The Leveson Centre for the Study of Ageing,
Spirituality and Social Policy
Faith, Stories and the Experience
of Black Elders
Anthony G Reddie, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001,
ISBN 1-85302-993-9, Price £12.95
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resources from the Leveson Centre
Review by James Woodward, Director of The Leveson Centre
Churches define themselves both by whom they include and exclude.
There are some indications that aspects of religious modernity find
diversity and difference difficult to embrace. Attitudes to age and
race are examples of this. Anthony Reddie is a refreshing and challenging
voice in these debates. He has researched the Christian Education
of Black children in Birmingham and now turns his attention to the
contributions of Black elders who have struggled to find a voice and
keep faith with their roots and traditions. The stories of these elders
are represented here in a way that demonstrates how their identity
is affirmed and their values passed on to a younger generation.
Reddie shows how the texture of theology is improved through a careful,
systematic openness to others. Reflected in this book are many voices
of individuals from 26 inner city churches in Birmingham. It reveals
how older members, often grandparents, are the bedrock of so much
of Black family life here in twenty-first century Britain. The book
challenges us to remember how easily we forget the presence, contributions
and achievements of Black elders in British society and churches.
It also emphasises the importance of the oral tradition of telling
stories as a way of strengthening and encouraging younger people.
This nurture of children and the integration of older people can take
place through intergenerational conversations. This is a way available
to us for the enriching of each other's lives through mutual encouragement
and for the deepening of a shared identity of faith.
Reddie achieves this through the use of three broad approaches. He
first establishes the historical and theological background of the
oral traditions of Black people. He then outlines the methodology
and framework used in order to gain access to these stories of faith
and experience and finally highlights some of the practical possibilities
arising from the work.
Although the world has changed and the church's relationship to the
fragmentation of values and pluralism of cultures makes connection
difficult, this book offers some hope. Dislocation and dysfunction
do not prevent us from listening to and affirming older people. Accepting
the ambivalence some feel about religion does not prevent an engagement
in a critical and constructive dialogue about what makes for good
Christian education for children and adults. In our acknowledgement
of cultural diversity racism pervades and Reddie leads us to a place
where we can open ourselves up to learning from difference and diversity.
I hope that this contribution to pastoral theology will be read and
used. Reddie has provided us with tools to embrace a different way
of understanding older people and ultimately of being Church.
James Woodward, Director of The Leveson Centre
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