Clueless Addiction Recap and Congrats to Rev. Dr. Pam!

Submitted on: 
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - 1:19pm

Minnesota Council of Churches congratulates Co-Director of Racial Justice Rev. Pamela Ngunjiri on becoming Rev. DOCTOR Pamela Ngunjiri upon the completion of her Doctorate of Ministry thesis, "Barriers to Churches Understanding How They Are Impacted by White Supremacy Culture." Rev. Dr. Ngunjiri received her D.Min. certificate in a May ceremony at Bethel University.

 

A newly-minted graduate stands outdoors, posing in her graduation cap and a black t-shirt that reads, in four stacked rows of white text, "Ms. / Maam / Rev. / Rev. Dr." The first three rows are struck through. Below the last row, in cursive, is her name

 

Wasting no time between applying her years of academic research, focus groups and interviews to the on-the-ground work of racial justice in Minnesota churches, Rev. Dr. Ngunjiri led a webinar on June 16 framing white supremacy through the lens of addiction, and prescribing steps for churches to take.

Watch the recording of "Clueless Addiction" below:

 

 

 

Webinar participants repeatedly asked after the books Rev. Ngunjiri cited. Pared down from a list of 28, here are the books and articles she most recommends. The most influential is in bold:

 

  • Gerald G. May, "Addiction and Grace"
  • Carol Anderson, "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide"
  • C. Clifton Black, "The First, Second and Third Letters of John"
  • James H. Cone, "The Cross and the Lynching Tree"
  • Robin J. D'Angelo, "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism"
  • Joe R. Feagin, "The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Framing and Counter-Framing"
  • Willie James Jennings, "Christian Imaginatin: Theology and the Origins of Race"
  • Willie James Jennings, "Whiteness Rooted in Place"
  • Robert P. Jones, "White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity"
  • Timothy McMahon King, "Addiction Nation: What the Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us"
  • Resmaa Menakem, "My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies"
  • Pete Simi et al., "Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual Among Former White Supremacists" (American Sociological Review 82, no. 6 (2017) )
  • Theron D. Williams, "Black Church White Theology: How White Evangelicalism Controls the Black Church"

 

In response to another frequent question, copies of Rev. Dr. Ngunjiri's thesis will be available on the university's D.Min thesis archives once it is formally processed.