"Christianity and Critical Race Theory" w/Robert Chao Romero, Ph.D., & Jeff M. Liou, Ph.D.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become a lightning rod in American politics and evangelical Christianity. Our guests this week talk about it in their new book, Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation. This book offers a critical but constructive and sympathetic introduction to CRT written from a perspective rooted in Scripture and Christian theology. Robert Chao Romero and Jeff Liou take us beyond the caricatures and misinformation to consider how CRT can be an analytical tool to help us understand persistent inequality and injustice--and to see that Christians and churches working for racial justice engage CRT in faithful and constructive ways.

The authors explore aspects of CRT that resonate with well-trod Christian doctrine but also aspects that challenge or are corrected by Christian theology. They also address the controversial connection that critics see between CRT and Marxism. Their aim is to offer objective analysis and critique that go beyond the debates about social identity and the culture wars and aid those who are engaging the issues in Christian life and ministry. The book includes reflection/discussion questions, exercises, a glossary of key CRT terms, and suggested readings, making it helpful for students or small groups.

Buy the book

About the Authors:

Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero is "Asian-Latino," and has been a professor of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA since 2005. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Latin American History and his Juris Doctor from U.C. Berkeley. Romero has published more than 30 academic books and articles on issues of race, immigration, history, education, and religion, and received the Latina/o Studies book award from the international Latin American Studies Association. His recent book, “Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (2020),” received the InterVarsity Press Readers’ Choice Award for best academic title. Romero is a former Ford Foundation and U.C. President's Postdoctoral Fellow, as well as a recipient of the Louisville Institute's Sabbatical Grant for Researchers. Robert is also an ordained minister and community organizer.

Jeff M. Liou (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is national director of theological formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and adjunct assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He cofounded the Asian American Christian Collaborative and writes on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church, Liou has served as a campus minister, pastor, and university chaplain.