Our Church on the edge of the future: What I’m saving from the past, what I’m asking of the future

Abstract

Canon Stephanie Speller’s book The Church Cracked Open is approached in this review from two unique perspectives: from the perspective of a bishop, who is part of the current institution of The Episcopal Church, and from the perspective of a critic and historian of the Church, an academic who grew up in the segregated American South. From these perspectives, the book is said to shed much-needed light on the complicity of the Episcopal Church in matters of racial justice or lack of justice. The review regrets that the book makes no connection between the Eucharist in the Episcopal Church and social justice. The review maintains that the Eucharist is the Church’s powerful instrument to challenge rising Christian nationalism.