Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm

The American Methodist Church and the Struggle with White Supremacy

John Elford

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781666767544, 9781666767551
• eBook ISBN: 9781666767568
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm summons the reader on a most unusual journey through Methodist history. Along the way, we discover how the White American Methodist Church became deeply entangled with White supremacy. From the founding of the church in the late eighteenth century to the present, we have too often been silent bystanders or active accomplices in the enormous harm caused by racism. It's a complicated and shameful story few Methodists know. And yet, if we want to transform the world toward a different and better future for all, one free of the stranglehold of racism, we must come to terms with the story of our past--the whole story! Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm is a trustworthy guide into the church's troubled history. It's also a present-day call to action that finds inspiration in those Methodists who stood against the tide and those guiding the church today toward the horizon of racial justice.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: John Wesley and the Institution of Slavery
• Chapter 3: Methodists Struggle with Slavery
• Chapter 4: From Civil War to the Jim Crow Church
• Chapter 5: Methodists and the Civil Rights Era (Part One)
• Chapter 6: Methodists and the Civil Rights Era (Part Two)
• Chapter 7: The Contemporary Struggle against White Supremacy (Part One)
• Chapter 8: The Contemporary Struggle against White Supremacy (Part Two)
• Conclusion
• Bibliography