A review by jenmat1197
When God Became White: Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity by Grace Ji-Sun Kim

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

 

Amazon says:

Christianity is rooted in the ancient Near East among people of darker skin.  But over time, European Christians cast Jesus in their own image, with art that imagined a fair-skinned Savior in the style of imperial rulers.  Grace Ji-Sun Kim explores the historical origins and theological implications of how Jesus became white and God became a white male.  The myth of the white male God has had a devastating effect as it enabled Christianity to have a profoundly colonialist posture across the globe.  Kim examines the roots of the distortion, its harmful impact on the world, and shows what it looks like to recover the biblical reality of a nonwhite, nongendered God.  Rediscovering God as Spirit leads us to a more just faither and a better church and world.

This book was excellent.  I had picked this book up at a bookstore in Boston and decided I wanted to check it out.  The author talks about the history of God and Jesus become white over the course of time and how that has affected not only her life but other people of color.  She weaves personal memoir among theology and paints a picture of how we got here and where we go from here.  She invisions a church that is inclusive and representative of all people and how we get there.  I can think of a lot of people who should read this book. Glad I found this one.