When God Became White, Grace JiSun Kim
When God Became White, Grace JiSun Kim
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When God Became White
Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity

Author: Grace Ji-Sun Kim, David P. Gushee

Narrator: Hannah Choi

Unabridged: 6 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/21/2024


Synopsis

When Western Christians think about God, the default image that comes to mind is usually white and male. How did that happen?

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 faith and a better church and world.

About Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Grace Ji-Sun Kim, who was born in Seoul, Korea, is associate professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion. She has written or coauthored nineteen books, including Intersectional Theology: An Introductory Guide and Healing Our Broken Humanity.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Reader

Grace Ji-Sun Kim’s When God Became White: Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity (IVP: 2024) is an important, timely work that I highly recommend Christian communities to read (and implement). While I offer a critical analysis below, there is so much to positively highlight in this text.......more

Goodreads review by Adam

Summary: A mix of history, memoir, and theology to discuss the problem of God being portrayed as White and how this has communicated Whiteness (an ideology of racial hierarchy). I have been looking forward to reading When God Became White since I heard it announced. I have only read her Intersectiona......more

Goodreads review by Matt

(Please note that this is a duplicate of my review submitted to Amazon.) Being confronted by a narrative of the long, multi-generational chain of racism, patriarchy, and misogyny that has victimized many in the history of the Church is difficult enough. Add the personal experiences of the author and......more

Goodreads review by Steve

This is a rich book of theology and storytelling that does a lot of work while staying interesting, accessible, and brief. Kim traces the history of how Christianity - its vision of God, its portrayal of Jesus, its culture and theology and missiology - became bound up with a preference for whiteness......more