Awakening to The Christian Social Imperative
Raising the consciousness of the Church for the social imperative didn’t happen overnight. Here are four books that have historically shaped social justice in the Church.
♦The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, by Carl F. H. Henry – Written in 1947, this is the classic pivotal book for Christian engagement with social issues.
♦I Have a Dream/Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr. – Carl Henry’s book paved the way for white Christian acceptance of Dr. King’s calls for racial justice in the 60’s.
♦Divided By Faith, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith – Almost four decades later, this book stirred the Christian conscience to struggle anew with racism in the Church.
♦Disunity in Christ, by Christena Cleveland – This more recent book looks at why racism is so difficult to address in the church.
♦The Myth of Equality, Ken Wytsma – Written by the founder of The Justice Conference. Looking ahead here, I expect this book will be formative in the Church.
To experience the same historical redemptive effect as Christians before us, I recommend reading these four books in order.