This book was insightful but also felt a bit jumbled. I agreed with many of her points but some brought confusion. Not a bad book just not my favorite/most helpful on this topic.

Osheta Moore loves Jesus and shares her love of Jesus, and Jesus way of loving others, with her readers. She is conversational, quirky and funny at times, but always open and honest, choosing to be very vulnerable in her story telling, and she made a big impact on me. I feel like I sat down with her in her home and we enjoyed an afternoon of peacemaking and sharing, of back and forth and learning about history and about each other. I highlighted so much of her wisdom in this book so that I can return to it in the future and pray about my ability to lean into empathy and learn from others stories. Osheta reminds me to see everyone as human, that I should not weaponize my anger, the difference between and the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, the biblical importance of reparations, and celebrating black joy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Herald Press for this copy of Osheta's book in exchange for my honest review..

This is a beautiful book for white people who want to make a change and create peace. If you are used to feeling helpless, lost, or unsure of where to go, what to read, or what you can even do. This will be helpful and restorative.

This book is filled with so much wisdom - written from a Christian Black woman's perspective to a White peacemaker/ally. I will be recommending this to many!

This book is a gift. Pastor Osheta, thank you for sharing your heart, your wisdom, you vision for God's people in community with one another. Thank you for modeling the heart of Jesus so well.

From the first pages of the introduction, I immediately knew this book was not only going to teach me about dismantling racism, but it was going to speak to the reader on a soul level, and it did all the way through. The topic is challenging, but the book is easy to read. It's part guidebook, part heart-to-heart, part counseling session, and steeped in scripture all the way through. Osheta leads us with love and grace, but doesn't pull punches either. However, when she calls out, she also calls higher. This book could be a starting place for someone, but also has plenty to say to a reader who is already learning and doing the work of antiracism.

I was fortunate to get access to an advanced reader ebook copy, but I still ended up pre-ordering a hardcopy. I want this book on my shelves so I can read through it again, scribble in the margins, and lend it out to friends. This is a treasure of a book for our time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free review copy of this book.

Reading this book truly felt like listening to a friend, the kind who loves you and knows you well enough to instruct and encourage with both grit and grace, as Osheta puts it. I appreciated the constant reminders that the goal of anti-racism work is to seek God's shalom, and with that comes the challenge to be a peacemaker and not a peacekeeper. I am thankful for Osheta's heart and that she has shared this with us. This is a book I will give to others and plan to re-read again soon.

This was both an appropriately challenging and encouraging read in the space of social justice and anti-racism work. I appreciate Osheta’s unique perspective and care for holding White Peacemakers accountable, challenging me towards new and better ways of being and thinking, and holding space for all that comes up on the journey. She is full of grace and truth and a deep and abiding love for wholeness and reconciliation.

Osheta Moore writes a beautiful work of love and partnership for all White Peacemakers. Throughout the book, she weaves personal and heartfelt letters to her readers, speaking theologically through the heart-breaking and tumultuous events of the last year. If you are ready to go deep into what peacemaking really means, this is the book to read. In fact, it is more than just a book. Dear White Peacemakers is an essential tool for deeper conversations in the church and in the world. Let us all dare to become peacemakers with committed guides like Osheta Moore.

This book was a delight! I love Osheta’s voice, her wisdom, her instruction. I learned so much, and I feel so much more prepared to interact with different view points. The stories were so impactful, and Osheta’s letters felt like I was right next to her talking with a friend. Thank you Osheta for this gorgeous work. I’m so thankful I was able to read it!

“White is not the standard. Human is the standard. Beloved is the standard. Made in the Image of God is the standard.” Osheta Moore

"Dear White Peacemakers" is hands down, one of the best books I have ever read, and thus, it has made this review challenging to write. How do I review such an important book? I felt humbled and honored to even be reading the book. So, reader, bear with me as I try to describe how incredible this book was. I am still processing this book and all the ways it has affected me.

Moore breaks the book up into four distinct parts: the first focuses on the poison of white supremacy in every part of our lives, how to break and be healed from it; part two revolves around suffering and how to do it the right way; the third challenges White people to acknowledge their own fragility and learn from it; and the fourth part utilizes the Lord’s Prayer in a way to show White peacemakers how to dismantle white supremacy. She defines and describes the vocabulary of anti-racism work, provides illustrations of what that work looks like, and connects it to how Jesus told us how to live. Throughout the book, Moore unpacks Bible verses to exactly demonstrate how Jesus called us to live a Kingdom life, as a human, loving, “Beloved” person, rooted in “shalom”. She writes letters throughout the book, shares historical context and spirituals, stories, and provides “breathe prayers”. I loved the prayers—they were powerful. This is truly a complete book. Moore explains all of her points concisely and her writing is incredible. She talks about all of the hard things White people often shy away from; yet, she is never judgmental, but always kind, blunt, and loving. If you are considering reading this book, do it. It will make you a little uncomfortable, it might make you cry, it will make your heart ache for the pain that the BIPOC communities experience, and it will make you rejoice, because there is hope. God’s kingdom is here and He’s using Moore in a way to bring that realization to everyone around her.

Toward the end of the book, Moore breaks down the Lord’s Prayer verse by verse, and let me tell you, get ready for the Holy Spirit to move in you. Moore states that, “The Lord’s Prayer reminds us of our relationship to God and our responsibility to each other.” Yes! This was my favorite part of the book, because it brought everything home.

This book is powerful, heartbreaking, and encouraging. It calls all of us White peacemakers to be better, to say “I’m sorry” and “I’m listening”, to acknowledge all the large and small ways that we’ve allowed white privilege and white supremacy rule in our lives; it calls us to action to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Jesus against the powers of evil in our world.

My deepest thanks to NetGalley and Herald Press for providing me with an ARC. This was an incredible read and I will be purchasing the book when it comes out!

Generous, kind, challenging, practical, truth-filled. A bit choppy in parts (there are a few stories that Moore begins to tell but never comes back to) and VERY VERY VERY messy formatting due to the file upload, I imagine. It seems like every fifth word is either missing or misspelled. Based on the formatting and the manuscript as-is, I'd rate it lower than this because it's so difficult to understand. But I'm hoping it's fixed before publication and will therefore rate it higher based on what I believe the manuscript says.

I had the pleasure of reading an early copy of Dear White Peacemaker. I must admit that as a Black Peacemaker I was eager to see what Osheta would share with our fellow peacemakers. I was pleasantly shocked to see that Osheta had in fact written a love letter to White Peacemakers that is not too heavy on truth or too heavy on grace. It’s the exact right mix of Grit & Grace! While reading Osheta’s words I was challenged to not only be a better peacekeeper in the area of anti-racism but as a believer in area of my life. Osheta put words to the feelings and thoughts I struggle to share. While this book is written to White Peacemakers it is truly a gift to Black Peacemakers as well.

In Dear White Peacemakers author Osheta Moore welcomes her readers into a compassionate, personal, and honest conversation about racism in the United States, and then invites White peacemakers to bring their whole, beloved selves to the much-needed work of dismantling the white supremacy and pursuing justice and racial reconciliation.

Written with a pastor’s heart, Moore’s passion and compassion for justice and her belief in the belovedness of all people pours out through her words on every page. This book challenged and encouraged me and left me feeling seen, valued, and empowered. I wish I could press this book into the hands of every American Christian.

Thank you to Herald Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for review.

This is a beautifully inspiring book that we as White Peacemakers don't deserve but have been gifted by Osheta Moore. She writes with such thoughtfulness and honesty about living with racism and how important it is for white people to pursue anti-racism. The book is filled with loving kindness and encouraging words that made for a heartbreaking and life-changing read.

I was deeply impacted by this book. Author Osheta Moore writes with both incredible strength and immense gentleness. I am the primary audience for this book- I'm a white woman, churched, who has realized that racism is a huge problem in America, and I want to help solve this problem, but I realize that I'm naively stepping in to a fraught situation hundreds of years in the making. (Sound familiar?)

Moore has the heart of a true pastor (she *is*, in fact, a pastor). With striking candor and remarkable patience, she guides White readers through the teachings of Jesus- specifically the sermon on the mount- and her own experiences as a Black woman and mother with an eye toward creating "peacemakers" in the struggle for racial reconciliation.

This is a religious book in that it references the historic Jesus and his teachings as found in the gospels. It does *not*, however, reference the white evangelical church (some will see that as a blessing, while others may consider it a glaring oversight). I appreciated the reprieve, as I find the white evangelical church problematic, at best, and antithetical to the teachings of Christ, at worst. I was deeply impacted by this book and will take its lessons with me as I continue my journey to becoming a better ally. Definitely recommend to every White peacemaker!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion, which I am always happy to provide. I'm so grateful to #NetGalley, author Osheta Moore, and publisher Herald Press. #DearWhitePeacemakers

Dear White Peacemakers is an intimate conversation about hard topics with a favorite friend. Osheta Moore writes her latest book in a way that makes the reader feel connected to her and this approach serves her purpose well. Topics like Black suffering, White supremacy, and Peacemaking can be difficult to communicate without a trusted relationship in place to hold the weight. Moore’s writing builds a bridge between herself and her reader that is strong enough to bear the gravity of the pain attached to these issues.

The book is structured around four spirituals, a choice I as a music major especially enjoyed. The origin and significance of each song is shared, serving as guideposts for the journey the author takes with the reader. The meat of the book is Moore’s honest disclosure of her own path toward antiracist peacemaking. Her granting the reader access to vulnerable, sometimes painful moments in her life is what facilitates the feeling of a close friendship between reader and author. Moore manages to make the reader feel as if they know her while simultaneously making the reader feel understood. This is what’s almost magical about Dear White Peacemakers: after reading it, it feels like I’ve joined Osheta’s community and that together with kindness, bravery, gentleness, and authentic grace, that community can actually make progress toward Peacemaking.

As I read Dear White Peacemakers, I kept thinking of the many White Evangelical (the branch of Christianity in which I was raised) friends in my circle who are quite resistant to acknowledging the realities of systemic racism and White privilege. This book could very well be the book to reach that group of people and help them begin their own journeys as White Peacemakers. Moore’s ability to call out the Belovedness of all human beings, to remind the reader that all people are image-bearers loved by Creator God, and to communicate how our well-being is entwined with one another creates an unassailable foundation upon which to build.

You who feel disheartened by racism and inequality: this book is for you. You who are overwhelmed with the vastness of the problems of empire and oppression: this book is for you. You who struggle to see or understand what it’s like to live in a Black body: this book is for you. You who have no idea where to begin or what to do: this book is for you. Dear White Peacemakers is an invaluable missive from an amazing Black Woman that will undoubtably mobilize many toward Peacemaking, so get a cup of coffee and join the conversation.

I have to confess to being skeptical after the first few chapters that Osheta Moore was being too accommodating or kind or easy toward white people and white Christians. But this book is a slow burn in the best possible way, and the middle section where she addresses exactly that attitude among white people trying to do the work hit me like a gut punch. Moore's call to peacemaking (and her brilliant contrasting of "peacemaking" vs. "peacekeeping") was so timely, necessary and nourishing. She pushes you, challenges you and blends prayer, scripture, personal stories and history effectively. I'm very much still figuring out the role of faith in my life and I think there's a lot of valuable lessons here for people not from a faith background too, so long as you don't mind Jesus being mentioned throughout. I'll be thinking back to this book a lot. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the book I have been waiting for! I love the author's tone, her foundation for the work she does, her vulnerability and honesty. I learned much and felt well loved, cared for and challenged all at the same time. This is a must read for anyone wanting to work at peacmaking.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredible book.

While it's written to white people (which Moore chooses to capitalize throughout the book and explains why) and I'm not white, I found this to be a great book for anyone wanting to be a better ally.

Moore shares what she sees as the third option for handling conflict- she blends her Christian faith and her experience as a Black woman and mother. She shares the anecdotes and experiences that drove her to writing this book and other steps she has taken to invite those of us who are not Black to understand her life and perspective and truly do the work of anti-racism.

It's a thoughtful and provocative read. Especially for those who have grown up with a religious upbringing many of these texts are familiar and Moore's breakdown of them is so solid and captivating.

A great read for anyone who wants to do the work and live in a way that is anti-racist and faith driven.

This book is so timely and relevant. Osheta Moore explores white supremacy and anti-racism though a lens of grace and grit. She focuses her work around Belovedness. The book uses Biblical backing as a means for disrupting white supremacy. She also uses her own lived experiences. Churches should read this book together. Christians need this perspective.

The only problem I had with the book was that it contained many grammatical errors and typos (“please” instead of “pleas”, missing spaces, unclosed quotes). But those errors were not enough to take me out of the book.