Juneteenth Reading List
Some Suggested Titles from AAR's Reading Religion
Reading Religion is an openly accessible book review website published by the American Academy of Religion. The site provides up-to-date coverage of scholarly publishing in religious studies, reviewed by scholars with special interest and/or expertise in the relevant subfields. Reviews aim to be concise, comprehensive, and timely.
Below, the editors of Reading Religion have selected some books and reviews from the site and have shared some titles available to review. If you’re interested in reviewing books for Reading Religion, take a look at the guidelines. If there are any books missing from the Reading Religion site that you think should be there, email readingreligion@aarweb.org.
Reviews to Read
Black Theology and Black Power, 50th Anniversary Edition
By James H. Cone
From the review:
“For Cone, writing Black Theology and Black Power was a recovery or, maybe I should say, a discovery project that not only centered Black lives and blackness, but in so doing, opened a whole new avenue of theological thinking and writing.” - Andre E. Johnson
Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition: The Practice of Stillness in the Movement for Liberation
By Rima Vesely-Flad
From the review:
“The book’s central thesis is that Black Buddhist teachings and practice, by liberating Black people from psychological suffering, fulfill the aspirations of Black Radicalism. . . . Vesely-Flad asserts that Black Buddhists have forged a unique tradition of praxis distinct from that of predominantly white communities; that these practices respond to white supremacy and cis-heteropatriarchy; and that they are rooted within the longer social and historical context of the Black Radical tradition.” - Adeana McNicholl
Black Transhuman Liberation Theology: Technology and Spirituality
By Philip Butler
From the review:
“. . . a prescription for engaging intentionally and mindfully with technology as a method for pursuing Black liberation. A significant contribution reaching across many fields, Butler explores and imagines the development of Black posthumanism as merging spirituality and technology.” – Jacob Boss
African American Theology: An Introduction
By Frederick L. Ware
From the review:
“Central to Ware’s project is the claim that at the heart of African American theologies of the divine (or that which is ultimate) is the movement towards the foundation of a new society where humans live in such a way that they are liberated from all forms of injustice—especially racism—that prevent people from living in community with one another.” - Anthony Roberts
Available for Review
Critical Race Theology: White Supremacy, American Christianity, and the Ongoing Culture Wars
By Juan M. Floyd-Thomas
From the publisher:
“In Critical Race Theology Juan Floyd-Thomas examines the entangled roots of white supremacy, white Christian nationalism, and the raging culture wars in America. In this provocative and courageous work, Floyd-Thomas charts a path for a revitalized social gospel for the 21st century.
Drawing insights from critical race theory, Black liberation theology, and prophetic Christianity, Floyd-Thomas proposes “critical race theology" as a framework to confront racism, exclusion, and oppression within American Christianity and society. Challenging the self-righteous distortions of conservatives, he calls on clergy and believers to truly embody the liberating spirit of Jesus's radical ethic of love.”
Liberation and the Cosmos: Conversations with the Elders, Revised Edition
By Barbara A. Holmes
From the publisher:
“The rich legacy of black critical thought, creative expression, and religious reflection come together in these creatively imagined conversations between the elders about the shape and conditions of Black liberation.
Barbara A. Holmes has defined key issues of freedom and identity, hypothesizing a meeting of the ancestors assembled "on the other side" to discuss them. Imagine a conversation between Barbara Jordan and Thurgood Marshall on what freedom looks like in relation to law and politics. Or, between Tupac Shakur, Nina Simone, and James Baldwin on art, culture, and liberation. Malcolm X and Harriet Tubman discuss freedom and wholeness, while Audre Lorde, Fannie Lou Hamer, and George Washington Carver talk about liberated bodies.
These imagined dialogues open up rich reflection and insight and offer a unique vantage point for understanding the luminaries of liberation down through the generations. An important resource for the contemporary task of Black liberation.”
Black Theology and Black Faith
By Neo Leo Erskine
From the publisher:
“Contemporary Black theology is complex and far-reaching. In this concise yet thorough volume, Noel Leo Erskine examines Black theology from every angle, seeking to answer the question, Why would Africa’s children turn to the God of their oppressors for liberation?
Beginning with the Middle Passage, which brought millions of Africans into the Caribbean and the United States, Erskine unpacks the background and distinctive ideas of Black theology. Erskine covers major thinkers and illumines various areas of inquiry: suffering and theodicy, sin and reconciliation, baptism and the sacraments, womanism and Christology, and others. What unites these strands is the goal of liberation—of a faith that delivers not theoretical orthodoxies but real change in the lives of those buckling under racist oppression.
Black Theology and Black Faith is the perfect book for students and scholars looking to recenter the voices of the marginalized in their theology. Readers will leave its pages with a faith more alive to the call to institute God’s kingdom on Earth.”
