I’d like to share a book that I believe is a must-read for everyone, especially white Christians: Can “White” People Be Saved? Triangulating Race, Theology and Mission, edited by Love L. Sechrest, Johnny Ramírez-Johnson, and Amos Yong. It is published by InterVarsity Press. I have known about InterVarsity Christian Fellowship since even before I went to college and became active in their chapter at Syracuse University. As a church we have supported InterVarsity for many decades.
This book is a collection of essays showing how “white” Christianity, both in its theology and missions, has negatively influenced the understanding of the gospel. Christian mission, both in the United States and abroad, has presented Christianity in a cultural framework that came from white Western culture. The unintended result was that to be a Christian one had to be “white.”
Can “White” People Be Saved? includes essays by Willie James Jennings, Andrea Smith, Hak Joon Lee, Akintunde E. Akinade, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Angel D. Santiago-Vendrell, Andrew T. Draper, Erin Dufault-Hunter, Clifton Clarke, Daniel Jeyaraj, and Jonathan Tran. There is much to debate and reflect on in this book. I recommend it highly.
Pastor Paul Leggett, September 2020