The Elusive Dream

Reviews / Votes

An important perspective on how multiracial churches function...clear, forceful and compelling. * Christian Century * The Elusive Dream continues an important line of research on multi-racial religious congregations in the U.S., skillfully revealing the insidious persistence of skewed power relations operating among people with even the best of intentions about race relations. Edwards's analysis is a testament to the continued difficulty American whites and blacks have in living equally together in communities, even communities of faith. A sobering and important book. * Christian Smith, author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers * Korie Edwards shows in this riveting book the long arm of whiteness. Race matters in the U.S., she argues, so it likely matters in interracial congregations. Through spell-binding accounts of the people of an interracial congregation and through her study of churches around the country, her evidence forces us again and again to see the powerful influence whites have on interracial churches. Even in such congregations * these beacons of hope for healthy integrationwhites most often get their way (and people of color can reinforce this process). We may wish it were not so, but it is a reality that must be faced. The Elusive Dream is a watershed book, social analysis at its best.Michael O. Emerson, co-author of Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America * Rich and insightful...The Elusive Dream is a persuasive analysis of interracial congregations that raises important questions concerning the future success of interracial churches. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion * Edwards'...expands our understanding of how white hegemony controls interracial churches. * Contemporary Sociology * ...offers fresh insights and valuable correctives to the sometimes overly optimistic perspectives in works on multicultural churches written thus far...a must read...." Curtiss Paul DeYoung The Elusive Dream is an excellent sociological analysis.... * Diana L. Hayes, Georgetown University * An important perspective on how multiracial churches function...clear, forceful and compelling. * Christian Century * The Elusive Dream continues an important line of research on multi-racial religious congregations in the U.S., skillfully revealing the insidious persistence of skewed power relations operating among people with even the best of intentions about race relations. Edwards's analysis is a testament to the continued difficulty American whites and blacks have in living equally together in communities, even communities of faith. A sobering and important book. * Christian Smith, author of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers * Korie Edwards shows in this riveting book the long arm of whiteness. Race matters in the U.S., she argues, so it likely matters in interracial congregations. Through spell-binding accounts of the people of an interracial congregation and through her study of churches around the country, her evidence forces us again and again to see the powerful influence whites have on interracial churches. Even in such congregations * these beacons of hope for healthy integrationwhites most often get their way (and people of color can reinforce this process). We may wish it were not so, but it is a reality that must be faced. The Elusive Dream is a watershed book, social analysis at its best.Michael O. Emerson, co-author of Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America * Rich and insightful...The Elusive Dream is a persuasive analysis of interracial congregations that raises important questions concerning the future success of interracial churches. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion * Edwards'...expands our understanding of how white hegemony controls interracial churches. * Contemporary Sociology * ...offers fresh insights and valuable correctives to the sometimes overly optimistic perspectives in works on multicultural churches written thus far...a must read...." Curtiss Paul DeYoung The Elusive Dream is an excellent sociological analysis.... * Diana L. Hayes, Georgetown University *