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Reviews
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
missy_littell's review against another edition
4.0
"Many white people would rather do something to address the symptoms we can see than acknowledge our original sin. Racism isn't only a part of who we've been, it is in ways we don't even comprehend, who we are. It has cut us to our very core."
"I prayed for freedom for 20 years," Frederick Douglas would later write, "but received no answer until I prayed with my legs."
"One in three African American boys born after 2000 would experience incarceration."
"In the Greek of the new testament, church is Ekklesia, "the called out ones," to be called out of the patterns and practices of this world's sinful and broken systems into the economy of God's grace is to become church. To participate in an institution called church that nevertheless reinforces this world's broken systems, is something far more cynical."
Luke 4:18 and 19, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." If this was Jesus' first sermon, what does it tell us about the priorities of his earthly ministry and how should it shape our vision of what we are doing as a church?
"Daniel (from the Bible) was arrested for civil disobedience when he defied an unjust law."
"Our hearts grow through daily personal practices...the biggest thing you can do is shut up and listen."
"I prayed for freedom for 20 years," Frederick Douglas would later write, "but received no answer until I prayed with my legs."
"One in three African American boys born after 2000 would experience incarceration."
"In the Greek of the new testament, church is Ekklesia, "the called out ones," to be called out of the patterns and practices of this world's sinful and broken systems into the economy of God's grace is to become church. To participate in an institution called church that nevertheless reinforces this world's broken systems, is something far more cynical."
Luke 4:18 and 19, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." If this was Jesus' first sermon, what does it tell us about the priorities of his earthly ministry and how should it shape our vision of what we are doing as a church?
"Daniel (from the Bible) was arrested for civil disobedience when he defied an unjust law."
"Our hearts grow through daily personal practices...the biggest thing you can do is shut up and listen."
crystalisreading's review against another edition
4.0
This is a small but powerful book that helped me define and understand better the concerns that have been growing inside me about (white) American Christianity. While I have refused to give up my faith, I've struggled for the past several years to find a church that I felt comfortable in, that didn't feel segregated, ignorant, or even racist in major or minor ways. I haven't really attended church since the majority of American Evangelicals elected their latest "Family values" candidate, a thrice married man who has paid porn stars for money and bragged on tape about sexually assaulting women, a man who calls neo-Nazis fine people, but my latinx friends 'drug dealers and rapists', a man who is celebrated by neo-Nazis like David Duke. How can I submit to a church too blind to see the problems with holding him up as 'God's anointed'?
The answer is simple. I don't. But I've been hanging in limbo, trying to figure out what that means for me, my faith, and any chance of fellowship with other believers. Then I came across a mention of this book, written by a man who graduated from the same college as me, a few years after I did, that I knew distantly through my roommate. Our (distantly) personal connection as well as the topic piqued my interest, so I did what I rarely do, and immediately bought a copy.
I am very grateful that I did so. Reconstructing the Gospel isn't a large volume, but it is a powerful, heartfelt one. Jonathan is honest about his own roots, in admittedly racist North Carolina Christian culture, and about his own journey away from that, into what he has become and is becoming, a devout Christian in recovery from "whiteness" and growing in fellowship with what he hails as the true American church, the historically black church. There's much about Jonathan's cultural heritage and upbringing with which I cannot identify, as a northern-born descendant of Anabaptists. But I'm still an heir of the foundational white supremacy of our country and of the white American church. and Jonathan helped me see, more than anyone has before him, how much that mistaken identity of "whiteness" has poisoned not only our systems as a whole, but each individual "white" person who has bought the concepts, who has participated in the lifestyle, who has benefited from the systemic racism all around us. That includes me.
I've read critiques of this book that it's not heavily theological, and that's true, but I'm not sure that the lack thereof deserves criticism. This book examines the big picture of the brokenness of our divided country and church, and the small picture of Jonathan's life, and the lives of those around him who have influenced him and helped (or hindered) him in his walk. It doesn't pretend to be a theological textbook. What it offers to be is a call to change, community, and true holiness for those 'white' Christians who are willing to hear. I'm willing to hear, and therefore much of what Jonathan writes really ministers to me, and I hope that I will continue to follow through on what I've read and learned, as I continue to seek out reconciliation on scales both large and small, and to do the work of justice we are called to, as I recover from the toxic concept of "whiteness", especially white Christianity.
The answer is simple. I don't. But I've been hanging in limbo, trying to figure out what that means for me, my faith, and any chance of fellowship with other believers. Then I came across a mention of this book, written by a man who graduated from the same college as me, a few years after I did, that I knew distantly through my roommate. Our (distantly) personal connection as well as the topic piqued my interest, so I did what I rarely do, and immediately bought a copy.
I am very grateful that I did so. Reconstructing the Gospel isn't a large volume, but it is a powerful, heartfelt one. Jonathan is honest about his own roots, in admittedly racist North Carolina Christian culture, and about his own journey away from that, into what he has become and is becoming, a devout Christian in recovery from "whiteness" and growing in fellowship with what he hails as the true American church, the historically black church. There's much about Jonathan's cultural heritage and upbringing with which I cannot identify, as a northern-born descendant of Anabaptists. But I'm still an heir of the foundational white supremacy of our country and of the white American church. and Jonathan helped me see, more than anyone has before him, how much that mistaken identity of "whiteness" has poisoned not only our systems as a whole, but each individual "white" person who has bought the concepts, who has participated in the lifestyle, who has benefited from the systemic racism all around us. That includes me.
I've read critiques of this book that it's not heavily theological, and that's true, but I'm not sure that the lack thereof deserves criticism. This book examines the big picture of the brokenness of our divided country and church, and the small picture of Jonathan's life, and the lives of those around him who have influenced him and helped (or hindered) him in his walk. It doesn't pretend to be a theological textbook. What it offers to be is a call to change, community, and true holiness for those 'white' Christians who are willing to hear. I'm willing to hear, and therefore much of what Jonathan writes really ministers to me, and I hope that I will continue to follow through on what I've read and learned, as I continue to seek out reconciliation on scales both large and small, and to do the work of justice we are called to, as I recover from the toxic concept of "whiteness", especially white Christianity.
toria's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
beautifullybookishbethany's review against another edition
3.0
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Reconstructing the Gospel tackles critical issues at the intersection of race and the church, through American history to the present day. It challenges long held beliefs about how American Christians "should" vote and meaningfully deconstructs the (often problematic) role of the church through history in slavery, segregation, and latter forms of injustice.
In a nutshell, this had a lot of amazing nuggets and deeply thought-provoking passages, but a writing style that tends to be meandering, is generally more theoretical than practical, and sometimes lacks clarity. I think it's well worth reading, but it is clear that the author is more of a preacher than a writer. I would have liked to see a more streamlined narrative structure and a stronger emphasis on what readers can practically do, but I still think this is doing very important work.
Reconstructing the Gospel tackles critical issues at the intersection of race and the church, through American history to the present day. It challenges long held beliefs about how American Christians "should" vote and meaningfully deconstructs the (often problematic) role of the church through history in slavery, segregation, and latter forms of injustice.
In a nutshell, this had a lot of amazing nuggets and deeply thought-provoking passages, but a writing style that tends to be meandering, is generally more theoretical than practical, and sometimes lacks clarity. I think it's well worth reading, but it is clear that the author is more of a preacher than a writer. I would have liked to see a more streamlined narrative structure and a stronger emphasis on what readers can practically do, but I still think this is doing very important work.
coamyp's review
4.0
I really do wish every good white southerner would read this book. A helpful consideration of the way white supremacy has shaped our selves and our religion, and of the spiritual practices that can help us get free.
hatingongodot's review
3.0
It's a very touching story about a man coming to realize the way racism perpetuates itself in society and how Christianity must fully acknowledge the systems of racism if it is ever to escape its painful hypocrisy regarding the treatment of marginalized groups. Wilson-Hartgrove is a skilled writer and I would love to hear more of his ideas on how this is to be accomplished. Is it enough to only say that Christianity is rooted in inherently radical ideas about class and equality? The author's willingness to listen and reach out to the poor and to minority groups without condescending is admirable but not likely to be repeated by other white Christians who badly need it.
spencernoble's review
5.0
Written to and for white American Christians and how to grapple with the white supremacist religion we have inherited and exported to the world.
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