What did you learn at the Hook Lecture?
We were all inspired by Richard Reddie’s words, and we know this won’t be a one-off learning moment. If you’re looking to keep learning and build real movements for change, here are some places to start…
Race for Justice – Richard Reddie
This book brings together voices of justice and inclusion workers in a variety of Church denominations in the UK, to give their frontline perspectives on the successes – and failures – to bring about racial equality and justice in the Church.
Abolition! – Richard Reddie
A compelling account of the traffic in enslaved Africans and the struggle to bring it to an end within the British colonies. Richard Reddie challenges readers to confront the horrors of Britain’s past and to celebrate the achievements of all those putting up resistance.
Look What the Lord Has Done! – Mark Sturge
The growth of Black Christian faith in Britain over recent decades has been truly spectacular. Here for the first time is a survey of this dynamic movement, with informed analysis, biblical reflection and practical challenge.
Is God Colour-Blind? – Anthony G. Reddie
This practical book applies the lessons of black theology in a pastoral context, drawing on the author’s extensive experience of working with churches on issues surrounding racial justice and Christian ministry.
Black British Gospel Music – Dulcie A. Dixon McKenzie, Pauline E. Muir, and Monique M. Ingalls
Gospel music is a dynamic and multifaceted musical practice, a diasporic river rooted in the experiences of Black British Christian communities. This book examines gospel music in Britain from the Windrush generation to Black Lives Matter.
God is Not a White Man – Chine McDonald
What does it mean when God is presented as male? What does it mean when – from our internal assumptions to our shared cultural imaginings – God is presented as white? A searing look at the author’s experience as a Black woman in the white-majority space that is the UK church.
If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I? – Angela Parker
Angela Parker wasn’t just trained to be a biblical scholar; she was trained to be a White male biblical scholar. She is neither White nor male. Here she presents a challenge to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy that questions how Christians are taught more about the way of Whiteness than the way of Jesus.
Black, Gay, British, Christian, Queer – Jarel Robinson-Brown
If the Church is ever tempted to think that it knows the meaning of grace, it need only look at its reception of queer black bodies and it will see a very different story. This book seeks to remind the Church of those who find themselves outside its fellowship, yet who directly suffer from the perpetual ecclesial terrorism of the Christian community through its speech and its silence.
Testament to Truth short films
These monologues by Leeds-based writer and beatboxer Testament are based on the real lived experience of Black Christians in white-majority churches. They tell the stories of daily microaggressions and covert racism ever-present in the church.
In our Leeds Lives interviews, we spoke to Black Christians about their experiences of life and faith in Leeds.