Bill Moyers interviews the Reverend Jeremiah Wright in his first broadcast interview with a journalist since he became embroiled in a controversy for his remarks and his relationship with Barack Obama. Wright, who retired in early 2008 as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Senator Obama is a member, has been at the center of controversy for comments he made during sermons, which surfaced in the press in March.

More than 3,000 news stories have been penned since early April about Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama. But behind the five second loop is a man who has preached three different sermons nearly every Sunday since 1972. In his interview on BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, Reverend Wright discusses what drew him to the pulpit and the recent controversy surrounding him.

About Reverend Jeremiah Wright

Jeremiah Wright was raised in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood, his father was a prominent Baptist minister and his mother a respected educator. In the early 1960s, Wright left college at Virginia Union University and signed up for the United States Marine Corps. After his required duty ended, Wright transferred to the Navy and served three more years as a medical technician.

After leaving the Navy, Wright transferred to Howard University in Washington, D.C. to complete his undergraduate degree. He went on to take degrees from Chicago Divinity School and United Theological Seminary. After spending some time teaching religious history, Jeremiah Wright elected to instead pursue "public ministry". Public ministry, as his friend and mentor Martin E. Marty explains, means focusing on: "conventional pastoral roles and carrying the message and work of the church to the public arena."

About Trinity Church

Jeremiah Wright became the pastor of Trinity Church in 1972. At the time, it was a struggling congregation with only 87 members. In his interview on BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, Wright explains that his predecessor, Reverend Dr. Reuben Sheares, coined the phra se "Unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian" to answer a two-fold problem that he felt black Christians faced as African-Americans and Christians: "Blacks coming out of the '60s were no longer ashamed of being black people, nor did they have to apologize for being Christians. Because many persons in the African-American community were t eased enough, Christians, of being a white man's religion. And no, we're not ashamed of Christianity. And we don't have to apologize for who we are as African-Americans." Some aspects of Trinity's philosophy falls within tradition of Black Liberation Theology. James Cone in first laid out in BLACK POWER AND BLACK THEOLOGY in 1969.

Trinity Church has grown in size and scope under Wright's leadership. He and his congregation have made pilgrimages to Africa, welcomed women leaders and gay members and made Trinity a social force with over 70 ministries addressing community needs ranging from youth groups to day care. The Church today boasts a congregation of 8500 members — making it the largest in the otherwise predominately white United Church of Christ denomination.

Published on April 25, 2008.

Guest photo by Robin Holland

© Public Affairs Television 2007

Bill Moyers Interview -- Part 1