Take Me to the Water

The racializing of the Christian faith, evidenced by the various depictions of Jesus that hang in homes and sanctuaries-the idea that God is a white man-as well as the segregated church in North America, was never the intention of the gospel. Instead, it is proof of the coercion and co-option of the American empire and the church's outright rejection of the new community that Jesus created through his body and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 1 provides a historical overview of how the segregated North American church came to be and also definitions of race and its progeny as understood by anthropologists, historians, lawyers, and theologians. Chapter 2 examines the history of baptism, baptismal identity, the baptismal formula's implications for a just society, and the church's forgotten creed. Chapter 3 details the work and efficacy of baptism to challenge structural divisions within the North American church. Chapter 4 records the author's gleanings and what we can all draw from the water. Chapter 5 offers a summary that doubles as a benediction, a parting blessing as we re-enter the world with new eyes to see.