Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus is destined to transform Bonhoeffer studies. Previously scholars have focused on Bonhoeffer's experience that year at Union Theological Seminary, but Williams makes a plausible case that his experiences in neighboring Harlem were far more decisive in shaping the man who returned to Germany to take on the Nazis and the Nazifying Protestant churches.
Emilie M. Townes
Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus is a compelling study of Bonhoeffer’s encounter with the Christianity he found alive in the streets of Harlem and the sanctuary of Abyssinian Baptist Church. These formative experiences inspired Bonhoeffer’s efforts to undermine the false connection between White imperialist identity and Jesus. The Black Christ that Williams finds in Bonhoeffer challenges all of us to live more authentically and fully into the call to do justice. Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus is a must read.
Larry Rasmussen
This study of Bonhoeffer and the black Christ is a revelation, an unveiling that illumines the deep places of Bonhoeffer's life and thought. Moreover, Reggie Williams' presentation and writing are exemplary, within reach of any audience serious about Bonhoeffer.
Eboni Marshall Turman
In Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus, Reggie Williams does what no other Bonhoeffer scholar has done in the history of the guild. His turn to interrogate Harlem, its historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, and the significance of Black life and resistance for Bonhoeffer's theological vision and ethical formation is groundbreaking and field-shifting. This book is required reading for all who desire a more expansive treatment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life, and who want to know how Black lives matter then and now for his enduring legacy.
David P. Gushee
Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus is destined to transform Bonhoeffer studies. Previously scholars have focused on Bonhoeffer’s experience that year at Union Theological Seminary, but Williams makes a plausible case that his experiences in neighboring Harlem were far more decisive in shaping the man who returned to Germany to take on the Nazis and the Nazifying Protestant churches.
Jennifer M. McBride
In recent years, scholars have begun to name Bonhoeffer’s experience in Harlem as central to his development, but no one until now has provided such a rich analysis of the embedded cultural thinking he had to shed and the degree and manner in which he did so. Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus not only will ignite new discussions on Bonhoeffer and race, but also will guide readers into more honest reflection on the entrenched nature of racism and the deliberative thinking and action necessary for resistance.
Willie James Jennings
Reggie Williams' Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus fundamentally disrupted Bonhoeffer studies for the better, breathing new life into conversations too long caught in an endless feedback loop. Now with this second edition which includes an extraordinary foreword from Ferdinand Schlingensiepen, arguably the world's leading Bonhoeffer scholar, we see even more clearly the path Williams has laid for us to move Bonhoeffer from Eurocentric intellectual isolationism toward a Bonhoeffer listening and learning from the black diaspora—would that others could follow his example and Williams' insights.
