When All God's Children Get Together: A Memoir of Race and Baptists.
When All God's Children Get Together: A Memoir of Race and Baptists. By Emmanuel L. McCall. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2007. 145 pp.The title of this book suggests an image of race and Baptists universal. The impetus of the story, however, is an open and honest, firsthand account of racism experienced in America and within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Emmanuel McCall encapsulates the sin of prejudice that, historically, so easily beset humankind in regard to race and religion and continues to promulgate the need for racial reconciliation. With a history of racial bigotry on its heels, the SBC has developed into a racially and ethnically inclusive denomination. McCall says, "Between 1957 and 1995, God did miraculous things through events, persons, and organizations to change the SBC" (xi). This memoir, a personal recollection of events, persons, books, magazines, and other resources dating back to 1956, is a story about the progression of racial reconciliation among Southern Baptists from McCall's point of view (xi).
Treating the narrative with celebratory acclaim to all the trailblazers who worked diligently to bring about racial change, McCall begins his story with the acknowledgment of God's preparation for his life's ministry of racial reconciliation. With a brief account of his upbringing and his first encounter with "color prejudice" in 1953, McCall takes the reader through various venues where prejudice reared its ugly head in classrooms, meetings, and among area churches. He notes that it was within the ranks of students, professors, preachers and churches--both black and white--that organized attempts at racial reconciliation were born, fostered, and perpetuated over the course of his thirty-seven-plus years of working within the SBC.
Slave ownership by Southern Baptists and the development of racism in the South serve as the foundation to McCall's narrative. He notes that, although blacks had always been a part of the SBC in some fashion, their presence, especially significant in the work of the Sunday School Board and Home Missions Board, was given a back seat in terms of acknowledgement, leadership opportunities, and respect.
Earnestly heralded in this memoir for their attempts in racial reconciliation were The Lone Bridge: Dr Guy Bellamy (mission study book, 1957); the Woman's Missionary Union; the SBC's Home Mission Board; the Baptist World Alliance (since 1976); and the 1995 SBC Resolution on Racial Reconciliation, which outlined Southern Baptist apologies for previous wrongs. Despite these efforts toward racial reconciliation and the miraculous changes within the SBC, McCall says, "Racism still exists in the SBC. It, like all other sin, will be with us until Jesus returns, but it is no longer an accepted norm" (87).
Before engaging in this book, one must understand the meaning of memoir. The compilation of materials is a good resource and informational tool for persons with prior knowledge of the SBC, but a novice in SBC history may have a hard time following all the names and organizations. One minor critique that I found distracting was the non-sequential order of pictures at the beginning of the book. With this criticism aside, I concur with the writer in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "When all of God's children get together, What a time!"--Reviewed by Bonnie Oliver Brandon, freelance writer and associate minister, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee.
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| Author: | Brandon, Bonnie Oliver |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Baptist History and Heritage |
| Article Type: | Book review |
| Date: | Mar 22, 2008 |
| Words: | 544 |
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