A Review of "Young, Woke and Christian: Words from a Missing Generation"

Young, Woke and Christian, edited by Victoria Turner, is a collection of chapters from young church leaders and theologians, who argue that churches must become more aware of injustice, and take action. This collection features young people calling on churches, not because these issues are unique to them, but because they are gospel issues, and they believe that churches must reform. In her introduction, Turner states how she wanted this book to show the “bemused older generations” (p.1) that there are young people who can be concerned with politics and social issues, but still be rooted in the Church.

Young, Woke and Christian begins with a thought-provoking prologue from Anthony Reddie, who suggests that being ‘young’ is also a category to be considered through liberation theology. Turner then introduces the collection and addresses the concerns she believes others may have about this work. For example, most of the contributors are from the ‘historic denominations,’ and the young people she has chosen are also from leadership positions, not representative of young people whose gifts are not acknowledged in this same way. Furthermore, the contributors of the book are mostly female. Turner states that although it was not a conscious decision on her part, she is also “not particularly saddened” (p.2) by it. Though some may argue that the representation of ‘young people’ as a whole is limited by the fact that the majority of contributors are female, as a young Christian woman, and someone who has been frustrated by a previous lack of female representation, this does not seem to be an issue of representation, as ‘equal’ does not always mean the ‘same’. When defining ‘wokeness’ for the rest of this book, Turner draws on Lauren Duca’s use of the word in her book How to start a Revolution: Young People and the Future of Politics, where she uses ‘wokeness’ and ‘awakening’ interchangeably. This concept of being ‘aware’ and ‘awake,’ though the experiences differ between members of society, is Turner’s basis for ‘wokeness’ in this book.

The chapters of this book are written by different authors, on social issues which they believe are vital for churches to act upon. The majority are structured essays, yet there are some poems, such as Laura Cook’s ‘Smashed’ which deconstructs the reality of being a woman, including femininity, equality in the workplace, a woman’s part in God’s world, and what She wants for Her people. Other themes covered include climate change, racial justice and inclusivity, food poverty and homelessness, sexuality, trans rights and identity, peace-making and interfaith relations, and disability justice. One particularly striking piece is Molly Boot’s chapter entitled ‘When Did I Start Calling my Body “it”?’ where she explores Purity Culture, trauma, and learning to embody liberation. This work unapologetically disarms the power that traditional Christian expectations of sexuality holds over young Christians, and it was enlightening to discover new ideas about living as a modern Christian woman.

The scope of both authors and topics covered within Young, Woke and Christian means that its potential for creating progress and starting conversations appears almost limitless. Something worthy of mention is how the book does not attempt to compare these topics to one another, but instead accepts that there is an increasing number of issues that churches need to be concerned about, and the book does not apologise for sharing them as equals. Unlike other attempts which may isolate theological thinking from real world issues, Young, Woke and Christian manages to meld these with a lived experience of theology, creating a space where the experience of individuals can be heard, empathised with, and then used to catalyse church reform. Perhaps most prominently, this succeeds not just in giving young people a voice, but elevating what they have to say to the same level as older people in Church. It allows the Christian experience of social issues to be told from the perspective of a generation who have the ability and opportunity to make real change, rather than one which feels complacent with the status quo.

One final point to consider is whether this work succeeds in its aim of representing the young, ‘missing’ generation in Church. Turner, and the other contributors to this work, identify as the ‘younger generation,’ yet to young people in Church such as myself (at eighteen) they may not be representative of the experiences that pre-university, pre-employed, and those who are not Church leaders, have. Although there is no doubt that these authors are part of a younger generation in churches, there is room for the representation of those even younger, whose voices are even less likely to be heard and acknowledged in Church.

Young, Woke and Christian: Words from a Missing Generation is a valuable step in starting the conversation needed to reform the attitudes that churches have towards its young people, and the concern that it should have for the social, gospel issues that the younger generations are bringing to its attention. I leave with a new sense of empowerment of the potential that I have as a young person, new perspectives on key social issues, and the knowledge that the dialogue between the younger generation and the Church about these issues will not end here.

This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Cover Image: Cover of “From the Shores of Silence” from SCM Press.