This book will be a first-of-its-kind resource in the market, engaging cults and alternative religious groups specific to the African American community.
Urban Apologetics examines the legitimate issues that Black communities have with Western Christianity and shows how the gospel of Jesus Christ--rather than popular, socioreligious alternatives--restores our identity.
African Americans have long confronted the challenge of dignity destruction caused by white supremacy. While many have found meaning and restoration of dignity in the black church, others have found it in ethnocentric socioreligious groups and philosophies.
These ideologies have grown and developed deep traction in the black community and beyond. Revisionist history, conspiracy theories, and misinformation about Jesus and Christianity are the order of the day. Many young African Americans are disinterested in Christianity and others are leaving the church in search of what these false religious ideas appear to offer, a spirituality more indigenous to their history and ethnicity.
Edited by Dr. Eric Mason and featuring a top-notch lineup of contributors, Urban Apologetics is the first book focused entirely on cults, religious groups, and ethnocentric ideologies prevalent in the black community. The book is divided into three main parts:
Discussions on the unique context for urban apologetics so that you can better understand the cultural arguments against Christianity among the Black community.
Detailed information on cults, religious groups, and ethnic identity groups that many urban evangelists encounter--such as the Nation of Islam, Kemetic spirituality, African mysticism, Hebrew Israelites, Black nationalism, and atheism.
Specific tools for urban apologetics and community outreach.
Ultimately, Urban Apologetics applies the gospel to black identity to show that Jesus is the only one who can restore it. This is an essential resource to equip those doing the work of ministry and apology in urban communities with the best available information.
Publisher: HarperCollins Christian Publishing
Original Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0310100941
Item Weight: 1.1 lbs
Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 101 to 500 ratings
'As its title suggests, Urban Apologetics is about the defense of the faith and, more particularly, a contextualized defense of the faith. It addresses serious threats to the truth of the gospel within the Black community that are mostly unfamiliar to believers outside that community. The contributors are expert analysts who serve readers well with insightful, intelligent commentary and strategy. But the book is so much more. The editor wisely anticipates that many readers will first need to understand why so many in the Black community reject the gospel in favor of some truly bizarre belief systems. The common denominator is dismissal of, and reaction to, whiteness. Urban Apologetics helps outsiders comprehend what the problem of whiteness means and how it is a genuine impediment for so many to embrace the gospel of Christ. Only after understanding how Western history, culture, and Christianity have contributed to the power of this obstacle can one understand why so many people in the Black community are attracted to belief systems that seem so peculiar to outsiders. Urban Apologetics simultaneously informs and provokes, inspires and saddens, educates and chastises, all with an irenic tone from brothers and sisters in Christ that will stir believers within and without the Black community to spiritual solidarity under Jesus our king and brother.'
Eric Mason (DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is the founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, as well as the founder and president of Thriving, an urban resource organization committed to developing leaders for ministry in the urban context. He has authored four books: Manhood Restored, Beat God to the Punch, Unleashed, and Woke Church.
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