Anxious to Talk About It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism

by Carolyn B. Helsel

Overview

"What if I say the wrong thing?" "I'm white—is race really something I need to talk about? I'm worried I'll be called a racist!" "What does race have to do with faith, anyway?" "Why do we have to keep talking about this?"
If talking about racism makes you anxious, afraid, or even angry, you're not alone. In Anxious to Talk about It, pastor and professor Carolyn B. Helsel draws on her success with white congregations to offer insight and tools to embrace, explore and work through the anxious feelings that often arise in these hard conversations. Through powerful personal stories, new observations on racial identity development, and spiritual practices to help engage issues of racial justice prayerfully, you'll gain a deeper understanding of race in America and your place in it. You will learn how to join conversations with courage, compassion, and knowledge of self, others, and the important issues at stake. Helsel's guidance will inspire you to receive the gifts that come through these difficult race conversations and point to how you can get further involved in the important social justice work around race relations. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion to further help you get the conversations started.

While Anxious to Talk about It can be read alone, reading with a group will deepen the discussion, integrate the material, and provide opportunities to practice. A free Study Guide and other group resources are available at www.chalicepress.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780827200739
Publisher:	Chalice Press
Publication date:	02/13/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Carolyn B. Helsel teaches preaching at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She holds a PhD from Emory University and MDiv and ThM degrees from Princeton Seminary. Native to Texas, she is currently studying the experience of Texan identity and how that relates to race. Helsel has been featured on Austin's NPR radio station and in The Presbyterian Outlook, and has led workshops for the White Privilege Conference and Festival of Homiletics. She is a sought-after speaker and preacher at churches around the country.

Table of Contents

Introduction: White and Anxious

Chapter 1: The Way We Think about Race

Chapter 2: Feeling White

Chapter 3: Mapping Racial Identity Development

Chapter 4: Listening to Different Stories about Race

Chapter 5: Expressing Gratitude

Chapter 6: Spiritual Practices for Race Talk

Conclusion: The Anxious Bench

Recommended Resources

Editorial Reviews

02/12/2018
In this useful book, Helsel, a Presbyterian pastor and professor of preaching at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, lends her perspective as an academic, a member of the clergy, and a white woman to the conversation about race in contemporary America. Helsel divulges personal stories as well as stories taken from the lives of people she has met while preaching and during her time working with the Oral History Project. In one chapter, Helsel tells the story of a young biracial girl named Ashley growing up in white society. To analyze Ashley’s experience of learning that white people view her as an outsider, Helsel breaks it into the five phases of racial identity development described by Janet Helms—pre-encounter, encounter, immersion, internalization, and commitment—that track Ashley’s process from the original encounter with racism to a full commitment to her African-American identity. Helsel’s penultimate chapter, “Spiritual Practices for Race Talk,” argues that (for white people) overcoming fears of talking about race requires “caring for yourself through self-compassion, tending to cries for justice through bearing witness, strengthening community through hospitality and dialogue, and incorporating a vision of reconciliation in regular forms of worship and preaching.” In Helsel’s thesis, public, communal healing must begin with spiritual inner peace and a love of brotherhood found through Christ. This slim but powerful book will be of most use to white readers looking for a way to have honest conversations about race. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

“We white Christians engage in conversation about a number of important issues. But there is one conversation we are loathe to have: talk about race. We get edgy and nervous when talk turns to ‘America’s original sin.’ Carolyn Helsel gives us the background, the context, and the history we need in order to engage in this painful but so very important conversation. Helsel also gives us specific, practical guidance in how to instigate conversations about race in our churches. Thanks to God for this useful, important book!” — Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School, United Methodist bishop, retired, and author of Who Lynched Willie Earle?: Preaching to Confront Racism

“Helsel wades right into the thicket of emotions that accompany white fragility. This book is a tender journey through the forest of avoidance, defensiveness, and obliviousness and a tool for building one’s tolerance for truth. She pierces myths that undergird white supremacy and offers preachers and teachers a resource for sparking some conversations that desperately need to start. This volume is packed with stories that need to be heard if America is ever going to live out a new story concerning race.” — Donyelle McCray, Yale Divinity School

“’I’m not a racist,’ you may be thinking. ‘I’m not in the KKK and I don’t carry a Nazi flag. Why should I read a book about race?’ Carolyn Helsel’s new book will answer that question, and in the process, you’ll become … not just a better white person, but a better, more mature, more caring Christian and human being.” — Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration

“This book is spot-on for the kinds of conversations we need to be having. Carolyn Helsel offers ready access to approach the hard issues of race without being adversarial. Her writing is deeply personal, reflecting her own path of growth. At the same time it is acutely informed by developmental theory and is pervaded by a generous pastoral sensibility.” — Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, author of Sabbath As Resistance, The Prophetic Imagination

From the Publisher