Being White by Paula Harris and Doug Schaupp

The subtitle of this book is “Finding our place in a multiethnic world.” Paula and Doug, through their separately written chapters, guide the reader toward a lifelong journey of reconciliation.

In the opening chapters, Doug and Paula tell of making friends outside one’s cultural community and suggest practical ways the reader can begin the journey of cultural and ethnic reconciliation. For instance, if you enjoy the food of another culture, start eating at ethnically-owned restaurants and get to know the waitstaff or owners.

Subsequent chapters relate pitfalls that one can anticipate along the way. You will make mistakes in what you say and do as you become friends with someone from another culture. Though you offend others and feel awkward at times, Paula and Doug encourage you to press on, because God has called us to love others as we love ourselves. The final chapters help the white person to understand and appreciate his or her own cultural heritage and so move on in the journey of reconciliation.

Throughout the book Paula and Doug undergird their stories with sound biblical examples. The main references are the book of Acts and the story of Nehemiah, but through other examples as well, it is evident that the journey of reconciliation these authors present is a journey on which God invites all persons who are called by his name.

So, invite a group of friends to read this book together and open yourself to the journey that God would have you take. Being White is available at http://www.ivpress.com.