{"id":435,"date":"2026-02-16T16:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/?p=435"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:42:13","slug":"can-the-black-churchs-public-witness-leads-us-out-of-the-culture-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/?p=435","title":{"rendered":"Can the Black Church&#8217;s Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Holy Post Book Club provided me with a copy of the book, <em><strong>Don&#8217;t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church&#8217;s Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War<\/strong><\/em><br>by Justin Giboney. Google Gemini reviews the book as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In\u00a0<em>Don&#8217;t Let Nobody Turn You Around<\/em>, Justin Giboney\u00a0<mark>leverages the Black church&#8217;s historical, faith-rooted social action tradition to offer a compelling alternative to modern, polarized culture wars<\/mark>. The book acts as a guide for Christian civic engagement, advocating for a principled, compassionate public witness that prioritizes justice and Truth over partisan political allegiances.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Themes and Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A &#8220;Third Way&#8221; Approach:<\/strong>\u00a0Giboney, cofounder of the AND Campaign, argues against joining either side of the broken political binary, promoting a &#8220;third way&#8221; that is both socially conscious and biblically orthodox.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Learning from History:<\/strong>\u00a0The book draws inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement&#8217;s reliance on &#8220;soul force,&#8221; encouraging a public witness rooted in love, courage, and resilience rather than fear or hatred.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Independent Voice:<\/strong>\u00a0The Black church tradition is presented as a model for being an independent voice, holding both political sides accountable rather than seeking to please them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Moral Imagination:<\/strong>\u00a0Giboney encourages cultivating a &#8220;moral imagination&#8221; that helps Christians see political opponents as neighbors to be loved rather than enemies to be destroyed.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Critical Reception and Structure<\/strong><br>The book is described as an easy-to-read, yet profound, critique of both the religious right and left. It uses personal storytelling, historical analysis, and practical wisdom,, although some reviewers noted the lack of a subject index. The chapters examine topics such as the flaws of progressivism and conservatism, the need for spiritual conviction, and the importance of engaging in politics with the &#8220;fruit of the Spirit&#8221;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Don&#8217;t Let Nobody Turn You Around<\/em>\u00a0is seen as a timely, essential read for Christians disillusioned by political polarization and seeking a way to act with both conviction and compassion.\u00a0&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I enjoyed Justin Giboney&#8217;s suggestion that we learn from the Civil Rights Movement&#8217;s reliance on the Black church&#8217;s model for community and political engagement. I do not agree with all of his conclusions, but respect his voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Holy Post Book Club provided me with a copy of the book, Don&#8217;t Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church&#8217;s Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture Warby Justin Giboney. Google Gemini reviews the book as follows. &#8220;In\u00a0Don&#8217;t Let Nobody Turn You Around, Justin Giboney\u00a0leverages the Black church&#8217;s historical, faith-rooted social [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greggfriend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}