February 2025 - Publishers Newsletter

Dear Friends,

          Black History Month this year coincides with efforts by the new administration to erase all government programs and references to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” claiming that they foster “illegal and immoral” racial discrimination--that is, discrimination against White people. The pretense is that these policies actually mark the realization of Martin Luther King’s “dream” of a country where all people will be judged “by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.”

          In my recent conversation with Juan Floyd-Thomas about his new book Critical Race Theology, we talked about the fallacy of twisting King’s message to literally whitewash American history and deny the ongoing reality of racial oppression. Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis, notably spoke of “cheap grace,” which is the grace we bestow on ourselves: “forgiveness without requiring repentance . . . grace without discipleship, grace without the cross. . .”  The current effort by a white nationalist administration to declare victory over racism and white privilege is a similar kind of “cheap grace.”

          Now is a good time to study the many books on the Orbis list that belie this proclamation and summon all Americans to commit to what King called “the long and bitter, but beautiful struggle for a new world.” Where to begin? Consider these titles (and many more), all on sale this month:

·       Melanie Jones Quarles, Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption. (Interviewed.)

·       James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, a modern classic and our bestselling title.

·       Kelly Brown Douglas, Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter, winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. (Interviewed.)

·       Alessandra Harris, In the Shadow of Freedom: The Enduring Call for Racial Justice. (Interviewed.)

·       Bryan Massingale, Racial Justice and the Catholic Church.

·       Greg Garret, The Gospel According to James Baldwin. (Interview.)

·       Roger Haight, Facing Race: The Gospel in an Ignatian Key.

·       Alex Mikulich, Unlearning White Supremacy.

·       M. Shawn Copeland, Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience.

·       Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness, a classic in womanist theology.

·       Vincent Harding, Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero.

The Orbis program in Black Theology extends more than forty years to the foundation laid by the work of James H. Cone. We continue our release of anniversary editions of his works this month with the fortieth anniversary edition of For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church.  Also to be released this month, a most timely and necessary book: A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege by Daniel P. Horan.

Black History is American history—not confined to one month of the year. For some it is a story of struggle, pride, and aspiration; for others a call to conversion and solidarity. Our American story, with all its lights and shadows, continues.

Peace,