stevensabby's review
5.0
If you’re white and interested in the world and work of racial reconciliation, specifically as it involves Christians and the church, if you have family and friends who would receive a gentle but firm look at race and what it means to be white in this country, if you’re starting a ministry or a church and want some checks and practical advice—read this book. Daniel Hill is generous and gracious—you’ll find truth, conviction, but no invitation to shame here.
pagesofpins's review
2.0
There were some good points here, many from other books I've read or are planning to read.
The author is a man coming from a middle class Pentecostal background, and he does a good job exploring his biases and the hard lessons he has learned. However, mine are pretty different, so most of the material that was applicable to me was pretty familiar.
The author is a man coming from a middle class Pentecostal background, and he does a good job exploring his biases and the hard lessons he has learned. However, mine are pretty different, so most of the material that was applicable to me was pretty familiar.
dkk's review
5.0
One of the best books on what it means to be white and Christian in America. It is not shaming at all but an honest look at what the Gospel compels us to be in relation to race, reconciliation and justice.
davehershey's review
4.0
Who Should Read this Book: White folks – specifically Christians but really anyone – who want to honestly examine and wrestle with what it means to be white, how whiteness shapes us, and how we can become aware.
What’s the Big Takeaway: Our culture shapes how we see everything and western culture, for centuries, has normalized white culture to the point many of us simply assume it is the norm against which all other cultures are judged. An honest and serious reckoning with our cultural identity requires eyes to see and ears to hear how we have been influenced and an openness to how we can, as disciples of Jesus, begin to change for the better.
And a Quote (Or two…or three): “First we must contend with the normalization of white culture . . . With white culture serving as the baselines, we then evaluate everyone else’s culture based on the norms we associate with white culture” (31)
“When the journey begins to feel like any combination of scary, confusing, disorienting, or even painful, we have a privilege that people of color do not: we can walk away; we can go back to ‘normal,’ if we choose” (38)
“The theology passed on to us from white forefathers is considered to be the normal, default standard for theology. It is the assume cultural norm. Everyone else’s theology is defined in relation to whiteness” (33)
Daniel Hill begins this book by sharing an interaction he had at a friend’s wedding. This friend was Indian and the wedding ceremony was full of symbols and traditions from the groom’s Indian heritage. At one point during the reception, Hill commented to his friend that he loved the ceremony and then he said, “I wish I had a culture too.” His friend responded that Daniel did have a culture and that when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, white culture always wins.
Ouch.
Hill writes this book for white Christians to move through the process of seriously reckoning with our white identity. Throughout the book, Hill is uncomfortably honest. The above story is not the only one he shares of a time when he said or did something that could have been taken as offensive. He shares being deeply thankful for the kindness and forgiveness offered to him by teachers, mentors and friends over the years.
In the past few years, the last year specifically, a lot of white people have become aware of racism in America. What often happens is that we learn about the evils of racism that still exist and impact large segments of society and we immediately ask, “what should we do?” We are action oriented. We want to fix things. Hill relates this is how he was, and sometimes still is. While action plays a small part in Hill’s book, his primary call is for us to listen and learn.
When we white people think we are becoming enlightened, we swoop in to try to save the day. This feeds into our own white savior complex and is paternalistic. I read this book as part of a reading group with Bridgebuilders, an organization in Chicago. They bring groups into the city to listen, learn and serve. One of the members shared how many of the groups show up with a deep desire to serve. They want to “fix” the city. Bridgebuilders helps them see that there are already groups in the city doing good work. A small group of people from outside cannot fix the city, plus there are churches with thousands of people already doing good work. The emphasis is on listen and learn.
For Hill, the first step in this listening and learning is recognizing that we have a cultural identity. In this, he argues that “color blindness” is actually a blindspots for it “minimizes the racial-cultural heritage of a person and promotes a culturally neutral approach that sees people independent of their heritage” (41). As his friend said, when white culture meets other cultures, it wins. To think you are objective is merely not to notice your own biases. Likewise, to think you are colorblind is to not notice your own culture or to assume your culture is the default.
Hill, being a pastor, argues that colorblindness minimizes the role of cultural identity played in the New Testament, in Christ and in the early church. From Joseph and Esther through to Jesus and on into the Ethiopian eunuch, cultures are an important part of God’s creation. In the eschaton we see a picture not of everyone blended into one, but of a celebration of diversity – “the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into” the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24, 26).
With that said, Hill moves into the meat of the book which includes seven stages that mark the process of a white person seeking to understand cultural identity and move from blindness to sight. These seven stages, each with its own chapter, are encounter, denial, disorientation, shame, self-righteousness, awakening and active participation. Hill notes you do not necessarily move through each stage in order and can move back and forth from time to time.
Overall, this is a necessary and helpful book. I’ve read and heard black Christians say they are weary from trying to educate white people. Hill’s book is an effort to take this burden off our black brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are a white person wrestling with issues of race, wondering what you can or should do, Hill’s book is a great place to go.
That said, I could even imagine a critique where Hill’s book is taking eyes away from books of black Christians. Hill’s book should not be the only one you read, especially because you’d be depriving yourself of works by other great writers. I’d probably recommend Jemar Tisby’s How to Fight Racism as a better place to start. Along with that, I highly recommend reading this book and books like it, in community. I got a lot more out of it by reading it in conversation with other people.
On that note, if you’re looking to move past reading and into listening more personally, check out the work Bridgebuilders does. They are a fantastic organization!
What’s the Big Takeaway: Our culture shapes how we see everything and western culture, for centuries, has normalized white culture to the point many of us simply assume it is the norm against which all other cultures are judged. An honest and serious reckoning with our cultural identity requires eyes to see and ears to hear how we have been influenced and an openness to how we can, as disciples of Jesus, begin to change for the better.
And a Quote (Or two…or three): “First we must contend with the normalization of white culture . . . With white culture serving as the baselines, we then evaluate everyone else’s culture based on the norms we associate with white culture” (31)
“When the journey begins to feel like any combination of scary, confusing, disorienting, or even painful, we have a privilege that people of color do not: we can walk away; we can go back to ‘normal,’ if we choose” (38)
“The theology passed on to us from white forefathers is considered to be the normal, default standard for theology. It is the assume cultural norm. Everyone else’s theology is defined in relation to whiteness” (33)
Daniel Hill begins this book by sharing an interaction he had at a friend’s wedding. This friend was Indian and the wedding ceremony was full of symbols and traditions from the groom’s Indian heritage. At one point during the reception, Hill commented to his friend that he loved the ceremony and then he said, “I wish I had a culture too.” His friend responded that Daniel did have a culture and that when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, white culture always wins.
Ouch.
Hill writes this book for white Christians to move through the process of seriously reckoning with our white identity. Throughout the book, Hill is uncomfortably honest. The above story is not the only one he shares of a time when he said or did something that could have been taken as offensive. He shares being deeply thankful for the kindness and forgiveness offered to him by teachers, mentors and friends over the years.
In the past few years, the last year specifically, a lot of white people have become aware of racism in America. What often happens is that we learn about the evils of racism that still exist and impact large segments of society and we immediately ask, “what should we do?” We are action oriented. We want to fix things. Hill relates this is how he was, and sometimes still is. While action plays a small part in Hill’s book, his primary call is for us to listen and learn.
When we white people think we are becoming enlightened, we swoop in to try to save the day. This feeds into our own white savior complex and is paternalistic. I read this book as part of a reading group with Bridgebuilders, an organization in Chicago. They bring groups into the city to listen, learn and serve. One of the members shared how many of the groups show up with a deep desire to serve. They want to “fix” the city. Bridgebuilders helps them see that there are already groups in the city doing good work. A small group of people from outside cannot fix the city, plus there are churches with thousands of people already doing good work. The emphasis is on listen and learn.
For Hill, the first step in this listening and learning is recognizing that we have a cultural identity. In this, he argues that “color blindness” is actually a blindspots for it “minimizes the racial-cultural heritage of a person and promotes a culturally neutral approach that sees people independent of their heritage” (41). As his friend said, when white culture meets other cultures, it wins. To think you are objective is merely not to notice your own biases. Likewise, to think you are colorblind is to not notice your own culture or to assume your culture is the default.
Hill, being a pastor, argues that colorblindness minimizes the role of cultural identity played in the New Testament, in Christ and in the early church. From Joseph and Esther through to Jesus and on into the Ethiopian eunuch, cultures are an important part of God’s creation. In the eschaton we see a picture not of everyone blended into one, but of a celebration of diversity – “the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into” the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24, 26).
With that said, Hill moves into the meat of the book which includes seven stages that mark the process of a white person seeking to understand cultural identity and move from blindness to sight. These seven stages, each with its own chapter, are encounter, denial, disorientation, shame, self-righteousness, awakening and active participation. Hill notes you do not necessarily move through each stage in order and can move back and forth from time to time.
Overall, this is a necessary and helpful book. I’ve read and heard black Christians say they are weary from trying to educate white people. Hill’s book is an effort to take this burden off our black brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are a white person wrestling with issues of race, wondering what you can or should do, Hill’s book is a great place to go.
That said, I could even imagine a critique where Hill’s book is taking eyes away from books of black Christians. Hill’s book should not be the only one you read, especially because you’d be depriving yourself of works by other great writers. I’d probably recommend Jemar Tisby’s How to Fight Racism as a better place to start. Along with that, I highly recommend reading this book and books like it, in community. I got a lot more out of it by reading it in conversation with other people.
On that note, if you’re looking to move past reading and into listening more personally, check out the work Bridgebuilders does. They are a fantastic organization!
allieeveryday's review
3.0
Read as part of a church group study.
Recently, in a conversation with friends about [b:White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|43708708|White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|Robin DiAngelo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548478235l/43708708._SY75_.jpg|58159636], one of them made a comment about how white people are paid so much more for talking about racism than people of color are, though white people do not experience racism (as defined re: systems of power are created to benefit white people, to the exclusion of people of color). This conversation happened literally a day or two before our church started to read this, and we acknowledged that in the first Zoom session - how it feels so weird to talk about racism from the perspective of this white man who is at the top of literally all intersections.
It is what it is. Anyway, this was fine. White Awake is the first book about race that I have read that intersects with evangelical Christianity (though I know there are many more, including by Black authors, which I intend to check out later), and I appreciate the discussion from that perspective. I'm glad we had this conversation chapter by chapter, week by week, but I really didn't feel like it was super cohesive until the last chapter, when everything tied together. I think the last chapter helped a lot with getting me back on board with it; one of the big topics was that white people are often quick to jump to the question of How Do We Fix It, and a) we can't "fix it," b) we really can't "fix it" if we don't even totally understand the problem, so Hill talks about steps toward better understanding, going from "blindness to sight" as described in the biblical gospels, and acknowledging/lamenting/repenting for the state of race relations and one's own complicity in it before moving toward participation in anti-racism activity, which ... yeah as a whole it makes sense, but reading it chapter by chapter was very frustrating, being stuck in many chapters before getting to how it all works together!
Admittedly, I'm impatient though. This would be a good starter book if you're a Christian who is just "waking up" to the issues of racism in America.
Chapters:
• The Day I Discovered My World Was White
• Flying Blind
• What is Cultural Identity
• Encounter
• Denial
• Disorientation
• Shame
• Self-Righteousness
• Awakening
• Active Participation
Recently, in a conversation with friends about [b:White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|43708708|White Fragility Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism|Robin DiAngelo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548478235l/43708708._SY75_.jpg|58159636], one of them made a comment about how white people are paid so much more for talking about racism than people of color are, though white people do not experience racism (as defined re: systems of power are created to benefit white people, to the exclusion of people of color). This conversation happened literally a day or two before our church started to read this, and we acknowledged that in the first Zoom session - how it feels so weird to talk about racism from the perspective of this white man who is at the top of literally all intersections.
It is what it is. Anyway, this was fine. White Awake is the first book about race that I have read that intersects with evangelical Christianity (though I know there are many more, including by Black authors, which I intend to check out later), and I appreciate the discussion from that perspective. I'm glad we had this conversation chapter by chapter, week by week, but I really didn't feel like it was super cohesive until the last chapter, when everything tied together. I think the last chapter helped a lot with getting me back on board with it; one of the big topics was that white people are often quick to jump to the question of How Do We Fix It, and a) we can't "fix it," b) we really can't "fix it" if we don't even totally understand the problem, so Hill talks about steps toward better understanding, going from "blindness to sight" as described in the biblical gospels, and acknowledging/lamenting/repenting for the state of race relations and one's own complicity in it before moving toward participation in anti-racism activity, which ... yeah as a whole it makes sense, but reading it chapter by chapter was very frustrating, being stuck in many chapters before getting to how it all works together!
Admittedly, I'm impatient though. This would be a good starter book if you're a Christian who is just "waking up" to the issues of racism in America.
Chapters:
• The Day I Discovered My World Was White
• Flying Blind
• What is Cultural Identity
• Encounter
• Denial
• Disorientation
• Shame
• Self-Righteousness
• Awakening
• Active Participation
dawnk's review
5.0
Challenging...thought provoking...transformed my thinking. Moving from blindness to sight.
amberinhonduras's review
4.0
Very good look at how racism can be actively addressed by a Christian white person without causing more damage with our good intentions.
aschmidt09's review
5.0
A must read for all who are seeking to make Jesus known in 21st century America.