Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice is our newest publication. There are many ways you can access the prophetic witness of this book. Discover the compelling stories of thirteen pioneers for social justice who engaged in peaceful protest and gave voice to the marginalized, working courageously out of their religious convictions to transform American culture.
On Friday, March 22, Charles Marsh presented a lecture and discussion on the book as part of the Rebels With a Cause symposium at the Virginia Festival of the Book. Along with Hal Crowther, author of Freedom Fighters and Hell Raisers: A Gallery of Memorable Southerners, they discussed their collections of biographical essays on unexpected and underappreciated leaders in struggles for justice and equality.
BookTV will present coverage of the Rebels With a Cause symposium:
Book Reviews
Lenten Journey
Join us on a journey through Lent with Howard Thurman, Dorothy Day, Mahalia Jackson, Cesar Chavez, and more witnesses to faith and justice. We are reading our new book throughout the Lenten season, and we’d love for you to join the conversation. For each chapter, we’ll post reading guides here on this page as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Those guides will include scripture passages, questions for reflection, and suggestions for other resources, including our companion podcast (links to come). You can also join our Facebook group to participate directly in the conversation.
Podcast
Can I Get a Witness? The Podcast is an audio companion to the book. In each episode of this podcast, we talk with one of our authors about the person they profiled for the book and about their writing process. The podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!
On Friday, March 22, Charles Marsh will present a lecture on Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice as the part of the Rebels With a Cause symposium. Along with Hal Crowther, author of Freedom Fighters and Hell Raisers: A Gallery of Memorable Southerners, they will discuss discuss their collections of biographical essays on unexpected and underappreciated leaders in struggles for justice and equality. Book sales and signing will follow.
The presentation will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
To go to the Virginia Festival of the Book’s website, click here.
“These cockeyed people who go about talking of love and good-will in the midst of all this oppression and hell make me pretty tired,” Kester said. “We won’t love people into the kingdom, we’ve got to bust this damn society to hell before love can find a place in it.”
We are grateful to be spending the next few days with Howard Kester through the writing of Peter Slade.
Join the conversation in our special Lenten Can I Get a Witness? Facebook group.
In chapter three, author Grace Kao shares the story of Yuri Kochiyama.
“…public profiles of Yuri outside of Asian American circles have typically emphasized the longevity of her activist career and the remarkable, cross-racial solidarity she showed with others in numerous campaigns. While such portraits are technically correct, they remain incomplete insofar as they leave out two key aspects of her biography. The first is the role religion, specifically a service-oriented and this-worldly form of Christianity, played as a motivating force in her life. The second is the explicit identification of unjust imprisonment as the issue Yuri felt most passionate about” (65).
Join the conversation in our special Lenten Can I Get a Witness? Facebook group.
What a treat to spend a few days with Howard Thurman. Donyelle C. McCray’s lyrical chapter focuses especially on his tenderness.
Join the conversation in our special Lenten Can I Get a Witness? Facebook group.
For the next three days, we journey with Cesar Chavez, whose organizing toolbox included not only strikes, pickets, and boycotts, but also fasting, prayer, Eucharist, and pilgrimage.
Co-editor and contributor Dan Rhodes writes, “Nothing may capture the arc of his witness like these words from his ‘Prayer of the Farmworkers’ Struggle,’ where he pleads: ‘Show me the suffering of the most miserable / So I will know my peoples’ plight / Free me to pray for others….Help us to love even those that hate us / So that we may change this world'” (36).
It’s Ash Wednesday! Here’s our first reading guide for today: the introduction.
The stories of peacemakers, community builders, and agitators for faith and justice “are difficult to hear–and to find. These people are like wild and crooked trees. They are gnarled and weathered, their very flesh bearing the marks of storms, persistent droughts, and long winters. They don’t care if they’re growing in inconvenient places; they grow where they are. They are unrepentantly unruly. They live in the freedom of Christ with open hearts and minds. These people aren’t good for church growth or the accumulation of political power. They don’t make anybody any money. Yet we are confident that their examples will outlast those of the multitudes scrambling to see who can bow down first to country, or party, or profit, or another reigning idol of the day” (2-3).
You can join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, or in our special Lenten Facebook group. Find more information about the book here.
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