Becoming an Anti-Racist Church: Journeying toward Wholeness

by Joseph Barndt (Translator)

Overview

Martin Luther King's observation that 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week remains all too true.

Christians addressing racism in American society must begin with a frank assessment of how race figures in the churches themselves, leading activist Joseph Barndt argues. This practical and important volume extends the insights of Barndt's earlier, more general work to address the race situation in the churches and to equip people there to be agents for change in and beyond their church communities.

A hallmark of Barndt's analysis is his keen grasp of the deep yet checkered legacy that American church and church bodies inherit on this question. Yet Barndt also lifts up the ways in which their prophetic work has proved a catalyst for progress in American race relations, and he clearly shows why and how churches can inculcate an antiracist commitment into their collective lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800664602
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Series:	Prisms
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Joseph Barndt is a Lutheran pastor, community organizer, teacher, and writer in the field of race and racism. He has been an anti-racism organizer for over four decades. Barndt has written several articles and books on racism and race relations, including his two most recent books, Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America and Becoming an Anti-Racist Church: Journeying toward Wholeness, both from Fortress Press.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction: Eleven O'Clock Sunday Morning 1

Setting the Biblical Context: Reclaiming an Anti-Racist Gospel 11

Part I The Past: Racism and Resisting Racism in Church History 23

A Tale of Two Churches 27

Racism in United States Church History 37

Resisting Racism in United States Church History 51

Racism and Resisting Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Church 67

Part II The Present: Racism in the Church Today 83

Race, Prejudice, and Power in the Church 87

Captive Christians in a Captive Church 101

Institutionalized Racism in the Church 115

Cultural Racism and the Multicultural Church 133

Part III The Future: Shaping an Anti-Racist Church 145

God's Call to Become an Anti-Racist Church 153

Getting It Done: The Organizing Task 169

Institutionalizing Anti-Racism in the Church 185

Notes 201

Additional Resources 207

Index 215