Summer Book Study Round Two

Over the past few weeks over thirty people participated in the first round of the Christian Formation and Discipleship Network Team’s Summer Book Study.

If you are among those who feel now is the time to expand your understanding of racial injustice in our society—and what you can do about it—please join us for this study of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo.

Groups will read approximately 50 pages per week and will consider our understandings of race, racism, and racial hierarchies. We will examine social constructs, how whiteness operates and why it is often invisible to those who benefit from it. Finally, we will think about the ways that whiteness manifests itself in our churches and church structures and how it marginalizes our BIPOC siblings.

It has been said of the book:

“White Fragility is a vital, necessary, and beautiful book, a bracing call to white folk everywhere to see their whiteness for what it is and seize the opportunity to make things better now.” – Michael Eric Dyson

The second round will begin the week of July 27th on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings or afternoons. The exact day and time will be determined by the participants. Readers will reflect on the previous week’s reading using discussion questions provided to us by the Rev. Denise Anderson, Co-Moderator of the 222nd General Assembly of the PCUSA and Coordinator for Racial and Intercultural Justice at Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Compassion Peace and Justice. Readers will learn basic facilitating skills and will be encouraged to start a book group with friends, presbytery colleagues, and/or church members.

This work is not for the faint of heart. It will be difficult. We will be uncomfortable. But in daring to wrestle with painful truths, we can awaken to the task before us – doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly. And, hopefully we will be inspired to do more than read, but to listen, to stand up, to become allies in the struggle for a more equitable world.

If you would like more information or would like to sign-up, contact Spiritual Formation Consultant, Susan Young Thornton at [email protected].