⭐Advance Praise & Reviews⭐

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. Stand Your Ground raises important spiritual and social questions."—Publishers 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."—Diana L. Hayes, in National Catholic Reporter

“If Trayvon was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?”—President Barack Obama

On the Sunday morning after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, black preachers across America addressed the questions his death raised for their communities: “Where is the justice of God? What are we to hope for?”

In this timely and compelling book, Kelly Brown Douglas examines the myths and narratives underlying a “stand-your-ground” 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: “There has been no story in the news that has troubled me more than that of Trayvon Martin’s 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.”

In the face of tragedy and indifference, Kelly Brown Douglas arms the truth of a black mother’s faith in these times of “stand your ground.”

The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas is a Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School and serves as Canon Theologian at both the Washington National Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Previously, she served as Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She is widely recognized as a leading voice in womanist theology, racial reconciliation, and the study of sexuality and the Black church. Her Orbis Books titles include The Black Christ, What’s Faith Got to Do with It?, and Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

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