![]() George Yancey's book puts forth a new, Christian, model of racial reconciliation called mutual responsibility. What is needed, according to Yancey, is a uniquely Christian approach to racial reconciliation. All of the dominant approaches are secular in origin, even though all are blessed by different Christians. They all lack a distinctly Christian understanding of race. This is because the solutions proposed all contain some deficiency. The talk about racism we hear today is needed, but also incomplete. This is not a new book, having originally been published in 2006, but the message of the book is a timely one. In the midst of these questions I found myself reading Beyond Racial Gridlock by sociologist George Yancey. How will racial reconciliation be achieved, and what specifically should the response of the church be? We cannot deny our failures in this area, but we are also unsure of what to do. Once we agree that a problem exists, we find ourselves faced with another daunting problem: how shall we achieve racial reconciliation? A variety of different voices are calling for different solutions, many of which are contradictory. The need for racial reconciliation has existed for as long as America has been a country and now more and more people are recognizing and pushing for this reconciliation to happen. These killings, which have stayed in our national conscience has forced many of us to reconsider how race effects our own lives and that of society. As I write this review, we as a nation are in the midst of reckoning with some of our racial legacies due to the unfortunate murders of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. And all four remain useful guides for confronting the racial tensions that plague us still.Īmerica has a long and troubling history of racial inequalities and injustices. In their own ways, all four books are a bit dated. ![]() Carl Ellis, “Free at Last? The Gospel in the African American Experience” (IVP, 1983 repr.Michael Emerson and Christian Smith, “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America” (Oxford, 2001).Edward Gilbreath, “Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity” (IVP, 2006).This book reminded me in certain respects of three others: ![]() After critiquing these four secular models, Yancey proposes a fifth one-a Christian alternative-based on the idea of “mutual responsibility.” I confess I expected his analysis to be a bit thin and commonsensical instead it was oftentimes trenchant and profound. ![]() Each is finally inadequate to break through our racial gridlock and produce constructive solutions. The first two tend to benefit (and appeal to) white Americans the latter two tend to benefit (and appeal to) minority Americans. George Yancey, a black Christian sociologist, commends the virtues and exposes the problems in four reigning race-relations models: Written in 2006, the book maps impressively well onto our current moment. I’m tempted to give this five stars simply because it’s so relevant to 2020. Yancey's vision offers hope that people of all races can walk together on a shared path-not as adversaries, but as partners. Part two offers a new "mutual responsibility" model, which acknowledges that both majority and minority cultures have their own challenges, tendencies, and sins to repent of, and that people of different races approach racial reconciliation and justice in differing but complementary ways. The first part of the book analyzes four secular models regarding race used by Christians (colorblindness, Anglo-conformity, multiculturalism and white responsibility) and shows how each has its own advantages and limitations. Sociologist George Yancey surveys a range of approaches to racial healing that Christians have used and offers a new model for moving forward. Adding to this complex situation is the reality that Christians of different races see the issues differently. Many proposed solutions have been helpful, but these only take us so far. Christians have struggled with racial issues for centuries, and often inadvertently contribute to the problem.
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