Tex Sample
Tex Sample is a specialist in church and society, a storyteller, author, and the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at the St. Paul School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, where he taught from 1967-1999. He has published four books about the working class.
Background
Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Sample received a BA from Millsaps College, an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Boston University, and a DD from Coe College. A former cab driver, laborer, and oil field roustabout, he is a freelance speaker and consultant based in greater Kansas City, MO. A much sought-after lecturer, storyteller, workshop leader and consultant, Tex is a contributor to the DVD programs in the Living the Questions series. His most recent books are Earthy Mysticism, The Future of John Wesley's Theology, and Human Nature, Interest, and Power: a Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's Social Thought.His father named him after Texanna Gillham, an African-American woman who was born in slavery and helped raise his father near Center, Texas.
Books
- Blue Collar Ministry: Facing Economic and Social Realities of Working People, Judson Press, 1984,
- U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches: A Key to Reaching People in the 90's, Westminster [John Knox Press], 1990,
- Hard Living People & Mainstream Christians, Abingdon Press, 1993,
- Ministry in an Oral Culture-Living With Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl, Westminster John Knox Press, 1994,
- White Soul: Country Music, the Church, and Working Americans, Abingdon Press, 1996,
- The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Culture and the Gathered People of God, Abingdon Press, 1998,
- The Loyal Opposition: Struggling With the Church on Homosexuality, Tex Sample and Amy E. Delong, editors, Abingdon Press, 2000,
- Powerful Persuasion: Multimedia Witness in Christian Worship, Abingdon Press, 2005
- Blue Collar Resistance and the Politics of Jesus, Abingdon Press, 2006
- Earthy Mysticism: Spirituality for Unspiritual People, Abingdon Press, 2008
- The Future of John Wesley's Theology: Back to the Future with the Apostle Paul, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012
- Human Nature, Interest, and Power: a Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's Social Thought, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013