Racial Harmony
“Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope” by Esau McCaulley
The Pastoral Heart of Reading While Black The title for Esau McCaulley’s book, Reading While Black, is a play on Driving While Black, a sardonic description of racial profiling on America’s roads. Recent research confirms African American anecdotes. By his reckoning, McCaulley has been “stopped somewhere between seven and ten times on the road or […]
The Writings of Phillis WheatleyEdited by Vincent CarrettaOxford University Press, 2019288 pages (hardcover), $125.00 What do we know about Phillis Wheatley? A small poll among my Facebook friends (the thirty-eight who replied) showed that about one-third has never heard of her, over one-third has heard of her but knows little, and less than one-third is […]
Most people I know who are engaged in missions (overseas or at home) seem to reflect one of two orientations: either they are old-school colonial-era missionaries and the nationals who work with them, or they are postcolonial missionaries and nationals. I suggest that both options are a dead end. My conviction is that the only […]
I’m going to make an assumption. It’s risky, but I think I’m on safe ground. I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this, there’s a strong possibility that your world is white—your closest friends are white, your most trusted mentors are white, your pastor is white, the last several books you read were by […]
It’s not exactly a revelation to say that racial tension is part of American existence. The fact that the recent deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Charleena Lyles, and others have elicited such polarizing responses and reactions is evidence of this. The tension isn’t new—the social and legal boundaries separating black and white […]
As part of his daily prayers, a typical first-century Jewish man began by thanking God for not making him a Gentile, a slave—and finally—for not making him a woman. In a fallen world, we are socially conditioned by messages about who’s important and who’s not, who’s precious and who’s expend-able, who should be in and […]
Most of us who have enjoyed Bible studies know the richness of digging into the Scriptures directly with each other. But we rarely do it together. Do we believe that the gospel really has the power to create not only saved individuals but also a saved culture? I don’t mean a new neighborhood or nation; […]
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that […]
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” —The Declaration of Independence Despite the nobility of the sentiment, it is a tragic and uncomfortable fact that the history […]
On July 6, 2016, Colleen Mitchell wrote a telling blog post, “10 Reasons I Don’t Want to Be Your White Ally.”1 Her words came a day after the death of Alton Sterling, a black man killed by a white officer of the Baton Rouge Police Department. Mitchell admits meeting the news of Sterling’s shooting with […]
Modern Reformation editors wanted to take a look at how hip-hop artists are exploring the life and ministry of Christ in their work. We were privileged to chat with Shai Linne on justification, racial reconciliation, and Kanye West. Shai Linne has appeared on numerous independent and national Christian hip-hop releases, including his 2005 full-length debut, […]
‘From Every Tribe and Nation: A Historian’s Discovery of the Global Christian Story’ by Mark A. Noll
Mark Noll, professor of history at theUniversity of Notre Dame and former long-time professor at Wheaton College, has written a compelling spiritual memoir. The book is a personal and professional journey into the author’s deepening appreciation of the gospel and how it is communicated worldwide. Along the way, we are introduced to the people, institutions, […]
Cole Brown says he was surprised by all of the discouraging advice he received as he was preparing to start a multiethnic church in inner-city Portland, Oregon. In 2006, the now 33-year-old pastor was planting what he described as a charismatic Reformed church, connected to the Acts 29 Network. Dozens of people told him it […]
Near the end of World War II, Winston Churchill remarked of war-torn England, "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Churchill understood buildings as more than pretty pictures on souvenir postcards. We learn many things from the bricks, stone, mortar, sidewalks, streets, and plazas in many cities. Our buildings, rooms, corridors, streets, […]
