An extended review of a 2024 book by Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Note: Our print issue contains a shorter version of this review. Faith Today welcomes your thoughts on any of our reviews. We also welcome review suggestions of other media of interest to Canadian Christians: Contact us.
IVP, 2024. 200 pages. $27 (ebook $15)
When God Became White is a straightforward and clear testimony of how racism works to undermine the gospel and trample people of colour. Author Grace Ji-Sun Kim does not flaunt her academic pedigree in this book, but instead shares her own story about how racism has affected her within a well researched history of colonial power.
In this book to anyone curious about racism and wanting to hear it put clearly and within human stories. Kim offers us a particularly Canadian take, exhibiting and interacting with racism as it manifests in ways distinct from our American neighbours while still linking Canada to the broader global story of ‘whiteness’ as it originates in colonial Europe.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim is professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion, but despite having an impressive academic background she does not attempt to impress her readers with overbearing or technical language. Instead, she speaks with the brazen and convicted voice of a prophet crying out in the wilderness.
Kim’s take it or leave it approach will leave you with the choice to accept or reject her argument: Christians must undo white distortions of God by recovering a vision of God that is unstained by the legacies of colonial power
Kim immigrated to Canada from Korea when she was about five, and was made fun of and ridiculed for not being white. Children “would also mimic Chinese intonations and phonology and yell out “ching chong.” Kim’s experiences of racism were most acutely felt in church, where she recounts Jesus being presented as white in Warner Sallman's ‘Head of Christ,’ painting and through expectations on her and her family by others that “in order to become a good and worthy person I needed to divorce myself from my heritage and take on white culture.”
Kim notes that her experiences of racism are often sidelined by the black/white binary that dominates Western dialogues on racism. She writes “One of the problems in not properly identifying and acknowledging the many forms of racism in our society is that we overlook or diminish the experiences of some groups facing this discrimination and abuse.”
Kim strikes back at these assaults through a robust pneumatology. Kim looks to John 4:24 to locate God as Spirit rather than a white male. She argues that enshrining God as a white male isn’t a neutral act, but instead idolatry of whiteness. By making marginalized people in the church more visible, the witness of their imago dei is brought back into the light. Kim herself does this by exploring God as Shekina, Sophia, Spirit, and even integrates a Korean notion of Chi into her analysis, which I found especially insightful.
When God Became White did leave me wanting more regarding Christian nationalism. I could not shake the feeling that the narratives and arguments presented in the book were eclipsed by American struggles over and above Canadian ones. She addresses 9/11 and the January 6th insurrection, but these are distinctly American events. I wonder how she might speak to more distinctly Canadian events like the Freedom Convoy in 2022, or the internment camps Canada operated during WWII?
Kim concludes her book with a series of practical steps for Christians to take in order to contest whiteness. One thing she suggests is to rework liturgies to have non-white and inclusive language.
She also encourages readers to adopt an "Ou-ri" Mentality: She highlights the Korean concept of ou-ri ("our" or "us"), which prioritises the community's needs over individual desires. I sensed some may bristle at her suggestion to refer to the Spirit as a she. I actually did too – but Kim invites space for us to ask why we might feel that way, and examining our theology in ways that challenge and undermine the legacies of colonialism is good work to do.
Insofar as Kim seeks to locate herself and guide others toward seeing their own complicity and vulnerability to racism, she succeeds. I found myself pausing to ask as I sat on the bus, looking around, “Am I really experiencing, as a Caucasian man, such a different life than those around me?”
And much like the book of Revelation peels back the layers of reality before our eyes, Kim unveils systemic differences between me and the people next to me. Thank you to Grace Ji-Sun Kim for gifting us with your testimony and giving us a greater awareness of how we can resist the power of white, Western, colonial racism.
Editor's note: We love our reviewers, but we don’t always agree. You won’t either, maybe especially in the Bestsellers and Roundup sections. Do let us know what you think. Sample chapters of most books can be viewed at Books.Google.ca and Amazon.ca. Faith Today earns a small commission when people make purchases using our links to Amazon.ca.