He Made Us Think: Rev. Peter Gomes, Harvard Minister, Dies at 68
The life of Reverend Peter J. Gomes, a self-described oddity, may appear to be somewhat of an enigma. Rev. Gomes, widely considered one of the country’s leading preachers, died Monday at 68. Gomes was a gay black Baptist preacher and a registered Republican. And yet, while these seeming contradictions–notably being Christian and gay–are irreconcilable to some, according to Rev. Gomes, his identity was “reconciled in me by a loving God.”
The life of Reverend Peter J. Gomes, a self-described oddity, may appear to be somewhat of an enigma. Rev. Gomes, widely considered one of the country’s leading preachers, died Monday at 68. Gomes was a gay black Baptist preacher and a registered Republican (he became a Democrat in 2006 and supported Deval Patrick for Massachusetts Governor). And yet, while these seeming contradictions–notably being Christian and gay–are irreconcilable to some, according to Rev. Gomes, his identity was “reconciled in me by a loving God.”
When Reverend Gomes spoke to Big Think in 2009, we asked him what he hoped his legacy would be. “He made us think” would be a very nice epitaph, said Gomes:
