Up Against A Crooked Gospel

America's white gaze toward the Black female body locates Black women in a crooked society that misrecognizes and misjudges their moral character. Moreover, the Black Church perpetuates a crooked gospel that reinforces society's mischaracterization theologically. Up Against a Crooked Gospel takes up the narrative of the bent woman in the Gospel of Luke 13:10-17 as ripe for womanist theo-ethical inquiry because it parallels with the historical and contemporary narratives of the Black female body bent multiple by pervasive threats seeking to stifle survival in a multi-traumatic world. Through the perspective of the author's grandmother's story and critical analysis of Black women's salvation politics, Up Against a Crooked Gospel articulates how Black women, in mutual partnership with God, possess "matter" mediated by their bodies necessary to confront a crooked moral fabric within Black religion and the broader American society.

It is a serious problem when society misunderstands or disregards sin and repentance. But when the church neglects these doctrines, the impact is profound. This book unfolds the nature and necessity of biblical repentance, but for the church in particular. Roberts' in-depth study heavily references both he Old and New Testaments, and includes chapters on the myths, maxims, marks, models, and motives of repentance, as well as the graces and fruits that accompany it. There is also wise warning about the dangers of delayed repentance.