Seeking to be Christian in Race Relations


Book Description

Preface-Chapter 1-IN the Beginning God-Chapter 2-The Uniqueness of Man-Chapter 3-Love of God and Love of Man-Inseparable-Chapter 4-A God-Man-Centered Religion-Chapter 5-Race Prejudice-A Wicked Thing-Chapter 6-The Church and Race-Chapter 7-Beyond Knowledge-Chapter 8-Belief in Action-Questions for Consideration and discussion.










Seeking to be Christian in Race Relations


Book Description

Author states that his book "might well be considered a Christian theological basis for a declaration of human rights".




Blacks and Whites in Christian America


Book Description

Conventional wisdom holds that Christians, as members of a “universal” religion, all believe more or less the same things when it comes to their faith. Yet black and white Christians differ in significant ways, from their frequency of praying or attending services to whether they regularly read the Bible or believe in Heaven or Hell. In this engaging and accessible sociological study of white and black Christian beliefs, Jason E. Shelton and Michael O. Emerson push beyond establishing that there are racial differences in belief and practice among members of American Protestantism to explore why those differences exist. Drawing on the most comprehensive and systematic empirical analysis of African American religious actions and beliefs to date, they delineate five building blocks of black Protestant faith which have emerged from the particular dynamics of American race relations. Shelton and Emerson find that America’s history of racial oppression has had a deep and fundamental effect on the religious beliefs and practices of blacks and whites across America.




Talking about Race


Book Description

Conversations about racism are as important as they are hard for American Christians. Yet the conversation often gets so ugly, even among the faithful who claim unity in Jesus. Why is that the case? Why does it matter? Can things get better, or are we permanently divided? In this honest and hopeful book, pastor Isaac Adams doesn't just show you how to have the race conversation, he begins it for you. By offering a fictional, racially charged tragedy in order to understand varying perspectives and responses, he examines what is at stake if we ignore this conversation, and why there's just as much at stake in how we have that discussion, especially across color lines--that is, with people of another ethnicity. This unique approach offers insight into how to listen to one another well and seek unity in Christ. Looking to God's Word, Christians can find wisdom to speak gracefully and truthfully about racism for the glory of God, the good of their neighbors, and the building up of the church. Some feel that the time for talking is over, and that we've heard all this before. But given how polarized American society is becoming--its churches not exempt--fresh attention on the dysfunctional communication between ethnicities is more than warranted. Adams offers an invitation to faithfully combat the racism so many of us say we hate and maintain the unity so many of us say we want. Together we can learn to speak in such a way that we show a divided world a different world. Talking About Race points to the starting line, not the finish line, when it comes to following Jesus amid race relations. It’s high time to begin running.




A Biblical Approach to Racism


Book Description

This is a book of hope; hope for the future and hope for the present. I have seen a cancer in American society grow over the years and I felt the need to address it in the most powerful manner possible, through God. Race relations and racism in my opinion are in a state of regression in the United States. I see and hear things as an American black these days that I never thought I would see and hear in my lifetime. I sense an uneasy calm between the races that does not need to be there, held in place only by the vague concept of political correctness. But the heart is still active and no one knows how it will act next. In addressing racism, in this brief work, I redefine it, explain why it is here and offer solutions for its eradication. I require a trust form the reader and a partnership. Self-less trust is one of the most fundamentally lacking elements in American society today and this is what I request from the reader. The inclination to discriminate because of race comes from a number of sources. I have identified pride, ignorance, fear, jealousy and hatred as some of the key motivations. I have sought to quell these negative emotions through the Bible and in solving these emotions, solve the actions they lead to, including racism. Next I seek to explain, through the Bible, how racism came into being and why it continues to be; then I discuss the victim and racism, what the victim experiences; next I seek to show, still through Bible scripture, how we can curb our worst natures through the Bible; lastly I show how solving racism can lead to solutions to other problems both here in America and in the world. To make this all happen I must have the readers trust and courage. Solving racism is an easy task. It takes only a shedding of self. Selfishness is the biggest obstacle to cooperation and unity.




Of One


Book Description




Slavery's Long Shadow


Book Description

How interactions of race and religion have influenced unity and division in the church At the center of the story of American Christianity lies an integral connection between race relations and Christian unity. Despite claims that Jesus Christ transcends all racial barriers, the most segregated hour in America is still Sunday mornings when Christians gather for worship. In Slavery’s Long Shadow fourteen historians and other scholars examine how the sobering historical realities of race relations and Christianity have created both unity and division within American churches from the 1790s into the twenty-first century. The book’s three sections offer readers three different entry points into the conversation: major historical periods, case studies, and ways forward. Historians as well as Christians interested in racial reconciliation will find in this book both help for understanding the problem and hope for building a better future. Contributors: Tanya Smith Brice Joel A. Brown Lawrence A. Q. Burnley Jeff W. Childers Wes Crawford James L. Gorman Richard T. Hughes Loretta Hunnicutt Christopher R. Hutson Kathy Pulley Edward J. Robinson Kamilah Hall Sharp Jerry Taylor D. Newell Williams




The Death of Race


Book Description

Brian Bantum says that race is not merely an intellectual category or a biological fact. Much like the incarnation, it is a Òword made flesh,Ó the confluence of various powers that allow some to organize and dominate the lives of others. In this way racism is a deeply theological problem, one that is central to the Christian story and one that plays out daily in the United States and throughout the world. In The Death of Race, Bantum argues that our attempts to heal racism will not succeed until we address what gives rise to racism in the first place: a fallen understanding of our bodies that sees difference as something to resist, defeat, or subdue. Therefore, he examines the question of race, but through the lens of our bodies and what our bodies mean in the midst of a complicated, racialized world, one that perpetually dehumanizes dark bodies, thereby rendering all of us less than God's intention.