Quick Summary: Historical nonfiction

My Review: Awakening to Justice: Faithful Voices from the Abolitionist Past by The Dialogue on Race and Faith Project is a non fiction, academic work set to be published in March 2024. Contributors to this resource include: Jemar Tisby, Christopher P. Momany, Sègbégnon Mathieu Gnonhossou, David D. Daniels, R. Matthew Sigler, Douglas M. Strong, Diane Leclerc, Esther Chung-Kim, Albert G. Miller, and Estrelda Y. Alexander.

Description: "'Through considering connections between the revivalist, holiness, and abolitionist movements; the experiences of enslaved and freed people; abolitionists' spiritual practices; various tactics used by abolitionists; and other themes, the authors offer insight and hope for Christians concerned about racial justice. They highlight how Christians associated with Charles Finney's style of revivalism formed intentional, countercultural communities such as Oberlin College to be exemplars of interracial cooperation and equality.

Christians have all too often compromised with racism throughout history, but that’s not the whole story. Hearing the prophetic witness of revivalist social justice efforts in the nineteenth century can provide a fresh approach to today's conversations about race and faith in the church.'"

My Final Say: The content in this non fiction work completely intrigued me. I have long held a desire to understand how Christianity, slavery, and abolitionists thinking, as well as their actions, merged in times past and even how the tenets of those areas influence thought processes and beliefs in present times. Through my own personal research, I have come to find such contradiction and hypocrisy in the former and to some degree even in the latter. I had hoped that by reading this book I might be able to get a fresh perspective on the subject matter. There were, of course, many aspects of the material that I found fascinating, and other aspects that I wished were explored further. All in all, this book definitely offered food for thought.

Other: The book provides a heady number of resources whereby armchair scholars and those who are focused on evidence based academics can dig deeper. With that said, I believe that it would be a good place to jump off, in terms of a conversation. The conversation may begin through this content, but it certainly should not end there.

Rating: 4.75/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Status: Non fiction
Level: Academics, Reference resource, History
Note: This would be an excellent history book club recommendation.

Appreciation is extended to those associated with The Dialogue on Race and Faith Project. Additionally, I am grateful to have been granted digital access to an ARC by IVP Academic and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It was a pleasure to read this work and to further learn about this content. I look forward to acquainting myself with future material that is presented, if any