Events at The Center for Applied Christian Ethics
The Center for Applied Christian Ethics holds events throughout the year to promote and encourage the formation of moral character and the application of biblical ethics to contemporary moral decisions.
Feature Film: Black + Evangelical
Created by CACE at Wheaton College and Christianity Today
About the Film
Black + Evangelical is a feature-length documentary profiling the history, struggles, and contributions of African American evangelicals.
Taking us to the crossroads of faith and racial identity, Black + Evangelical is filled with candid interviews and eye-opening portraits of the resilient men and women who find themselves straddling the often clashing worlds of Black and white evangelicalism in America.
Black + Evangelical challenges us to hear anew the voices of these men and women, whose unique theological and social journeys have much to say about challenges faced by today's church.
Narrator and co-creator Vincent Bacote, Ph.D., is Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Learn more at the official website.
Would you like to host a screening?
If you are interested in hosting a screening of the Black + Evangelical documentary in the near future, please let us know via this online form. Contact the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at CACE@wheaton.edu.
Racial Justice in Real Life: How do Christians Find Rugged Hope and Create Enduring Change
7:30 – 8:30p.m., Wed., Jan. 21, 2026
Blanchard Hall, Seminar Room 339, 501 College Ave., Wheaton
Come hear stories from two new books about how ordinary Christians faithfully pursue racial justice. Dr. Christine Jeske (anthropology), author of Racial Justice for the Long Haul, and Dr. Karen Johnson (history), author of Ordinary Heroes of Racial Justice, will talk with Dr. Vince Bacote (theology) about what they learned about race, Christianity, and faithful perseverance.
Sponsored by the History Department, the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Urban Studies, and the Center for Applied Christian Ethics.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the History Department at 630.752.5130 or history@wheaton.edu.
Christian Nationalism is Nationalism: Biblical Analogy as Political Theology in Contemporary Zambia
7:30 pm, Mon., Jan. 26 in Blanchard Seminar Room 339, 501 College Ave., Wheaton
By tracing Zambian Christian nationalism’s internal contradictions and tensions, Haynes charts its ultimate failure, which she ascribes in part to institutional opposition from the civil service and Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations. She also points to what she terms its fatal theological flaw, going beyond the usual secular analysis in anthropology to engage with theological critiques of Christian nationalism.
This event is open to the public.
Can I be my full self? How can I move from being a history-reader to a history-maker?
7:00 p.m., Wed., Feb. 4, 2026
Webinar Registration Link
Continuing the conversation of Black + Evangelical with Dr. Vincent Bacote and Ed Gilbreath, creators of Black + Evangelical, Dr. Vanessa Quainoo, Intercultural Engagement Officer at Wheaton College, Jeff Wright, CEO of UMI, and Sho Baraka, editorial director of Big Tent at Christianity Today
Coming this February! Watch Black + Evangelical on YouTube, join the webinar with the creators, and keep learning more with the release of a companion Study Guide, Transcript, and bonus film footage about Wheaton College's Historical Review Task Force.
It's Complicated: Finding a way beyond the binary with Angela Weszely, Founder of ProGrace
7:00 p.m., Mon., March 23, 2026, Lower Beamer Student Center, Phelps, 421 N. Chase St., Wheaton
Conversations about abortion often center on the question: Are you pro-life or pro-choice? What if that's the wrong question? What if conversations about abortion didn’t have to feel so tense, divided, or dehumanizing? What does it mean to affirm the image of God in every person involved? How do we navigate tension we may feel when our deepest Christian values seem to conflict? What would it take for Christian communities to become spaces of empathy, listening, and grace?
Meet the author and book-signing following the discussion.
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Center for Applied Christian Ethics
AI at the Moment
3:30 p.m., Mon., Nov. 3
Memorial Student Center, Classroom 105, 515 Irving Ave., Wheaton
The Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College presents this panel discussion with Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Richard Gibson, Ph.D. and William Struthers, Ph.D.
Come learn about Artificial Intelligence. What developments are on the horizon? What might be especially useful? What are some myths about where AI research and development is at the moment?
Mr. de S. Cameron is former chief executive officer of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies, Dr. Gibson is a Professor of English, and Dr. Struthers is a Professor of Psychology.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jill Caballero at 630.752.5886 or CACE@wheaton.edu.
Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General
7 p.m., Mon., Nov. 3
Blanchard Hall, Room 339, 501 College Ave., Wheaton
The Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College presents "Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General," a book signing by Nigel M. de S. Cameron
Dr. Koop, the evangelical Surgeon General who astonished both supporters and critics as he went after Big Tobacco, led America through the 1980s AIDS crisis, and as an octogenarian helmed DrKoop.com, the world's top healthcare website. The world's most celebrated pediatric surgeon, Koop was invited to Wheaton's 1973 Commencement. In a stunning speech, just months after Roe vs Wade, he launched the evangelical pro-life movement. Eight years later, after his collaboration with Francis Schaeffer had made him America's best-known anti-abortion physician, President Reagan appointed him Surgeon General. Activists on both sides of the abortion debate assumed he would carry on his pro-life speech-making, and were taken aback when he said no. He would focus on issues like smoking (which dropped by nearly one-quarter during his time in office) and then AIDS - where he became an unlikely hero to the gay community. There was talk of tattooing HIV-infected patients or sending them all to Alaska. He said no: God is the judge, I'm a doc and I'll save your lives. Famed ethicist Harold O.J. Brown, a Koop friend but also critic, described him as the most important evangelical in American public life since William Jennings Bryan.
Among a long list of accomplishments, Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D. has experience as President and CEO of start-up companies, served as Provost of Trinity International University, was Commissioner, U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, and written many books, his most recent Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jill Caballero at 630.752.5886 or CACE@wheaton.edu.