Publisher's Synopsis
In Their Own Receive Them Not, Griffin provides a historical overview and critical analysis of the black church and its current engagement with lesbian and gay Christians, and shares ways in which black churches can learn to reach out and confront all types of oppression--not just race--in order to do the work of the black community. ""Their Own Receive Them Not cuts through the Gordian Knot of homophobia in the Black Church with compelling, substantive arguments. This groundbreaking work has the potential to move hearts and minds toward the more loving and inclusive community for which we have been praying."" --Sylvia Rhue, Director of Religious Affairs and Constituency Development, National Black Justice Coalition, Washington, D.C. ""Griffin has created a sorely needed instructive text on black pastoral care for LGBTQ Christians by inviting the Black Church into an honest dialogue about homosexuality that at present has been choked by a 'politic of silence.' A must read . . . it moves a church and its people--straight and gay--that are broken and isolated from one another to reconciliation and healing."" --Irene Monroe, religion columnist for The Advocate, InNewsweekly, and The Witness ""With love and purpose, God created black, Christian sisters and brothers who are lesbian and gay. If the Black Church is to ever fulfill its calling by Jesus Christ, then open lesbians and gays will have to be at the center of church leadership. This book is a witness to divine power and grace."" --Dwight N. Hopkins, Professor of Theology, University of Chicago Divinity School ""An arresting analysis of how the Black Church has contradicted itself by condemning the oppression of racism while simultaneously condoning the oppression of homophobia--a stance which continues to compromise our spiritual integrity and our Gospel of liberation."" --Kenneth L. Samuel, Pastor and organizer. Victory Church United Church of Christ, Stone Mountain, Georgia ""This book provides a way through the wilderness of double standards, misinformation and fear to the promised land of God's extravagant welcome and radical inclusivity offered with evangelical courage."" --Michael D. Schuenemeyer, minister for LGBT Concerns, Justice & Witness Ministries: A Covenanted Ministry of the United Church of Christ ""Griffin gives critical voice to thousands of black lesbians and gays whose sexual identities and practices in black churches render them shunned and ostracized, their desires and loves unfulfilled, and their silence all too often deadly."" --Victor Anderson, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Religious Studies, and African American Studies, Vanderbilt University ""An important 'read' for all persons who want the Black Church to be 'a headlight rather than a taillight' (Martin Luther King, Jr.) in its affirmation of and justice seeking for all of God's children."" --Gilbert H. Caldwell, retired United Methodist minister and former national chairperson of Black Methodists for Church Renewal and United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church ""Griffin boldly challenges the African American Church, as well as the wider Christian community, to re-examine its oppressive stance toward black lesbian and gay Christians. It is a must read for any Christian leader who seeks to love his or her black lesbian and gay neighbors,"" --Lallene J. Rector, Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Psychology of Religion, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Horace Griffin is Associate Professor of Field Education and Leadership Development Pacific School of Religion.
