Black and Mennonite

by Hubert L. Brown

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Ethan Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Certainly a niche book! I know something about liberation theology, and I know something about Anabaptist theology. But what's at the intersection of those two - now that's an interesting question that I know less about. Mr. Brown explores this question as well as reflects on his own experience as a black man in a culturally and ethnically white Mennonite church. What he proposes is how he's reconciled his two separate identities of being black and Mennonite, and due to the personal nature of that reflection I feel inadequate to judge definitively the contents of this book. I enjoyed the book, and Mr. Brown makes some good points.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The revitalization of our denomination can happen when we usher in an age of concrete identification with the Anabaptist Vision, and not only hear about that vision, but respond with a new freshness to what that vision means for us today.

Mennonites seeking to recover the Anabaptist vision will need to begin listening to us blacks and other non-whites, letting us have our turn at speaking. We do not become fully a part of the Mennonite family until we can tell others who we are, for we have heard white Mennonites tell us who they are. We are truly vehicles of God's ingenuity and God's infusion of new life in this twentieth century. A dynamic movement can happen if all of us as Mennonites synthesize the reality of being black in a racist world that is torn about with a strong desire to recover the sixteenth-century Anabaptist Vision with all of its sociological implications and theological soundness. We ned each other. Our mutual dependence requires mutual assistance at every phase of our Christian existence in a church we both voluntarily covenanted with for the glory of God."


The writing is slightly uneven at times, and he can get caught up in a bit too much inside-theology language, but the points are sound from beginning to end. Hubert Brown saw a real beauty in synthesizing the modern Black experience with the historical Anabaptist experience, and I believe his witness is one worth listening to.

[Brandi Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those rare books that I actually want everyone (with special commendations to anyone who loves Jesus or cares about racial justice/healing) to read. You don’t have to agree with all of it, but you do need to listen. Brown’s perspective is invaluable and highly relevant 40 years later.

The citations and analysis are each independently worth their weight in gold. Together they are more than worth the $10 the book is selling for on Amazon.

[Jonathan Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black and Mennonite was densely packed with information on combining both theologies, but I was disappointed at the size of the book because I was hoping for something longer when I first heard of this book. However, the book is still definitely worth reading

[Logan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but dense. Brown wrote these words in the 70s, but they fully resonate today.