When the Church Woke

by William B. Lawrence

Overview

The most divisive and damaging aspect of the church in America is the combination of racism and white supremacy that has been woven into the fabric of the church to the degree that one cannot discuss the church in America apart from this sin. Nowhere is this clearer than in American Methodism, including The United Methodist Church. That denomination, which has been divided for decades over issues regarding human sexuality and homosexuality, is a product of a long history of racism and white supremacy. While initiatives have been taken to address these matters, there has not been any effort to help the church focus on being anti-racist in its practices or public witness at every level, including local church levels. This is a book that identifies this sin and offers an innovative look at the mission of the church, based on biblical witnesses to new life with the resurrection. It offers proposals for reparations and renewal that will come when the church woke.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666792478
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	10/21/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	214
File size:	716 KB

About the Author

William B. Lawrence is professor emeritus of American Church History at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church and a clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference. Before retirement, his career included both academic and church positions. He was a pastor in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. He has served on the faculties and staffs of four theological schools. And he has been president of the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“William Lawrence offers a prophetic and pragmatic plan to confront the pervasive problem of white supremacy within the United Methodist Church and American Methodism at large. With every page, Lawrence invites readers to awaken and act as disciples empowered by a risen Christ to transform a broken church and heal a country disfigured by the congenital defect of racism. I strongly endorse this book and highly recommend that all American Methodists read When the Church Woke.”

—Sharon Grant, Hood Theological Seminary



“Engaging and challenging, easily read and scholarly, up-to-date and biblically-historically grounded, attentive to present theological/ecclesial disputes and offering redemptive ways forward, well-documented and terse, enlivened with down-to-the-ground episodes and comprehensive in scope, focused on American Methodism but providing counsel pertinent across Protestantism, When the Church Woke challenges readers to face societal, relational, and family matters that have bedeviled and continue to plague us.”

—Russell E. Richey, Candler School of Theology



“When the Church Woke is critical but not cynical. In this extraordinary theological and historical critique of the United Methodist Church in the US, Lawrence presents a church that stands at the crossroads of a deeply rooted racist past and a future with the possibility of exercising judgment and forgiveness to overcome the racial crisis that the church has too long ignored.”

—Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church

Editorial Reviews

William Lawrence offers a prophetic and pragmatic plan to confront the pervasive problem of white supremacy within the United Methodist Church and American Methodism at large. With every page, Lawrence invites readers to awaken and act as disciples empowered by a risen Christ to transform a broken church and heal a country disfigured by the congenital defect of racism. I strongly endorse this book and highly recommend that all American Methodists read When the Church Woke.”

—Sharon Grant, Hood Theological Seminary



“Engaging and challenging, easily read and scholarly, up-to-date and biblically-historically grounded, attentive to present theological/ecclesial disputes and offering redemptive ways forward, well-documented and terse, enlivened with down-to-the-ground episodes and comprehensive in scope, focused on American Methodism but providing counsel pertinent across Protestantism, When the Church Woke challenges readers to face societal, relational, and family matters that have bedeviled and continue to plague us.”

—Russell E. Richey, Candler School of Theology



“When the Church Woke is critical but not cynical. In this extraordinary theological and historical critique of the United Methodist Church in the US, Lawrence presents a church that stands at the crossroads of a deeply rooted racist past and a future with the possibility of exercising judgment and forgiveness to overcome the racial crisis that the church has too long ignored.”

—Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church

From the Publisher