Guide to Anti-Racist Books and Resources

Churches have begun awakening to social and political injustices, often carried out in the name of Christianity. But once awakened, how will we respond? Who Will Be a Witness offers a vision for communities of faith to organize for deliverance and justice in their neighborhoods, states, and nation as an essential part of living out the call of Jesus.

Over the summer of 2013, the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II led more than a hundred thousand people at rallies across North Carolina to protest restrictions to voting access and an extreme makeover of state government. These protests, known as Moral Mondays, have since blossomed in states as diverse as Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York. At a time when divide-and-conquer politics are exacerbating racial strife and economic inequality, Rev. Barber offers an impassioned, historically grounded argument that Moral Mondays are hard evidence of an embryonic Third Reconstruction in America - a profoundly moral awakening of justice-loving people united in a fusion coalition powerful enough to reclaim the possibility of democracy-even in the face of corporate-financed extremism.

This volume features Rev. Barber's most stirring sermons and speeches, with response essays by prominent public intellectuals, activists, and faith leaders. Drawing from the history of social movements in the US, especially the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign, Rev. Barber and the contributors to this volume speak to the most pressing issues of our time, including Black Lives Matter, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, the struggle to protect voting rights, the march for women's rights, and the movement to overcome poverty and unite the dispossessed across all dividing lines. Grounded in the fundamental biblical theme of poor and oppressed people taking action together, the book suggests ways to effectively build a fusion movement to make America fair and just for everyone.

In this book, J. Kameron Carter meditates on the multiple legacies of colonialism and empire, political theories of the state, anthropological theories of the human, and philosophy itself, from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment to the present. His claim is that Christian theology, and the signal transformation it (along with Christianity) underwent, is at the heart of these legacies. In that transformation, Christian anti-Judaism biologized itself so as to racialize itself. As a result, and with the legitimation of Christian theology, Christianity became the cultural property of the West, the religious ground of white supremacy and global hegemony. In short, Christianity became white. The racial imagination is thus a particular kind of theological problem. Not content only to describe this problem, Carter constructs a way forward for Christian theology.

White Catholic theologians have remained relatively silent on the topic of racism since publication in 1979 of the U.S. bishops' statement against racism, Brothers and Sisters to Us. Contributors Jon Nilson, Mary Elizabeth Hobgood, Barbara Hilkert Andolsen, Charles Curran, Roger Haight, Margaret Guider, Margaret Pfeil, and editors Laurie Cassidy and Alex Mikulich all address the issue of white privilege and how it is a significant factor in shaping the evil of racism in our country. Book jacket.

This work by Dr. James Cone (1938-2018), now in a 40th anniversary edition, is his groundbreaking work which laid the foundation for modern black theology. It is a development and application of liberation theology in the context of the black experience in America. Cone reinterprets the whole of Christian theology through this lens, with a new understanding of God, human beings, Jesus Christ, and the people of God.

Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice. The author, Lenny Duncan, a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, urges that it is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges people to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus.

How have Christian theologies of religious superiority underwritten ideologies of white supremacy in the United States? According to Hill Fletcher, the tendency of Christians to view themselves as the "chosen ones" has often been translated into racial categories as well. In other words, Christian supremacy has historically lent itself to white supremacy, with disastrous consequences. How might we start to disentangle the two? Hill Fletcher proposes educational strategies that will help foster racial healing in America, the first of which is to demand of white Christians that they accept their responsibility for racist policies and structural discrimination in America.

In this provocative book, Jennifer Harvey argues for a radical shift in how justice-committed white Christians think about race. She calls for moving away from the reconciliation paradigm that currently dominates interracial relations and embracing instead a reparations paradigm. Harvey presents an insightful historical analysis of the painful fissures that emerged among activist Christians toward the end of the Civil Rights movement, and she shows the necessity of bringing "white" racial identity into clear view in order to counter today's oppressive social structures. A deeply constructive, hopeful work, Dear White Christians will help readers envision new racial possibilities, including concrete examples of contemporary reparations initiatives.

Daniel Hill will never forget the day he heard these words:"Daniel, you may be white, but don't let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins. So it would be a really good idea for you to learn about your culture."Confused and unsettled by this encounter, Hill began a journey of understanding his own white identity. Today he is an active participant in addressing and confronting racial and systemic injustices. In this book, White Awake, he explains the seven stages to expect on your own path to cultural awakening, to understand both personal and social realities in the areas of race, culture, and identity. Throughout the book Hill provides numerous Biblical and theological examples and challenges Christians and the Church to engage with their racial identity and to be forces of repentence, reconcilliation and change.

Today, America is no longer demographically or culturally a majority white, Christian nation. Drawing on more than four decades of polling data, The End of White Christian America explains and analyzes the waning vitality of white christian America. The author argues that the visceral nature of today's most heated issues--the vociferous arguments around same-sex marriage and religious and sexual liberty, the rise of the Tea Party following the election of our first black president, and stark disagreements between black and white Americans over the fairness of the criminal justice system--can only be understood against the backdrop of white Christians' anxieties as America's racial and religious topography shifts around them.

In this work of conservative evangelical theology, Dr. Eric Mason calls the evangelical church to a much-needed reckoning. In a time when many feel confused, complacent, or even angry, he challenges the church to: Be Aware - to understand that the issue of justice is not a black issue, it's a kingdom issue. To learn how the history of racism in America and in the church has tainted our witness to a watching world. Be Redemptive - to grieve and lament what we have lost and to regain our prophetic voice, calling the church to remember our gospel imperative to promote justice and mercy. Be Active - to move beyond polite, safe conversations about reconciliation and begin to set things aright for our soon-coming King.

In this book, Fr. Bryan Massingale, a leading black Catholic moral theologian (Fordham University), addresses the thorny issue of racial justice past and present. In this book he reviews in detail the nature of racism and white privilege, analyzes Catholic social teaching on racism and its inadequate social analysis, and sets out key elements for a more adequate Catholic engagement with racial issues. Fr. Massingale writes from an abiding conviction that the Catholic faith and the black experience make essential contributions in the continuing struggle against racial injustice that is the work of all people.

That They May Be One is an important book exploring the Catholic Church and racism. Part 1 sets out defining core ideas and issues, including definitions of race and racism, the Biblical evidence for slavery and later critique, the support in Catholic teaching and practice for racial justice, and social scientific analysis of prejudice, discrimination and white privilege. Part Two is a global reader of relevant texts from papal and conciliar teaching and from bishops and church bodies from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania. For each document, their is a brief introduction, links to the full text, discussion questions and excerpts from the text.

Throughout his life and ministry, John Perkins has remained determined to seek justice and reconciliation based in Christ's redemptive work. "Justice is something that every generation has to strive for," he says. And despite the setbacks of recent years, Perkins finds hope in the young people he has met all across the nation who are hard at work, bringing about reconciliation in God's name and offering acceptance to all. Dream with Me is his look back at a life devoted to seeking justice for all God's people, as well as a look forward to what he sees as a potentially historic breakthrough for people of every race.

"People of color have endured traumatic histories and almost daily assaults on our dignity. We have prayed about racism, been in denial, or acted out in anger, but we have not known how to individually or collectively pursue healing from the racial trauma." As a child, Sheila Wise Rowe was bused across town to a majority white school, where she experienced the racist lie that one group is superior to all others. This lie continues to be perpetuated today by the action or inaction of the government, media, viral videos, churches, and within families of origin. In contrast, Scripture declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Rowe, a professional counselor, exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future. In each chapter, she includes an interview with a person of color to explore how we experience and resolve racial trauma. With Rowe as a reliable guide who has both been on the journey and shown others the way forward, you will find a safe pathway to resilience.

Equal parts painful and inspirational, The Color of Compromise details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church. It provides an historical survey, including America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today's Black Lives Matter movement. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality.

In America's Original Sin, Jim Wallis offers a prophetic and deeply personal call to action in overcoming the racism so ingrained in American society. He provides a detailed overview of racism in America, from the "original sin" of slavery to the present, examining the destructive legacy of slavery still with us today. He shows how racism is built into the structure of American society and it issues forth in de facto segregation, white privilege, inequality, the criminal justice system, and the church. He speaks candidly to Christians--particularly white Christians--urging them to cross a new bridge toward racial justice and healing. Whenever divided cultures and gridlocked power structures fail to end systemic sin, faith communities can help lead the way to grassroots change.

The idea of the United States as a Christian nation is a powerful, seductive, and potentially destructive theme in American life, culture, and politics. And yet, as Richard T. Hughes reveals in this powerful book, the biblical vision of the "kingdom of God" stands at odds with the values and actions of an American empire that sanctions war instead of peace, promotes dominance and oppression instead of reconciliation, and exalts wealth and power instead of justice for the poor and needy. With extensive analysis of both Christian scripture and American history from the founding of the republic to the present day, Christian America and the Kingdom of God illuminates the devastating irony of a "Christian America" that so often behaves in unchristian ways.

In Wayward Christian Soldiers, Charles Marsh offers a powerful indictment of the political activism of evangelical Christian leaders and churches in the United States. With emphasis on repentance and renewal, this important work advises Christians how to understand past mistakes and to avoid making them in the future. Over the past several years, Marsh observes, American evangelicals have achieved more political power than at any time in their history. But access and influence have come at a cost to their witness in the world and the integrity of their message. The author offers a sobering contrast between the contemporary evangelical elite, which forms the core of the Republican Party, and the historic Christian tradition of respect for the mystery of God and appreciation for human fallibility.

Viewing the Civil War as a major turning point in American religious thought, Mark A. Noll examines writings about slavery and race from Americans both white and black, northern and southern, and includes commentary from Protestants and Catholics in Europe and Canada. Though the Christians on all sides agreed that the Bible was authoritative, their interpretations of slavery in Scripture led to a full-blown theological crisis.

In this now classic work, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, William Stringfellow identifies America as a fallen nation with the parable of Babylon in the Book of Revelation - not with Jerusalem the holy nation, as Americans are naively and vainly wont to do . Dr. Stringfellow issues a trenchant indictment of our American society. Shockingly prophetic, dismaying, and sobering, William Stringfellow's rigorous biblical theology will surely offend the self-righteous. But the citizen of Jerusalem, alien in Babylon, will welcome the bluntness and insight with which he speaks.