Title Details

Chris P. Rice is currently pursuing studies at the Divinity School at Duke University. He is the winner of a Critic's Choice Award from Christianity Today magazine for his book More Than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel, which he coauthored with Spencer Perkins. He has been a research associate for the Boston University Institute on Race and Social Division, a columnist for Sojourners magazine, and has written, spoken, and taught extensively on the subject of racial reconciliation.

Prologue.

PART ONE: CONVERTED.

1. "What Are All You White People Doin' Here?"

2. Letting the Spirit Lead.

3. Middlebury Versus Mississippi.

4. The Uprising.

5. Aftershocks.

6. Puzzling Signs.

7. Big Bad Spencer.

8. DNA Match.

PART TWO: TOWARD THE PROMISED LAND.

9. Purple Comforter.

10. "One of Us".

11. Second Thoughts.

12. Robinson Street.

13. Big Moves.

14. Divorce.

15. Communion.

PART THREE: YOKEFELLOWS.

16. Boot Camp.

17. Lem's Truth.

18. Reluctant Prophet.

19. "From Cain't to Cain't".

20. Blind Curves.

21. "A Good Kinda Weird".

22. Never Forget the Source.

PART FOUR: DEMONS RISING.

23. My Dirty Little Secret.

24. Into Urban America.

25. Our Six-Ring Circus.

26. The Man in the Tie-Dyed T-Shirt.

27. Road Show.

28. Combustible Knowledge.

29. Texas Time Bomb.

30. Rescue Attempt.

31. Setbacks and Gifts.

PART FIVE: BREAKTHROUGH TO GRACE.

32. Paradigm Shifts.

33. Fifteen-Rounder.

34. Spencer's Bombshell.

35. The Unbearable Contradiction.

36. Grace Debtors.

PART SIX: SEPARATION.

37. Blue Leg.

38. Tears without End.

39. The Dwelling Place.

40. Riding Away on a Harley.

41. Sabbath.

Epilogue.

Acknowledgments.

The Author.

In this extraordinarily candid memoir, nobody is spared Rice's penetrating scrutiny, least of all himself. His account begins in 1981, when Rice, a white student took what he thought would be a brief break from Middlebury College to volunteer with the Voice of Calvary Ministries in West Jackson, Miss. It ends 18 years later when he finally did leave. In the intervening years, Rice fell passionately in love with the fight for racial reconciliation (especially among evangelical Christians), and devoted himself to it by living in an interracial commune called Antioch and developing a public ministry with his best friend, the late Spencer Perkins. More than anything, this book chronicles the stormy, often all-consuming relationship between these two men, who referred to themselves as "yokefellows." Perkins, the son of civil rights activist John Perkins, comes across as a flawed genius. His repeated failures as an administrator in various ministries contrast with his steadfastness as a friend, his unswerving faith and his gifts as a writer and public speaker. Rice portrays himself as an achievement-oriented perfectionist who suffers besetting jealousy of Perkins's attention-getting blackness, charisma and family ties. An antidote to every evangelical depiction of dramatic transformation upon conversion, this confessional autobiography shows how a household full of mature radical Christians took more than a decade to learn one of the most rudimentary lessons of faith: that grace is the essence of Christian community. (Sept.)
Forecast: This book has some significant advance buzz behind it, including magazine coverage in Moody, Sojourners, NAPRA Review, Christian Retailing and CBA Marketplace. (Publishers Weekly, August 12, 2002)"Grace Matters introduces us to the devastating truth that racial reconciliation requires shared beliefs about God. Candid, humorous, and heartbreaking, this important book demands the attention of anyone concerned about race, religion, and civic hope." —Charles Marsh, director, The Project of Lived Theology, University of Virginia and author, God's Long Summer

"Grace Matters is a powerful story: An unflinching chronicle of a complex and important friendship, and a memoir that is open, honest, and-always-profoundly moving." —Chris Bohjalian, author, The Buffalo Soldier and Midwives

"Chris Rice writes with passion and honesty. The struggle against racism in our hearts is ongoing.... I do know that good does come as I have followed John Perkins and the Voice of Calvary for years." —Rick Lewis, Logos Bookstore, Dallas, Texas

"Chris Rice can have a strong impact on the white community in its understanding of black culture if we will only listen to what he has to say and form actual friendships with people from cultures we don't understand. He can make just as strong an impression on the black community in its understanding of whites and their lack of awareness. This is much more than a black and white issue, though. It's a cultural issue. It is only through the grace of God lived out in our lives we can understand and love a culture not our own. Thank you for this dynamic book that tackles a subject often discussed, but rarely lived out." —Ruth Anne Muir, Moody Monthly