On Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, the UCSB MultiCultural Center welcomes Professor Ron Neal to the MCC Lounge, where he will lead a talk titled, “Beyond the Black Messiah: Black Lives & the Limits of Heroism.”

This presentation is concerned with the messianic legacies of the Civil Rights and Black Power eras and the politics of the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement, and it will consider the historical lessons that late 20th century movements offer to present efforts to address race matters in America.

One of the most profound lessons taught by each movement is the significant yet limited reach of messianic heroism. As a singular political morality, messianic heroism has been limited in addressing the depths of race matters in the United States.

The overall pedagogical end of this presentation is to unite and marry contemporary political concerns with resources and insights from the not too distant past.

This free lecture will begin at 6 p.m.

Prof. Neal is a theorist of religion and culture whose primary area of teaching and research is African American Religious Studies.

He also teaches and researches in other areas including world religions, religion and popular culture, religion and political culture and gender studies in religion.

Prof. Neal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Wake Forest University. He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Vanderbilt University.

He is the author of Democracy in 21st Century America: Race, Class, Religion, and Region (Mercer University Press, 2012). He is currently writing a book on Black masculinity, myth, and the Western imagination.

— Carol Dinh is the marketing director for the UCSB MultiCultural Center.