the Thames. We would now consider them part of central London but in the period of early English drama they were outside the city limits, just like the theatres of Middlesex which are included in this first version of the database. The Bankside theatres in the historic county of Surrey will be the next group added to EMLoT.
You will find the key terms which are used in the database explained in Help: Key Terms.
You will find explanations of how to conduct a Keyword or a Browse Search in Help, together with a guide on how to search EMLoT most effectively.