KTF Weekly Newsletter: Shoutin' in the Fire, Humane War, Environmental Racism
September 9, 2021
Hey everyone,
If you haven’t yet seen our exciting announcement about our new book project, read about it here or listen to a short audio clip about it here! Thank you so much for all your support, which really did help us get this project off the ground in very meaningful ways. We’re so grateful! And now, without further ado, this week’s resources for leaving colonized faith:
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Essayist, civil rights leader, and son of a preacher, James Baldwin published The Fire Next Time in 1963. It is a lethal and life-giving book in its beautiful and tragic certainty about America and its inhabitants — especially those who are racially assigned Black — which takes the form of a letter to Baldwin’s nephew. In the same powerful vein, Danté Stewart’s forthcoming book, Shoutin’ in the Fire, continues the Black tradition of weaving theology, philosophy, and fable from the margins through prose, story, and exegesis that’s so artful it could be poetry. Our team got to read an advance copy of this book that’s due out on October 12, and you should pre-order your copy here! Our special, off-season episode of Shake the Dust with Danté will be available the week the book comes out!
The host of the Exvangelical podcast, Blake Chastain, claims in the title of a recent article in the Religion News Service, “Evangelicals: You’re still not really listening to what exvangelicals are saying,” and he’s right. Chastain surveys the exvangelical movement, its rapid rise, and its ecosystem. He argues that the resistance to the movement is actually just opposition to prophetic voices, which has been hidden behind assertions of poor biblical literacy or shallow theological reflection. These deflections do not bear witness to the Jesus of scripture but instead to something very different. “To put it bluntly: White evangelicals have long pursued power. They should not be surprised that those harmed by how they wield power have decided to speak truth to it,” is how Chastain closes this pointed piece. It is an exclamation point that should resound in the halls of “Christian” institutions.
Sy’s recommendations:
Sarah Ngu, a journalist, seminary student, and friend of mine, published an article with NBC News yesterday focusing on efforts of Asian-American Christians to fight racism within their churches. She discusses the history of white Christians supporting the demonization of Asian immigrants, anti-racist efforts of Asian-American Christian organizations today, and the pushback from white denominations and pastors. The stories in the article include people whose work you want to follow, and institutional reactions we all should seek to avoid.
In an article in The Guardian adapted from his new book, Yale historian Samuel Moyn recounts the steps taken, primarily by President Obama, to ensure that America’s war on terror could last forever. President Obama’s efforts centered on making the war appear humane, thereby quelling many of the objections to the Bush administration’s way of doing things. Though in truth, Moyn argues, the outcome was the status quo. The article is a close, revealing story of how an imperial power can justify its violence sufficiently to pacify even many who believed themselves to be conscientious objectors.
Suzie’s recommendations:
While I am generally wary of white American nostalgia given the racial history of the United States, this recent Atlantic article by award-winning novelist Silas House does a good job of appealing to our better angels in the debate over masking. The common good has always been an important concept, not only from a religious perspective, but within moral philosophy writ large. Any society that loses sight of this collective value is in danger of falling into anarchy and violence. Surely choosing to wear a mask is the least we can do to demonstrate basic human decency, let alone the kind of love and care for our neighbor to which Christ calls us as His followers. And surely instilling these values in our children is one of the greatest lessons we can pass on to the next generation.
As we mourn over the destruction and devastation that Hurricane Ida left in its wake, it is important to lament, in particular, the disproportionate impact of this natural disaster on communities of color. As climate change continues to dictate the new normal, environmental racism is something that followers of Jesus need to be informed about and active in addressing. While environmental racism is, tragically, a global trend, for those residing in the United States, this Vox article by Angelina Ruiz is a great place to start in educating ourselves about this issue.
Shake the Dust preview
Tomorrow, we have a fascinating interview with Dominique DuBois Gilliard, the Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Evangelical Covenant Church, and author of Subversive Witness: Scripture’s Call to Leverage Privilege. We talk to him about that book; how the Bible discusses privilege; reading Scripture with ideas like privilege, power dynamics, and trauma in mind; how disciples of Jesus leverage privilege for God’s Kingdom; the church’s truncated conception of repentance; and a lot more! Don’t miss it.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!
The KTF Team