Between the World of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity

Between the world of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Christianity there appears to be the widest difference. Coates's brief comments on Christianity in his highly acclaimed Between the World and Me make clear that religious faith is alien to his own experience. Still, Christian audiences from congregations to theological schools engaged the text for its analysis of the state of race relations in the United States. In September 2015, Ta-Nehisi Coates tweeted, Best thing about #BetweenTheWorldAndMe is watching Christians engage the work. Serious learning experience for me. This volume takes that tweet as an invitation to theologians, ethicists, and religious studies scholars to engage the book, and as a challenge to do so in a way that is a learning experience for Coates, the authors, and readers. At its best, theology wrestles with the world we live in and what God calls us to be in the midst of this world. Coates' Between The World and Me was an unrelenting description of this world we inhabit. This collection of essays takes up the theological challenge to listen to Coates and speak with him to discern what faithfulness might look like in a world shaped by the violence of racism. It is a critical read. --Brian Bantum, Associate Professor of Theology, Seattle Pacific University David Evans is Associate Professor of History and Intercultural Studies, and the Director of Cross Cultural Programs at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Peter Dula is Professor of Religion and Culture, and Chair of the Department of Bible and Religion at Eastern Mennonite University.