Description
Book SynopsisOutreach 2023 Recommended Resource (Social Issues) Nationally recognized speaker and church leader Jay Augustine demonstrates that the church is called and equipped to model reconciliation, justice, diversity, and inclusion. This book develops three uses of the term "reconciliation": salvific, social, and civil. Augustine examines the intersection of the salvific and social forms of reconciliation through an engagement with Paul's letters and uses the Black church as an exemplar to connect the concept of salvation to social and political movements that seek justice for those marginalized by racism, class structures, and unjust legal systems. He then traces the reaction to racial progress in the form of white backlash as he explores the fate of civil reconciliation from the civil rights era to the Black Lives Matter movement. This book argues that the church's work in reconciliation can serve as a model for society at large and that secular diversity and inclusion practices can benefit the church. It offers a prophetic call to pastors, church leaders, and students to recover reconciliation as the heart of the church's message to a divided world. Foreword by William H. Willimon and afterword by Michael B. Curry.
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword by William H. Willimon
Introduction
Reconciliation in Context
The Divided States of America
Social Divisions and the Church's Ministry of Reconciliation
Conclusion
Part 1: The Theology of Reconciliation
1. The Trajectory of Reconciliation: Definitions and Peter's Leadership in the Early Church
Defining and Contextualizing Reconciliation: Salvific, Social, and Civil
Peter's Leadership in Moving the Church toward Reconciliation: The Original Use of the Word Church
The Church Was Born as a Jewish Assembly
Reconciliation Under Peter's Leadership: The Church Admits Gentiles as "the Other"
2. Social Reconciliation: Paul's Theology of Equality in Christ Jesus
Paul's Theology in Moving the Church toward Reconciliation
Social Reconciliation in Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans
Applying Social Reconciliation's Threefold Criteria to Paul's Theology of Equality
3. Civil Reconciliation: Contextualizing King and the Black Church's Ministry of Reconciliation
Civil Reconciliation Stems from Social Reconciliation
The Importance of Forgiveness in Civil Reconciliation
Contextualizing Civil Reconciliation
Revisiting Forgiveness as a Part of Reconciliation: King's Theology with a More Contemporary and Applied Response
Conclusion
Part 2: Reconciliation with "the Other"
4. The Response to Civil Reconciliation: White Evangelicalism and the Southern Strategy Give Rise to "Make America Great Again"
The Southern Strategy Meets "Make America Great Again"
The Voting Rights Act and Affirmative Action: Two of the Civil Rights Movement's Most Measurable Achievements in Civil Reconciliation
A Response to Success: The Southern Strategy Fusion of White Evangelicals and the Republican Party
Can Anything Separate Evangelicals from Blind Political Allegiance?
Conclusion
5. Where Do We Go from Here? A Call for the Church to Return to Her Apostolic-Era Embrace of Diversity and Inclusion
What Did God Intend the Church to Look Like?
How Can Diversity and Inclusion Be Good in Moving the Church toward Reconciliation?
Evangelicals and the Issues: Can the Divisions Unearthed by "Make America Great Again" Move the Church toward Reconciliation?
Conclusion
Epilogue
Afterword by Michael B. Curry
Appendix: Supreme Court Cases
Indexes
