Summary: The second edition of an introduction to making reconciliation a real and tangible reality to Christian communities.
Generally, my approach to reading is to find areas I can agree and learn from. It is not that I am not ever critical in my reading, but that I tend to work to be charitable. I say that because the reading of this book was much more critical than I tend to because it was read in a small group discussion. The group is all committed to racial reconciliation within my church, and they are not brand new to the conversation. So our critical reading was not based in opposition to the real need for racial reconciliation but in trying to test this roadmap to our experience and context. We were often challenged about being too critical, but the criticism was not about diminishing Dr. Salter McNeil’s work or thought but about challenging ourselves to think more deeply. I think that part of what I take out of this book is that there needs to be more theoretical work put into reconciliation.
Dr. Salter McNeil has a lifetime of work in racial reconciliation. And similar to my concerns of critiquing John Perkins, I am not at all critiquing the reality that they have given their lives to the service of Christ. But because they have served well does not mean that we can take their history as prescriptive to the future. In her book Becoming Brave, Dr. Salter McNeil notes that she has changed over time. Going forward, racial reconciliation within the evangelical protestant world must change to be more focused on reparations and repair and less focused on reparations and repair relational and visible diversity. That critique has become widespread and has been made for more than 20 years, from Emerson and Smith’s Divided by Faith to I Bring the Voice of My People to Elusive Dream and more. In her book Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation, Jennifer Harvey specifically called out Brenda Salter McNeil for her coddling white Christians. And it is to Dr. Salter McNeil’s credit that she not only took that critique seriously but has noted it in both Becoming Brave and Road to Reconciliation.
In the context of my group discussion, there was quite a bit of discussion about basics, definitions, theoretical approaches, and the relationship between Christianity and reconciliation. Not every book can, or needs to, have a fully developed theoretical framework, but I think Road to Reconciliation needed more. For instance, the not so simple concept of race was not explored enough. Race is not a concept in scripture because it is a modern idea. But that does not stop many Christians from taking concepts that were in biblical ideas, like ethnicity and cultures, and transporting them to the modern idea of race. The modern idea of race is a socially constructed reality that inherently assumes a heirarchy and rankings. That does not mean that I don’t think that the modern idea of race cannot be redeemed, but I do think that if we are going to attempt that, we have to be aware of the pitfalls and point them out.
So much of our theology impacts our social thought, and it is only when we critically investigate those basics do we see how there are strengths and pitfalls. That does not mean that we can’t work with those Christians that we have differences of theology with on areas like racial reconciliation. Still, we need to investigate those assumptions because uninvestigated assumptions lead to misunderstanding. There are several examples of where I think Dr. Salter McNeil’s theology that leans to light dispensationalism and reformed theology (she is ordained and operated within the Evangelical Covenant Church) makes some theological leaps that were not explored enough. But, again, I don’t want to complain about what is not here because a book that I am looking for here would be much different from what was written. Road to Reconciliation is a lay-oriented book that is a bit over 200 pages. A book that explores theology and sociological basics of race and reconciliation more would necessarily be both longer and denser.
There was a lot of value in discussing this book with our group. The group largely agreed with the goals and general thoughts and emphasis. Having something to disagree with is helpful in the areas where we have to work through our thoughts, biases, and values. Racial reconciliation is something that doesn’t have a simple roadmap. There are too many differences in context to make a roadmap work. That doesn’t mean that there is no value in books like this that give ideas about how to proceed. But a model that works in one place will not translate to other areas. And as Dr. Salter McNeil says toward the end,
“Reconciliation is truly a journey, not a destination. It is a process that leads to personal, spiritual, social and systemic transformation…Reconciliation is a dynamic process and an objective. Like all living systems, reconciliation is a nonlinear process that is progressive and at times cyclical in nature. Having gone through the process once doesn’t mean that you have “arrived.” Further growth and transformation are continually before you, and you may find yourself perpetually on the journey…We need to understand the dynamics of the journey and to focus on a few key skills that will help us stay the course and resist derailment.”
The value of books like this is to prepare people for the ongoing nature of racial reconciliation. One of the most significant harms to racial reconciliation in the church is the frequency people give up on the journey because they did not measure the cost before they started. I do not think that we can fully understand the total costs (or joys) before we start, but if we think we are running a sprint, we will not approach it in the right way when the race is an ultra marathon. And I think a lot of the frustration in racial reconciliation circles is based on inappropriate expectations, and books like Road to Reconciliation help prepare people for reality, even if I wanted more.
Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness, and Justice by Brenda Salter McNeil Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook