Anxious to Talk About It

Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 18 May 2021 | Archive Date 21 May 2021

Talking about this book? Use #AnxioustoTalkAboutIt #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

"Wait, we're talking about what? I'm not so sure I want to do that..."

Talking about race can make us anxious. Professor and pastor Carolyn Helsel draws on her successful experiences with white congregations to offer tools and practices to explore the anxious feelings that can come up when talking about racism. Learn how to join the hard conversations and move forward with less fear, more compassion, and more knowledge of self, others, and the important issues at stake.


About the Author

Carolyn B. Helsel teaches preaching at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She holds a PhD from Emory University and MDiv and ThM degrees from Princeton Seminary. Native to Texas, Helsel has been featured on Austin's NPR affiliate and in The Presbyterian Outlook, and has led workshops for the White Privilege Conference and Festival of Homiletics. She is a sought-after speaker and preacher at churches around the country.

"Wait, we're talking about what? I'm not so sure I want to do that..."

Talking about race can make us anxious. Professor and pastor Carolyn Helsel draws on her successful experiences with white...


A Note From the Publisher

Author is available for interviews, blog tours, autographed tours, autographed book giveaways, contests, and book club discussions.

Author is available for interviews, blog tours, autographed tours, autographed book giveaways, contests, and book club discussions.


Advance Praise

“... With a rich blend of scholarly insight and pastoral sensitivity, Helsel inspires and models the kinds of conversations she believes are important for white congregations to have about race. Her book is lively, engaging, and deeply connected to the experiences of white people and people of color in the United States..... Especially notable is Helsel’s attentiveness to issues of intersectionality. She writes, ‘racial identity development does not just take place in a vacuum—it is related to a number of other factors that make persons who they are,’ including age, location, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, nationality, immigration status, and disability..... it’s an important book for our time, and Helsel is an insightful, caring, and deft guide.” ―The Christian Century 


"In this useful book, Helsel, a Presbyterian pastor and professor of preaching at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, lends her perspective as an academic, a member of the clergy, and a white woman to the conversation about race in contemporary America. Helsel divulges personal stories as well as stories taken from the lives of people she has met while preaching and during her time working with the Oral History Project. In one chapter, Helsel tells the story of a young biracial girl named Ashley growing up in white society. To analyze Ashley’s experience of learning that white people view her as an outsider, Helsel breaks it into the five phases of racial identity development described by Janet Helms—pre-encounter, encounter, immersion, internalization, and commitment—that track Ashley’s process from the original encounter with racism to a full commitment to her African-American identity. Helsel’s penultimate chapter, 'Spiritual Practices for Race Talk,' argues that (for white people) overcoming fears of talking about race requires 'caring for yourself through self-compassion, tending to cries for justice through bearing witness, strengthening community through hospitality and dialogue, and incorporating a vision of reconciliation in regular forms of worship and preaching.' In Helsel’s thesis, public, communal healing must begin with spiritual inner peace and a love of brotherhood found through Christ. This slim but powerful book will be of most use to white readers looking for a way to have honest conversations about race." ―Publishers Weekly, 2/11/18

“... With a rich blend of scholarly insight and pastoral sensitivity, Helsel inspires and models the kinds of conversations she believes are important for white congregations to have about race. Her...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9780827200999
PRICE $17.99 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)