Customer Reviews

On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
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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.

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).

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.

With one succinct sentence, Anthony Carter integrates historical Reformation theology and historical African American experience. "Our primary goal as theologians is to glorify God and to comfort the saints."

Some may wonder what's so novel about that declaration. A careful reading of most modern presentations of Reformed theology exposes the truth that God's glory is always emphasized (rightly so), while the saints' comfort is often minimized (sadly so).

Reformation theology has historically offered great treatises on anthropology (human creation and God's design), hamartiology (human sin and depravity), and on soteriology (Christ's salvation and human deliverance). Historically, what has been lacking is a biblical sufferology--a theology of suffering that brings comfort to human misery, that brings hope to the hurting.

Throughout "On Being Black and Reformed" Carter's subtext reverberates. Reformed theology has much to offer African American Christians. And, African American Christians have much to offer Reformed theology. When separated from Reformed theology, African American Christians, according to Carter, are tempted toward a lower view of God, truth, and theology. When separated from African American Christianity, Reformed theology, according to Carter, is tempted toward a lower view of comfort, love, and contextual experience. Reformed theology and African American Christianity need each other equally.

Nowhere is this juxtaposition more clearly revealed than in the Reformed African American theological interpretation of American enslavement. How could a good and sovereign God allow an entire people group to be enslaved for centuries? African American pastors like Lemuel Haynes, Richard Allen, and Absalom Jones, and writers like Phillis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, and Quobna Cugoano all offer the "Joseph Answer." "You meant evil against me, but God intended it for good." In God's affectionate sovereignty, He shepherds good from evil, He creates beauty from ashes.

Anthony Carter's retelling of this historical merging of African American Christian experience and Reformed theology is a gift to all people of all races.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," "Soul Physicians," and "Spiritual Friends."

Anthony Carter has done the church a great service in giving us this book. While Carter focuses on the relationship between African Americans and the Reformed church community, much of what he says is also applicable to wider evangelicalism. Evangelicals really need to hear Carter on a number of things.

First, white evangelicals have to realize that their Christian experience is predominately a Caucasian-cultured experience. Too many white evangelicals tacitly walk around assuming that their Christianity is a universal expression that is universally applicable, rather than a culturally conditioned expression that only represents a slice of the Christian experience. This is vitally important to reckon with. Most evangelicals are not racist, and their top-level orientation is desirous of racial reconciliation within the church and larger culture. This is very good. But in failing to realize the degree to which our Christianity is a 'white Christianity', we greatly hinder our efforts at diversity and fail to realize how inhospitable and exclusive we are, even though our church doors are wide open. A rather vicious circular state results, in which we desire greater diversity, but are too inflexible about our worship and preaching to encourage it, so diversity never happens even though we say we're committed to it. All of this is the result of believing that our particular expression of Christianity is universally normative. This is what needs to change, and Carter does a great job of demonstrating this.

Carter also highlights the very real power of worship to supernaturally change things. This is one of the great truths of Christianity that the African American Christian expression gives such wonderful voice to. But too often, white evangelicals, and Caucasian Reformed folks in particular, don't see worship this way. The result is that great transformative power is often not tapped. This is an area where white evangelicals desperately need to learn from their African American brethren. Personal and societal transformation on a radical scale has and can result from worship that is seen as a real source of supernatural power to shape God's people.

Lastly, I thought Carter made a great point in saying that the tremendous hardships and injustice inflicted upon the African American community throughout its history are not a sign of divine curse as some have suggested. Instead, the very existence of the African American church and its thriving worship is powerful evidence that God loves African Americans and has uniquely sustained and strengthened them. Carter's basic point is that if God didn't radically love African Americans, the black church simply wouldn't exist because the hardships and injustice inflicted upon this community would have been too great absent divine protection and fortification. Again, this entire experience, for the African American, is simply a given; it is simply understood. Yet, how many Caucasians are at all in touch with this experience? The answer, of course, is very few, so we should hardly wonder why African Americans often look upon us with suspicion and disappointment when we sit on the sidelines in the midst of acute episodes of racial injustice (as many of us did during the whole Rodney King thing).

An inability to get in touch with the black experience in America often prevents us from seeing God's providential and loving care for this community. When we fail to see this, we miss something about God, and miss opportunities for reconciliation and greater love in the Body. It's a serious problem that has plagued the American church from the beginning and continues to haunt us now. Carter's book, while short and simple, begins to provide a needed antidote. For those who take Scripture's demands for unity seriously, this is necessary reading.

Informative, eye-opening and extremely thought-provoking. Mr Carter has done a superb job of writing well in a rather small book (I could have read another 500 pages by this author) and providing troubling history graced with hope. I was so profoundly impacted that I even acquired 3 of the books on his recommended-reading list and will probably get others.

This is another one of those books that should be required reading by every Pastor, especially if you have a small or zero African-American population in your congregation. Carter's main thesis in the book is that the African-American experience is best viewed and explained through the lense of reformed theology. In the book, he takes on such hard issues as:

* The Sovereignty of God and the slave trade
* The rejection of reformed theology by most African-Americans and the inroads of Arminian and liberal theology into our churches
* the common experience of African-American Christians and Reformed Christians
* culpability by both white and black Christians for the 'break in fellowship'

For adherents of Reformed theology, not too much new here that you don't already know (in the area of theology). But the charitable tone and the hard issues addressed by Bro. Carter make this book a must read - especially if you desire to truly have fellowship with your brethren from 'every tongue, tribe and nation'. For the average African-American, this book will introduce you to some new material and concepts not commonly thrown around from our pulpits. And prayerfully, it will serve to bring you closer to a more Biblical theological system. I have no question that this book will challenge all who read it. The author's writing is easy to understand and the book is relatively short. I can't give it anything less than 5 stars as a rating.

Anthony Carter is one of the leading voices in a small but growing movement of black Reformed pastors and churches. This short book (about 100 pages plus appendices) is a sort of manifesto for the black Reformed movement. Carter opens with a question: "Do we need a black theology?" He suggests two answers. First, yes, we emphatically need a black theology, and second, yes, we unfortunately need a black theology. Emphatically, because all theology is done from within a cultural context, and because of the presence of unsound black theology. Unfortunately, because conservative theology typically fails to answer the questions of the black community regarding their own suffering, and because the troubles inflicted on blacks in this country tended to have a "Christian flavor." For these reasons, we do need a black theology--and it must come from the faithful interpretation of Scripture in the context of our history, tradition and Christian experience.

This book is a good read. Carter writes well, knows his history, and is passionate about the need for black and white Christians to hear each other. His thoughts here helped open my eyes and gave me a greater appreciation for the history and contributions of the black church. It made me long for the kind of reconciliation we will see in heaven as the great multitude sings the praises of the Lamb, and it made me want to see that realized more in the here and now.

I am not going to give a bunch of verbiage. Please purchase this book, read it and pass it along. It is conversational without being shallow, informative without being wordy, and clear without being overbearing. i love this book and I read it in about week (amongst my other reading).