Talking About Race
Author: Isaac Adams
Written: 2022
“None of us are our own independent, self-sustaining streams; we all are connected to the tides of the past, and these tides will wash up on the shores of our lives, communities, and hearts-whether we like it or not.”
Hello Ordinary Readers,
Isaac Adams does a great job of giving us a resource for having a conversation about race. He is very generous and loving in his delivery. In Talking About Race Adams starts us off with a racially charged scenario. He then walks us through six different people’s reactions. Adam’s then attempts to take a look behind the mask each person wears. Adam’s says his main two goals are to help us think, in light of God’s Word, about why race and racism are hard yet important to talk about. And secondly to help us think about how we can have these conversations more helpfully (p. xvii). I think he accomplishes this.
I think this is a great resource for all Christians to read, but especially those who are in the majority culture and are not sure how to have the race conversation well. Adam’s helps peel back the curtain in our own hearts and reveals the behind-the-scenes of our minority brothers and sisters in Christ. This book is not the end all be all, but it can be a good first step in caring and trying to understand our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Happy Reading!
QUOTES
“So, as we seek to love one another across racial lines, it is useful to remember that there is such a thing as asymmetry in history.”
“The truth is, all members of the church should feel that we’re. giving up something when we gather as a church. Whether it is our music preferences or our cultural comforts, all of us should be laying down our preferences in service to one another.”
“Are you driving past a faithful black church to come to this church? Why?”
“As a racial minority, it’s powerful and refreshing to hear someone from the majority speak to the issues.”
“When someone asks what the church is “going to do” on racial matters, the pastor’s answer could be very simple: “We’re going to pray a lot and lament a lot and talk a lot.”
“Philippians 2 offers great instruction on how to be humble-counting others more significant than yourself and not looking only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.”
“Brothers and sisters, Jesus is alive, and that means that one day racism will be dead. Let’s speak as if that’s true-that is, let’s speak hopefully.”