Illumination on the American Religious Landscape
A Feature Review of
The Religion of Whiteness: How Racism Distorts Christian Faith
Michael O. Emerson & Glenn E. Bracey II
Hardcover: Oxford University Press, 2024
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Reviewed by Joel Wentz
At the heart of the bold new study from Michael Emerson and Glenn Bracey is a provocative answer to a question that is plaguing so many observers of American religion and politics. The question: how do we account for the wildly different and “distinct visions of race and faith in American life” today? (9) These visions animate divergent forms of political engagement and historical sensibilities that are on either side of a “vast gulf separating people who ostensibly share the same faith.” (9) Accounting for the fact of these divergent social visions (the descriptive task) is part and parcel of so much punditry and social commentary today, but The Religion of Whiteness is not merely another contribution in the category of writing reflecting on, and bemoaning, the ills of polarization. Rather, Emerson and Bracey propose, boldly, that precisely what is buttressing these visions is a religion, a religion complete with dogma, practices, and collective-identity-formation power. This religion is not Christianity, a religion devoted to worship of Christ, but is instead a religion of “whiteness,” devoted to shoring up white racial identity, and perpetuating inequality and division along racial lines in American society, but perniciously shrouded in Christian language, expression, symbols and thought-forms.
As mentioned, this is a bold proposal, and the pressing question then is: do Emerson and Bracey marshal a convincing argument?
The Religion of Whiteness is not primarily a work of theory. The entire project is constructed upon the collection of sociological data, which is categorized and reflected upon throughout. That said, Emerson and Bracey deploy theoretical sociological work to helpful ends. They certainly understand the controversial nature of their proposal, and so carefully rely upon concepts like “betrayal trauma” (chapter 2), “opportunity hoarding” (chapter 3) as well as Emile Durkeim’s understanding of the experience of religious “collective effervescence (also chapter 3) to intentionally build towards the case that “whiteness” (see below for their definition of this term) is a more-accurate term than “Christian” to describe what a specific type of American religion is organized around.
Before discussing their data, Emerson and Bracey put forward a definition of “whiteness” itself.
Whiteness is not some ephemeral vague concept. It is white people (along with supporters of other hues) and their dominance. That is, whiteness is the imagined right that those designated as racially white are the norm, the standard by which all others are measured and evaluated. It is the imagined right to be superior in almost every way – theologically, morally, legally, economically, and culturally. It is that power, now centuries upon centuries old, that is worshipped, felt, protected and defended. (42, emphasis original)
As a reader who has been persuaded by Jonathan Tran (see Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism) that “whiteness” has become an unhelpful term, I wrestled with the authors’ decision to employ it in this study, and indeed to centralize the concept. I can appreciate the choice to employ a careful definition for the sake of clarity (and the authors also acknowledge their departure from Tran in an endnote), but if “whiteness” is essentially about power and cultural domination in a way that can be participated in by “supporters of other hues” (other racial identities?), then at what point is an ostensibly-racial term no longer relying on racial markers in a way that undercuts its usefulness in a descriptive sense? Indeed, the slipperiness of the identity “white” is precisely what many theorists argue has contributed to its pernicious power over history (see the landmark study How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev), as well as the ability of “white” people to deny the existence of the category in a way that falsely absolves them of the responsibility of ownership for their own accrued social power by virtue of occupying the social identity marker. But far be it for this one book review to attempt to settle this endlessly complicated matter of social theory! I only note it here because of the importance of the concept of “whiteness” to what Emerson and Bracey are discussing, and also to say that regardless of where you land on the question of the theoretical usefulness of a term like “whiteness,” there is much to be challenged by in the ensuing discussion of data in The Religion of Whiteness.
In a revelatory chapter (chapter 4, titled “Is it Real? What the Evidence Says), Emerson and Bracey present a carefully-controlled study, in which participants were primed on their views of the relevance of scripture for matters of “right and wrong.” All participants who indicated that scripture does matter for determining these issues were asked specific questions about swearing (vulgar language), treatment of foreigners, communal confession of sin and the importance of listening to minority groups in society. The responses are separated according to racial categories, and the results are startling (if, sadly, not entirely surprising). American Christians, in short, seem to pay lip service to the nonnegotiable importance of scripture in making moral, social calculations, but in practice, something other than scripture itself is controlling their moral determinations. This “something else,” as enumerated by Emerson and Bracey, is “whiteness,” and if the most skeptical reader disagrees with them, the burden is on the reader to explain what exactly to propose instead.
Finally, in the section of the book that was probably the most personally resonant for this reviewer, Emerson and Bracey discuss what they call “the remnant,” or, the white Christians who have experienced acute tension (or downright disavowal) in their faith communities because of their open discussions of race (chapter 6). In other words, white Christians who point to the ills of idolizing “whiteness,” are anathematized, further reifying the functional power of the identity of “white.” The qualitative data (anecdotes and quotes) in this chapter are gripping, and for some personal reasons, hit close to home, and underline the general sense that the study is illuminating something in the current American religious landscape that is worth further reflection.
While my own qualms with the concept of “whiteness” itself were not necessarily smoothed over by reading this book, that is also not the intent of this important study. Emerson and Bracey have provided an important breakdown of unsettling data, buttressed by thoughtful engagement with theoretical literature, that all points back to the transhistorical, undeniable, tragic reality that Christian community and practice can all-too-easily be poisoned by sinful social constructs and identity markers. Those of us in the American church today would do well to interact with their provocative work.
Joel Wentz
Joel Wentz is currently the Executive Pastor at Missio Dei Church in Portland, Maine. He previously served in college campus ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. In addition to reading and writing, his passions include tabletop gaming, music, and coffee. His favorite book genres are epic fantasy and epic theology. He lives in Portland, Maine with his wife and son, and his personal writing and podcast are at: joelwentz.com
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