Bo Sanders: Public Theology

This winter has been a fruitful time of researching issues related to race for my dissertation. Academic approaches to race, and specifically ‘whiteness’, are central to my examination of  ethnic, gender, and racial diversity within church and denominational leadership.

I know that academic stuff is not for everyone – so here are 6 amazing articles that I have found that I would love to pass along:

• Seeing Whiteness: Exercises in Understanding Race by Reggie Williams

This is the best 3 page article I found. It is The Christian Century and it could be useful to teachers or to Sunday School classes. 

• The Social Construction of Whiteness: Racism by Intent, Racism by Consequence by Teresa J. Guess

This article explains the idea of  ‘structuration’ introduced by Giddens which refers to the observation that:

“actors are as much producers as they are also products of society’s structurations.”

• Understanding the Rhetoric(s) of Race by Andre E. Johnson

This is one of the more unique approaches that I have encountered. It is hard hitting and is primarily concerned with the language related to the struggle to understand race. 

• Reevaluating White Privileged Ignorance and Its Implications for Antiracist Education by Liz Jackson

There are few articles that I have highlighted more than this one. 

• Religion and Class by Joerg Rieger from the journal “Class, Race and Corporate Power”

Rieger is one of my favorite authors. His ‘No Rising Tide’ on the economy and ‘Christ & Empire’ are classics. He also writes on Globalization and does interesting collaborations.

• Critical Whiteness Theories and the Evangelical “Race Problem: Extending Emerson and Smith’s “Divided by Faith” by Eric Tranby and Douglas Hartmann

This last one is a little different. It does require that you have access to a research library to download [email me at anEverydayTheology@gmail.com] if you can’t get it. 

It is also an update / challenge to the famous 2000 book “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America“

Race not only continues to be an issue of great importance to the church of N. America but some of us think that it is an increasingly critical issue for our lifetime.

 Please pass along any articles or links that you have found helpful!