50 Years: Racial Reconciliation and the Church
Find links below to all the stories in the "50 Years:…
‘Courage in the Sheer Silence’
Book addresses racism in 20th century Churches of Christ.
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‘Courage in the Sheer Silence: Challenging Racism in the 20th-Century Churches of Christ” addresses the impact that silence concerning racism and related matters during the mid-20th century had on Churches of Christ in America.
This book is useful for anyone — White or non-White — who subscribes to the idea that America is not a racist country and that racism is not systemic.
The facts author Wes Crawford — a church history professor at Abilene Christian University in Texas — presents are well documented throughout the book.
Wes Crawford. “Courage in the Sheer Silence : Challenging Racism in the 20th-Century Churches of Christ.” Abilene Christian University Press. 2025. 196 pages. $22.99.
What leaps from its pages is that, although some progress has been made concerning racism, we still have much more work to do.
The book focuses on influential preachers, educators and editors who occupied positions that enabled them to steer the church toward racial equality.
Part One discusses those who openly expressed their belief in white supremacy, those who remained deaf to the sound of racism within the church (and America) and those who knew that racism existed but remained silent.
Part Two discusses leaders who spoke out against the racist status quo and details the price they paid for doing so.
Each chapter has a title that provides a concise hint of what will follow. The book delivers on its promise: It provides insight into why influential White leaders in the 21st century church may pay a high price for saying “Black lives matter.”
After reading this book, I now have a better understanding of certain events in my own life.
In 1976, I visited a White congregation in Utica, Miss. An older White Christian woman turned to me and asked, “What are you doing here?” This book helps me understand the attitudes behind such an encounter.
Related: 50 Years: Racial Reconciliation and the Church
In a certain way, I believe the book foretells that, 50 years from now, many who currently despise the Black Lives Matter movement will align themselves with and support the call of that organization.
Students of history will recall how Martin Luther King Jr. was despised and seen as a communist by many White Christians in the ’50s and ’60s, but today he is viewed as a hero by all.
In the summer of tumultuous 1968, more than 40 prominent black and white ministers gathered to discuss ways to improve race relations in Churches of Christ.
The book also points to White leaders in the church today who are pushing our brotherhood, as well as America, toward racial equality.
However, many of the challenges faced by those who spoke out against racism during the 1950s and 1960s still exist today because racism remains systemic and institutionalized in our world.
Our neighborhoods, public schools, and congregations are still often de facto segregated.
This book should be read and understood by everyone.
SAMMIE BERRY is minister for the Dallas West Church of Christ and an alumnus of Harding University in Searcy, Ark. He also serves on The Christian Chronicle’s national board of trustees.
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