Questions for the Authors
I loved the inspectional readings for this week. I found myself agreeing with both authors time and time again and look forward to our advance to hear their lectures in person. I will certainly be diving back into these books to read them completely. This blog will overview this week’s readings and posit some questions which might elicit more discussion in our advance.
Dreaming In Black and White by Brett Fuller
One thing to note about this book is the timing of it. Fuller writes his book during 2020, a time of national and worldwide turmoil. Highlighted during this time was the George Floyd murder, riots, and race debates. It also should be noted that this was at the end of the Trump administration, which certainly highlighted the racial divide in our country.
Fuller takes a calm, sensible and realistic approach to the racial issues plaguing our country. Throughout the book, he has a kingdom-centered focus. He dreams about bringing harmony and peace to our nation and the racial issues that have been brought to the forefront of our nation. He writes, “This book, Dreaming in Black and White, is all about believing for, creating, and capturing iconic moments of resolve and healing.”[1] The year he published this book the conversation around race and race relations was gaining momentum. However, only a few years later, the discussion has since died down, but the racial divide is still evident. Some questions I have of the author.
- How might we keep the racial conversations going?
- What is he doing in his church or city specifically to contribute to racial and kingdom healing in our nation?
High Ceilings: Women in Leadership by Brett Fuller
This book is a very recently self-published book seemingly to put his position on women in leadership to pen and paper. Fuller gives a brief overview of some Scripture that support his position. He demonstrates how there are typically four different positions, and he falls into the complementarian-egalitarian position which is complementarian in marriage but egalitarian in church structure. He argues that his position is not based on the cultural movement of the day but rather on the actual scripture that complementarians use for their argument which is based in Galatians 3:28,29. He writes, “The restrictions on female authority, function, and gifting were most properly applied within the context of marriage.”[2]
He seems to focus on his perspective but does not appear to rebut any counterarguments explicitly. Instead, he focuses on his interpretation of the Scripture. One thing that he might consider expanding on is why women might be elders within the church structure. Another question I have for the author is:
- What has the response been within your church as you have navigated this question?
- What has the response been from others outside your church as you have navigated this question?
God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It by Jim Wallis
I found myself agreeing with much of what Jim Wallis writes, especially with some of the historical lessons learned around the Bush era. He writes, “The American Bush theology sees a struggle between good and evil – we are good, they are evil.”[3] This perspective has continued over the last couple of decades. The axis of evil that Bush detailed is still seen in politics today. Just this week the Republican party has made immigrants the “evil” ones and overtly racist rhetoric arguing that immigrants are eating people’s cats and dogs.
Wallis gives the reader a very nuanced, center of the road, perspective. He argues against Democrat policies as well as Republican policies. He demonstrates to the American Christian a path forward on how we might navigate the challenging dynamics when we as Christians often do not feel we fit into a political mold very easily. He writes, “To move forward we simply must refuse the false choices offered by both sides.”[4] He posits that Christians should feel uneasy in our political world as Jesus is not a political party.
The political world is divisive and determined to drive the political parties apart. It has become an “us versus them” structure. We are in a season in which facts are irrelevant and fear mongering is rampant.
- When one party can simply make racist statements about immigrants how might we challenge or counteract the statements reinforced by those who buy into such nonsense?
- This book is over a decade old now and was written before Donald Trump entered politics. If there was to be a new edition of this book, how might it be different? What would be added?
[1] Brett Fuller, Dreaming in Black and White (BookBaby, 2021), 7.
[2] Brett E. Fuller, High Ceilings: Women in Leadership (Monee, IL: Independently published, 2021), 14.
[3] Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2008), 105.
[4] Wallis, 331.
About the Author
Adam Cheney
I grew up in California, spent five years living along the beautiful coast of Kenya and now find myself working with refugees in the snow crusted tundra of Minnesota. My wife and I have seven children, four of whom have been adopted. I spend my time drinking lots of coffee, working in my garden, and baking sourdough bread.9 responses to “Questions for the Authors”
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Adam, I, too, found myself agreeing with both authors throughout my readings. Which of these topic do you face the most in your ministry context?
Kari,
Currently, I am wrestling with the women in leadership issue mostly. Though this is not specific to my ministry setting as that would be a whole new topic to dive into. In my church, it is an issue that our pastor has taken a hard stance on and so there are my discussions and disagreements right now. I am heading camping tomorrow with a group of guys from church and I am 100% certain this issue will arise and I find myself on opposing sides from most of them. It is good I am not afraid of a little disagreement.
Adam, Aside from Native Americans, everyone is a descendant of an immigrant. I think of the groups that came from during the 1900s. Each new group that came faced discrimmination at some level until a new group arrived and became the punching bag. Sad on many levels. I wonder if Wallis has studied immigration throughout history and how it compares to today. Do you see any correlation to history and today?
Diane,
I am not sure how much Wallis might have studied immigration. However, I have been studying it quite deeply for a few years now. Once thing to note is that in the 1900’s many of the immigrants were “white” but they were ostracized at the time. They were Irish, Italian, etc. At the time they were segregated but now they are just seen as “white.” We still see racism in immigration. We can look at the comment on Haitian refugees and see that it was simply a racist dog-whistle.
Your point is interesting to me because I speak to exactly what you have said when I speak about racism. All of my grandparents were born and raised in Italy. When I was growing up there were many slurs and places where my father was not permitted. However, I too say to friends and coworkers when we talk about racism that when I drive my car on a quiet road I am not randomly pulled over because my skin is white. Most of the Eurpoean groups did assimilate, although, my grandmother never really spoke English. I do think those experiences growing up changed my outlook though because I never want anyone to be less than just because of skin color, nationality, and yes even religion. Our stance as Christians is to follow the model that Jesus lived when he ate at the table with the outcasts. In that we may draw people to follow Christ as well. Thanks for the
Adam,
I too am looking forward to hearing both authors and have more questions that I wrote in my post. Native American Author Mark Charles poses the question of how reconciliation can happen among Native Americans when there were not good relations to begin with. Would Fuller consider this same statement to be true among African Americans?
Jeff,
That is a good question. What can we reconcile to? Truly, it will necessitate a reconciliation towards the kingdom of heaven as there is nothing about the kingdom of America that will draw that reconciliation.
Adam, given your point about earlier immigrants being white, do you feel that today’s variation of immigrant fear could be categorized as the “brown scare”? That was a term used during the Chicano movement of the 60s and early 70s.
And as our national racial and ethnic composition changes to reflect more diversity (I think Caucasians will be a minority by 2050), do you think the “brown scare” tension might rise even more?
Hi Adam, You did an excellent job summarizing the books. I am curious about your experience with women in spiritual leadership positions while you were in Kenya. Was there a specific attitude concerning women in leadership? This could be from a Christian or non-Christian perspective.