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Irein Thomas

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Irein is Currently Reading

Irein Thomas is currently reading

The Fire Next Time (Vintage International)

by James Baldwin

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in August 2021

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Irein Thomas said: " “If we do not dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!”

I was expecting this book to be like the Notes of a Native So “If we do not dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!”

I was expecting this book to be like the Notes of a Native Son, diverse in topics but all centering around issues of race. I was surprised to find out that this work is really religious in nature as Baldwin delves into the Christian Church and The Nation of Islam, and what they both have to do with the plight of Black Americans.

Baldwin is no fan of the Christian church. He views it as complicit in a great moral evil, allowing White Christians and White Jesus to enslave Black people, oppressing them with doctrines of sin and salvation while conquering their land and bodies. Baldwin boldly ends his exposition on the Christian Church and its God by saying “If God cannot do this [make us larger, freer, and more loving], then it is time we got rid of him.”

Yet, the peculiarity of Baldwin’s relationship with Christianity is that although he rejects it, it is so wholly a part of him. A son of a minister and a once-preaching-pastor himself, the ethos of Christianity are innate to Baldwin, and one can see it throughout the book in the metaphors Baldwin uses (exodus, salvation), how central love is to his worldview, and even his own observation that there is nothing as emotionally powerful to him as the Black Church.

Baldwin delves into his views on the Nation of Islam via his dinner with Elijah Mohammed, the leader of the religion. Baldwin is appreciative of the Nation of Islam in how it has furnished Black people with a sense of worth. Yet, he is at odds with its apocalyptic theology that purports that the Black God will redeem the Black peoples of America and smite the White Devils. He sees rotten fruit in this theology so far as that it is an inverse of white supremacy. From this criticism, he moves into his central message which is that both Black and White people in this nation need each other. The only solution is to move together in love or to burn under the destruction of hatred.

Others have described Baldwin as “searing,” and I think that is an apt descriptor for him. Even after 59 years, his message remains relevant. Baldwin seems to be in line with the prophetic tradition: to boldly proclaim truth in love. We would all do well to listen. ...more "

Aug 08, 2021 02:40PM · see review

Irein Thomas is currently reading

Manufacturing Happy Citizens: How the Science and Industry of Happiness Control our Lives

by Edgar Cabanas

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May 27, 2026 02:05PM

Irein Thomas is currently reading

The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse

by Miroslav Volf

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May 27, 2026 02:04PM

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Irein’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller

16 highlights

During those six years God drew me tighter and tighter into his heart. It was a feast for my soul.

Irein’s Quotes

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde

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“There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best-sellers—unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns wood-pulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books—a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many—every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.)”
― Mortimer J. Adler

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“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

tags: love

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