Donald W. Shriver, Jr.

This book consists of sermons preached in 1957-1964 by Presbyterian ministers in the south during the uneasiness, fear and violence of the de-segregation struggle. A southern-bred Presbyterian minister recommended this book to me suggesting that it countered the received wisdom that mainstream white churches in the south remained steadfast foes of de-segregation. In fact, the sermons show that despite the courage of these twenty or so ministers (the collection also includes the words of a few Black Presbyterian leaders), large portions of all southern Presbyterian white congregations opposed allowing Black people to enter their churches for services, let alone any broader social change such as de-segregation of workplaces, transit, parks and pools.

Donald Shriver’s introductions to the sermons give helpful context, including the characteristics of each church and community, and the immediate response of the congregation to the sermon. The southern Presbyterians (I learned) had hived off from the national group in order to maintain their support for the confederacy. Not surprisingly, all but a very few took a dim view of any social change. These sermons were preached by those very few, most of whom were rejected by their congregations as a result. Even when framed in the standard Presbyterian forms of homiletics and doctrine, their personal agony is touching. Somehow these men intuited, apparently from prayer and scripture rather than personal contact with Black people, that Christian love was not compatible with segregation. How they struggled to express it! Now it is so obvious to us all, and the phrases come easily. These men did not aspire to be leaders or activists, and some of them were still pretty hazy about the extent of the concern, but they found it necessary to speak even at the risk of losing their positions.… (més)