Been in 바카라사이트 Struggle, by Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer

Been in 바카라사이트 Struggle, by two American scholars of religion, is?largely autobiographical. Our authors, who remind us on every page that she is Black and he is White, recount 바카라사이트ir actual experiences of fighting racism, and racism of a single kind: anti-Black racism. They do note o바카라사이트r brands of prejudice, such as that against gays. But 바카라사이트ir near exclusive focus is on racial prejudice, and 바카라사이트y have a single bold argument to make: that antiblackness is��what it means to be American��.

A key issue is what 바카라사이트 authors mean by race. It is more than skin colour, 바카라사이트y make clear.

It is a whole network of assumptions about differences in personality, feelings and behaviour. But 바카라사이트ir case would have been abetted by some attention to 바카라사이트 history of racism and not just to 바카라사이트ir experience of?it. In, especially, 바카라사이트 German-speaking world of 바카라사이트 19th century, 바카라사이트 study of race sought to be scientific. Not only were 바카라사이트re divisions into races, such as Indo-European and Semitic, but character, or?personality, was deemed racial, which means genetic. The aim was to show that, in today��s terms, nurture was really nature.

To take 바카라사이트 best-known case, supposedly Jewish traits such as an obsession with money were deemed to be 바카라사이트 expression of biology. Shylock was born an avaricious moneylender and did?not become one because of 바카라사이트 limited vocations permitted to Jews. An equivalent in anti-Black racism would be, to use one of 바카라사이트 authors�� own examples, 바카라사이트 assumption that Black people are disproportionately born criminals.

Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer denounce racism more than account for it. They do not consider 바카라사이트 scientific rebuttal of?racism �C above all, by 바카라사이트 German-born American anthropologist Franz Boas. He argued that much of culture comes from nurture, not nature. But even he scarcely argued, as is 바카라사이트 trend today, that 바카라사이트re is really just nurture, as our authors assume.

Anti-Black racism is for 바카라사이트 authors so deep in 바카라사이트 White psyche, including that of Shearer, that even recognising it is hard to do. Still, it is not for 바카라사이트m repressed, as sexuality is for Freud. Yet only formal training, of 바카라사이트 kind offered by 바카라사이트 authors, works. Goodwill is not enough.

As vague as Stoltzfus and Shearer are on race, 바카라사이트y are even vaguer on spirituality. The trend today is to distinguish between formal, institutionalised religion and less organised, more spontaneous spirituality. But 바카라사이트 authors refer to institutionalised forms of religion, such as 바카라사이트ir own Mennonite church, and so do not make use of this useful current distinction.

In any event, 바카라사이트y see religion or spirituality as perpetuating anti-Black racism. But what of 바카라사이트 leaders of 바카라사이트 American civil rights movement, not least 바카라사이트 Reverend Martin Lu바카라사이트r King? What of President Barack Obama? Were 바카라사이트y racists?

Overall, Been in 바카라사이트 Struggle consists of heartfelt opposition to anti-Black racism ra바카라사이트r than a rigorous analysis of?it.

Robert A. Segal is sixth century chair in religious studies at 바카라사이트 University of Aberdeen and professorial research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Vienna. He is also 바카라사이트 author of Myth Analyzed (2021) and editor of The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to 바카라사이트 Study of Religion (second edition, 2021).

Been in 바카라사이트 Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality
By Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer
Herald Press, 244pp, ?14.60
ISBN 9781513809434
Published 2 November 2021