Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality

Product Description
The work of dismantling racism doesn't happen overnight.
Been in the Struggle nurtures, challenges, and fosters the work and witness of dismantling racism for the long haul. Filled with wisdom and insight from nearly three decades of partnering across racial lines in this work, authors Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer offer a powerful mix of practical direction and poignant reflection to empower and sustain those working to dismantle racism, regardless of their stage on the journey.
Stoltzfus and Shearer draw on the power and promise of interracial relationships to offer a vision for an anti-racist spirituality. Together this Black woman and White man address the spirituality of conflict and crisis, embracing Blackness amid an anti-Black culture, and the importance of spiritual disciplines in the work of antiracism. Whether working to dismantle racism in our own lives or inside institutions, their words on transformation, historical trauma, spiritual formation, and the importance of authentic, restorative celebration will inspire and sustain us for the road ahead.
Review
"Been in the Struggle offers a vulnerable, truth-telling account of their deep wisdom for dismantling racism and the intersectional implications for engaging in such work. While many see antiracism work only as academic critique or workplace competency, or even as divisive practice, this book refreshingly recommends that spirituality is a requisite for remaining in the struggle for racial justice. This passionately written book is a must-read for anyone who desires to go beyond simple platitudes about racism and find spiritual nourishment for the struggle."
----DAVID EVANS, associate professor of history and intercultural studies and director of cross-cultural programs at Eastern Mennonite Seminary
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Been in the Struggle speaks to the passion and heart of becoming antiracist along the Damascus road of spiritual courage. Indeed, Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer offer us nothing short of an always-in-the-state-of-becoming invitation to dismantle the afflictions of bone-deep racism in churches and the society in which they hope to testify the virtues of faith, hope, justice, and love. And in all this the authors' writing compels us to lift up life-affirming celebrations and rich tapestries of sublime Blackness."
----JAMES LOGAN, professor of religion, professor and director of African and African American Studies, and National Endowment for the Humanities Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies at Earlham College
"In a book born from friendship, shared labor, and co-conspiring for their mutual liberation, Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer invite us to explore the terrain of racism and to discover within it the paths of freedom. Through popular culture, personal stories, and the legacy of ancestors, they invite individuals and institutions to take hold of God's redemptive and holy work of systemic and lasting change."
----MELISSA FLORER-BIXLER, pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church and author of How to Have an Enemy
"In this book, Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer offer us a gift of wisdom earned over three decades of commitment to the work of antiracism. Through their intertwined stories they remind us of the possibility and power of relationship and partnership across racial lines and model a spirituality that can sustain this difficult work over the long haul. This work will not be easy, they remind us, but it will always be worth it."
----KEN WYTSMA, author of The Myth of Equality
"We need a community of witnesses to hold us, to strengthen us, to bear life with us as we struggle against the injustice that structures our society. This book tells the story of two people who have become friends through their work together in dismantling anti-Black racism. In these pages they share the wisdom they've learned along the way--on how to be present to each other, and