"If reconciliation is the takeaway point for the civil rights story we usually tell, then the takeaway point for the more complex, more truthful civil rights story contained inĀ Dear White ChristiansĀ is reparations." ā from the preface to the second edition
With the troubling and painful events of the last several yearsāfrom the killing of numerous unarmed Black men and women at the hands of police to the rallying of white supremacists in Charlottesvilleāit is clearer than ever that the reconciliation paradigm, long favored by white Christians, has failed to heal the deep racial wounds in the church and American society. In this provocative book, originally published in 2014, Jennifer Harvey argues for a radical shift away from the well-meaning but feeble longing for reconciliation toward aĀ robustly biblical call for reparations.
Ā Now in its second editionāwith a new preface addressing the explosive changes in American culture and politics since 2014, as well as an appendix that explores what a reparations paradigm can actually look likeā Dear White ChristiansĀ calls justice-committed Christians to do the gospel-inspired work of opposing racist social structures around them. Harvey's message is historically and scripturally rooted, making it ideal for facilitating the difficult but important discussions about race that are so desperately needed in churches and faith-centered classrooms across the country.