Take Me to the Water by Starlette Thomas

Take Me to the Water by Starlette Thomas

The racializing of the Christian faith, evidenced by the various depictions of Jesus that hang in homes and sanctuaries-the idea that God is a white man-as well as the segregated church in North America, was never the intention of the gospel. Instead, it is proof of the coercion and co-option of the American empire and the church's outright rejection of the new community that Jesus created through his body and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 1 provides a historical overview of how the segregated North American church came to be and also definitions of race and its progeny as understood by anthropologists, historians, lawyers, and theologians. Chapter 2 examines the history of baptism, baptismal identity, the baptismal formula's implications for a just society, and the church's forgotten creed. Chapter 3 details the work and efficacy of baptism to challenge structural divisions within the North American church. Chapter 4 records the author's gleanings and what we can all draw from the water. Chapter 5 offers a summary that doubles as a benediction, a parting blessing as we re-enter the world with new eyes to see.