Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair - Hardcover

Duke L. Kwon; Gregory Thompson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1587434504 ISBN 13: 9781587434501

Publisher: Brazos Press, Div of Baker Publishing Group, 2021

Synopsis

Christians are awakening to the legacy of racism in America like never before. While public conversations regarding the realities of racial division and inequalities have surged in recent years, so has the public outcry to work toward the long-awaited healing of these wounds. But American Christianity, with its tendency to view the ministry of reconciliation as its sole response to racial injustice, and its isolation from those who labor most diligently to address these things, is underequipped to offer solutions. Because of this, the church needs a new perspective on its responsibility for the deep racial brokenness at the heart of American culture and on what it can do to repair that brokenness. This book makes a compelling historical and theological case for the church's obligation to provide reparations for the oppression of African Americans. Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson articulate the church's responsibility for its promotion and preservation of white supremacy throughout history, investigate the Bible's call to repent and make restitution, and offer concrete examples of the work of reparation at the local level. They lead readers toward a moral imagination that views reparations as a long-overdue and necessary step in our collective journey toward healing and wholeness.

About this title

About the Author

Duke L. Kwon (MDiv, ThM, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is the lead pastor at Grace Meridian Hill, a congregation in the Grace DC Network in Washington, DC, whose mission includes the commitment to build cross-cultural community. As a Korean American, Kwon, whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and The Witness, has been uniquely situated as a mediator in public conversations around race.
Gregory Thompson (PhD, University of Virginia) is a pastor, scholar, artist, and producer whose work focuses on race and equity in the United States. He serves as executive director of Voices Underground, an initiative to build a national memorial to the Underground Railroad outside of Philadelphia, research fellow in African American heritage at Lincoln University (HBCU), and James Lawson Fellow for Faith and Justice at Historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis. He is also the cocreator of Union: The Musical, a soul and hip-hop-based musical about the 1968 sanitation workers' strike. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

From the Back Cover

"A book for this moment"

Christians are awakening to the legacy of racism in America like never before. Reparations explores the church's responsibility for the deep racial brokenness at the heart of American culture, investigates the Bible's call to repair it, and offers a vision for the work of reparation at the local level.

"Reparations is a book for this moment. It is a call to action to offer tangible restitution for the historic exploitation of Black labor. While Christians should have been leading the way on this all along, sadly, too many have demonstrated compromise and complicity instead. A timely call for reparations and the dignity of all people."
--Jemar Tisby, CEO of The Witness Inc.; author of the bestselling book The Color of Compromise

"Reparations is passionate, clear, smart, thoughtful, and blessedly troubling. I hope every American Christian leader--especially White Christian leaders--will read it because it is truly the rare book that, if taken up with an open heart, has the potential to change the world."
--Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest; author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

"This book should be essential reading in classrooms and Bible studies, in religious sanctuaries and the halls of Congress, and for every single believer who cares about justice and equality."
--Joshua DuBois, CEO, media commentator, and former director, White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

"What hope do we have of racial reconciliation unless we right the wrongs of our past? Kwon and Thompson have argued convincingly that reparations is a necessary part of the healing of our churches and our nation, and that people of faith should be leading the way. Read this book and learn how to be a bridge builder for reparations."
--Latasha Morrison, founder of Be the Bridge and New York Times bestselling author of Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation

"Kwon and Thompson do a compelling job of laying out the historic legitimacy, the moral necessity, and the biblical urgency for reparations from slavery. American Christians, especially those of us who are White, should read, internalize, and act upon these arguments with our whole being."
--Mark Labberton, president, Fuller Theological Seminary

From the Inside Flap

"The subject of reparations has been the cause of much heat and little light in some Christian circles. Here is a study written with a rare combination of pastoral tenderness and intellectual rigor. I hope it ends the debate about reparations and helps many to begin the work toward achieving it."
--Thabiti M. Anyabwile, pastor of Anacostia River Church

"With crisp historical details and analysis, combined with a wide-ranging engagement with sources, the authors are to be commended for exposing America's original sin. This will not be easy reading, but it will be absolutely indispensable reading for all churches."
--Paul Chang-Ha Lim, award-winning historian and professor, Vanderbilt University

"As our country awakens to the difficult truth of our shared story and more and more of us are compelled to engage in the reparative work at the intersection of race and economics, Kwon and Thompson's book is a powerful and important step in the exploration of what repair looks like, not just for African American communities but for the soul of our country."
--Anasa Troutman, CEO of The BIG We

"An exemplary work of public theology, born of chastened Christian conviction and pastoral anguish. Beautifully written and generous in tone, Kwon and Thompson's book illuminates the costs and joys of discipleship in a nation marked by White privilege and its theological disfigurations."
--Charles Marsh, University of Virginia; author of Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Wherever you end up landing in relation to Kwon and Thompson's message and conclusions, I pray that this book will stir you up as it has me toward deeper introspection, deeper curiosity, deeper humility, deeper repentance, deeper love, and above all deeper freedom in Christ."
--Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church; author of Jesus Outside the Lines and A Gentle Answer

Edition details

• Publisher: Brazos Press, Div of Baker Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1587434504
• ISBN 13: 9781587434501
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256