No Partiality : The Idolatry of Race and the New Humanity

This book is about how we make sense of race and racism. Oh, I'm not using "make sense" to mean "make something understandable, reasonable, lucid or sane," and I'm certainly not using it to mean "justify." . . . Rather I'm using the phrase in its literal meaning: how we manufacture ideas and practices on the basis of the stimulation of our senses. Race and racism are not only concepts that have been made by human beings, but they are also the principal way we in the United States have made sense of ourselves and others.In this way Douglas Sharp sets the stage for his analysis of how our language of race has evolved and how it has built a world of racism. He moves then to theoretical constructions of race, including its psychological, sociopolitical and socioeconomic dimensions. Race, Sharp argues, is a social and mythical construct--an idol. In his culminating chapter Sharp carefully weaves together the themes he has developed into a model for building a theology of racial reconciliation for a new humanity.Douglas Sharp is frank about writing as a European American primarily for other European Americans. Yet this book contributes much to the dialogue between various ethnic groups. Written from a Christian worldview, this book is for all who want to both understand the dynamics of racism and take greater responsibility in dismantling it.