What do the theological disciplines have to do with reparations? Historically, many churches and theologians defended and supported race-based slavery and subsequent forms of racial hierarchy and violence. While today many in our society see reparations as an important step towards addressing the harm perpetrated against Black Americans, the theological disciplines have often ignored this crucial topic. The time is now for biblical scholars, theologians, and religious historians to make a prophetic case for reparations. Each essay in Reparations and the Theological Disciplines does precisely that. Written for students, scholars, pastors, and church people, the essays in this volume draw on the riches of Scripture, Christian theology, history, and praxis to make the case for an ethic of remembrance, reckoning, and repair.
Michael Barram is professor of theology and religious studies at Saint Mary's College of California. Drew G. I. Hart is associate professor of theology at Messiah University and program director of Thriving Together Congregations for Racial Justice. Gimbiya Kettering, M.F.A., rooted in the Church of the Brethren, leads workshops about racism in the church and gospel-based social justice. Michael J. Rhodes is lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College.
Abbreviations Introduction: Toolbox for a Journey of Remembrance, Reckoning, and Repair. Michael Barram, Drew G. I. Hart, Gimbiya Kettering, and Michael J. Rhodes Part One: Reparations and the Bible Chapter One: Reparations in Exodus, Matthew Schlimm Chapter Two: Bypassing the Bible: Why Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15 Did Not Influence and Have Not Influenced Reparations Proposals, Stacy Davis Chapter Three: Witness: The Job: How to Talk to White People About Reparations, Gimbiya Kettering Chapter Four: From Here to Jubilee: Reading Torah in Dialogue with Darity and Mullen's Case for Reparations, Michael J. Rhodes Chapter Five: Reparational Reasoning: The Biblical Jubilee as Moral Formation for a More Just Future, Michael Barram Chapter Six: Witness: Zacchaeus and the Call to Repair: A Sermon on Luke 19:1-10, Duke L. Kwon Chapter Seven: You Cannot Pay Back What You Have Never Owned: A Conversation on Reparations and Paul's Letter to Philemon, Angela N. Parker Chapter Eight: Philemon as a Plea for Reparations Then and Now, Michael J. Gorman Part Two: Reparations and Christian Theology Chapter Nine: The Reparational God, Mark Labberton Chapter Ten: Myth, Belonging, and Reparative Ethics: A Theological and Pedagogical Account, Drew G. I. Hart Chapter Eleven: "Don't Make Me Feel Guilty": Why Penal Substitution Interferes with Reparations and Reconciliation, Mako A. Nagasawa Chapter Twelve: Witness: Reparations or Atonement: Searching for an Appropriate Vessel, Rodney S. Sadler Jr. Chapter Thirteen: Reparations NOW: For The Glory of God, Ekemini Uwan Chapter Fourteen: Catholic Social Thought and Reparations, Christina McRorie Part Three: Reparations in History and Contemporary Praxis Chapter Fifteen: The DC Compensated Emancipation Act as Precedent for Reparations, Renee K. Harrison Chapter Sixteen: Reparation as Reckoning, Malcolm Foley Chapter Seventeen: Witness: The Call for Truth and Reparations in Minnesota, Jim Bear Jacobs, Pamela R. Ngunjiri, and Curtiss Paul DeYoung Chapter Eighteen: "Bear Fruits Worthy of Repentance": A Black Administrator's Perspective on the Challenge and Promise of the Virginia Theological Seminary Reparations Program, Joseph Downing Thompson Jr. Conclusion, Drew G. I. Hart About the Contributors
What makes reparations for entrenched inequity so urgent in our society is that it is the place where the hard question of economics and the hard questions of race converge. It is abundantly clear that nothing less than reparations are required for our society to move toward peaceable, generative wellbeing. For this reason, this book is both welcome and urgent. It is welcome because it mobilizes in a most compelling way the inescapable evidence in our deepest theological tradition on behalf of reparations. It is urgent because the church, for the sake of the body politic, must be awakened to the requirements and possibilities latent in our tradition. The book makes it possible that the issue of reparations can be seriously and honestly taken up in local communities that are willing to engage the resources of our shared faith. These several writers pull no punches about the truth-telling that the tradition requires. We may hope for a broad, deep engagement with the sharp-edge insistence of this rich study. Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary -- Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
