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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pastoral, Challenging, Honest and Encouraging, January 24, 2004
This review is from: On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience (Paperback)
This book was a hard read. Not because it's language is difficult -- it isn't. In fact, Carter's style is clear and fluid. And not because the concepts are intricate -- they're not. The ideas are actually rather straightforward. And it wasn't that I disliked the content, because as uncomfortable as the truth might be, I still prefer it to complacency. This book was a hard read because it's painful to think about the way black Christians have been mistreated by white Christians throughout American history. And it was a harder read because it points out that mistreatment continues. It was hard because it made me weep for my brethren of all races, and because it made me hunger for reconciliation that I cannot reach quickly enough. In short, it was hard because it was real. And in this case, reality is hard. But it's not bitter. In fact, the book is anything but a tirade against the oppressor. It's pastoral. It's insightful. It's forgiving. It inspires compassion. And it's wise, written by a man that has personally jumped the chasm and tied his rope to both sides, and who now shows all of us how to do the same so that together we might build a bridge. Thanks, Pastor Carter, for loving the church enough to write this, for loving truth enough to be honest and accurate, and for loving Christ enough to do it with a shepherd's hand.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Should be required reading, October 24, 2004
This review is from: On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience (Paperback)
There is nothing groundbreaking here. Carter does not uncover any grand new paradigm for understanding race relations and the Church. What he gives us is just a wonderful, accessible, little primer on the relationship and history of Reformed faith and the African American experience. Frankly, it reads alot like a very well done seminary term paper. But he defines all the key issues and decisively answers many questions. It is painful to see so few blacks in the Reformed movement, but Carter shows this has not always been and does not have to always be. In fact, much of the black American experience should (and sometimes has) make them especially well-suited for a Reformed theological perspective. When this has failed to be the case, the blame lies with both whites and blacks. Both have neglected important elements of the Gospel, and the result has been a sad lack of a dynamic Reformed witness in the black community. Carter's critique is biting, but never angry or hurtful. I bought four copies of this book. I think every seminarian, pastor, and church officer, at minimum, should read this. (BTW -- As result of the footnotes in this book I bought two copies of Black Puritan, Black Republican, which was somewhat dissappointing and dry. It tells a great story, but 90% of it I could have gleaned forma book review or even the dust jacket).
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Culture, Predestination, and Faith, January 31, 2006
This review is from: On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience (Paperback)
How does Culture effect theology? How does ones place in society effects the individuals understanding of the Bible and truths about God? This work presents arguments to why predestination is hard for the African American community to accept. How could an all powerful, all knowing and loving God permit slavery of one race and not another? The author presents a straight forward argument for Calvinism. He also pleads that that it is the correct theology of the bible. The author presents a clear history of black enslavement in the United States, why the slaveholder taught Christianity to his property, and the segregation of the Christian Church in these United States. The reasons for segregation in some churches was caused by complex theology. Carter argues that this was the main cause why the Presbyterian faith did not catch on with slaves and former slaves. The Baptist church became segregated by out right segregation in the sitting (Blacks to balcony) for Sunday Worship, and/or rudeness to those of darker complexions. The book is a good read. The author argues for a black theology that incorporates blacks culture, Black History, and Calvinistic teachings. No clear insight is given to how this can be accomplished.
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