Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women's Lives Matter

by Traci C. West

This book brings to the fore the difficult realities of racism and the sexual violation of women. Traci West argues for a liberative method of Christian social ethics in which the discussion begins not with generic philosophical concepts but in the concrete realities of the lives of the socially and economically marginalized.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Christianity, Race, Feminism

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2006

Reviews

[John Lussier · Rating 4 out of 5]

West uses a number of particular case studies to examine, from many angles, the basis, methods, and tools of ethics in which people of color and women's lives matter. We must continually question our context, means, tools, and practices for a more liberative practice.

[Luke Hillier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has me wondering if I maybe just don't enjoy the way that ethicists write? It feels like there is often so much posturing, framing, denoting, and distinguishing the point one is making that the bulk of the content ends up being about that rather than the point. It made for a truly frustrating start-stop-start-stop reading experience where I felt like I was just constantly struggling to follow the argument in stride. But, by and large, I still found the arguments compelling. This was written in 2006 (honestly a surprise given that the subtitle reads like a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement) and some aspects read a bit dated in the 2020s. As a womanist scholar, West consistently weaves the lived testimonies and even voices of various Black women (pastors, activists, assault survivors) into her essays. Notably, she often lets them "speak for themselves" rather than provide her own reflection and analysis on the content (this is especially the case in the final chapter on Leadership featuring interviews with faith leaders advocating for LGBTQ inclusion) and I do wish she'd woven things together a bit more. Honestly, that's probably the biggest downside of the book at large –– it very much reads as a series of disconnected essays rather than following an ongoing thesis or umbrella-argument (other than the very broad one that racism and women's lives matter, I suppose). I felt like the strongest chapter was on Liturgy, exploring the covert and subtle ways that many Protestant rituals and faith practices reinscribe racist narratives and reinforce white supremacy.

[Donna Kerfoot]

A very informative and inspiring message challenging people to rethink the way they think about racism.