
ISBN:9781626981096
Pages: 256
Binding: softcover
Stand Your Ground
By: Kelly Brown Douglas
Overview
CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD WINNER! - Faithful Citizenship/Religious Freedom
"The author strikes a good balance between political theology and analysis. Names in the news, including Michael Brown, combine with her own personal perspective as a mother to give the narrative poignancy and timeliness.Ā Stand Your GroundĀ raises important spiritual and social questions."āPublishers Weekly
"A clarion call to all in the United States, regardless of race, gender, class or faith, to acknowledge our sordid and painful past and to work together to transform the American dream of equality and opportunity into a reality for all."āDiana L. Hayes, inĀ National Catholic Reporter
āIf Trayvon was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?āāPresident Barack Obama
On the Sunday morning after the acquittal of Trayvon Martinās killer, black preachers across America addressed the questions his death raised for their communities: āWhere is the justice of God? What are we to hope for?ā
In this timely and compelling book, Kelly Brown Douglas examines the myths and narratives underlying a āstand-your-groundā culture, taking seriously the social as well as the theological questions raised by this and similar events, from Ferguson, Missouri to Staten Island, New York.
But the author also brings another significant interpretative lens to this text: that of a mother. She writes: āThere has been no story in the news that has troubled me more than that of Trayvon Martinās slaying. President Obama said that if he had a son his son would look like Trayvon. I do have a son and he does look like Trayvon.ā
In the face of tragedy and indifference, Kelly Brown Douglas arms the truth of a black motherās faith in these times of āstand your ground.ā
Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown DouglasĀ is the inaugeral Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. She has served as Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Director of the Religion Program at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, where she holds the Susan D. Morgan Professorship of Religion. Prior to coming to Goucher College she was Associate Professor of Theology at Howard University School of Divinity, Washington, DC, and served as Assistant Professor of Religion at Edward Waters College,Ā Jacksonville, FL.
A native of Dayton, OH, Dr. Douglas was ordained in 1985 at Saint Margaret's Episcopal Churchāthe first black woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest in the Southern Ohio Diocese, and one of only five nationwide at the time. In 2012 she was the first to receive the Anna Julia Cooper Award by the Union of Black Episcopalians for her āliterary boldness and leadership in the development of a womanist theology and discussing the complexities of Christian faith in African-American contexts."Ā EssenceĀ magazine counts her āamong this countryās most distinguished religious thinkers, teachers, ministers, and counselors."
She is widely published in national and international journals. Her other books includeĀ The Black Christ,Ā Whatās Faith Got to Do with It?Ā (both from Orbis Books) as well asĀ Black Bodies/Christian Souls,Ā andĀ Black Bodies and the Black Church: A Blues Slant. She is also co-editor ofĀ Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection.
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