Racism, Reconciliation, and the Modern Church

This resource list examines racism and reconciliation within the Christian church. It explains the role of the church in historical and modern-day racism, reviews wide-ranging perspectives on the meaning and process of reconciliation to Christians, and illuminates the potential role of the church in building beloved community. It includes a detailed list of podcasts and ecumenical and denominational organizations that can be support resources for individual Christians committed to antiracism.

I will be the first to admit that the Church generally sucks at understanding and living into racial reconciliation. Christian attempts at racial justice and reconciliation - especially intersectional justice and reconciliation - are often marked more by brokenness than hope. This brokenness is evident in some of the resources here. I do not agree with the perspectives of all of the authors, speakers, or organizations here. Some of these organizations have histories marked by racial and gender oppression. Some of the books gesture toward the sort of reconciliation that I critique as anemic. But I - like all of us - now see in a mirror dimly lit. And even amidst the brokenness and division, there is hope in the fact that these writers and organizations are taking up a topic that the Church would often rather ignore, and I want to honor that here by listing Christian organizations that have a significant emphasis on antiracism and racial reconciliation.