Gerardo Martí
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gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí
@gerardomarti.bsky.social
17K followers 4.6K following 410 posts

William R Kenan Jr Professor of Sociology @ Davidson College | Race, Religion, Power, Social Change | Past Roles: Journal Editor Sociology of Religion, President SSSR & ASR, Chair ASA Religion, AAR Religion & Social Science Unit | cv https://bit.ly/40mps8D .. more

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Sociology 33%
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gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · Aug 17
PRE-ORDER NOW 👏👏👏

I am very happy to announce that pre-order is now available for our forthcoming book:

Aspiring to Antiracism: The Pursuit of Racial Justice in White Progressive Churches

Published by Oxford University Press (2027)

Link to OUP website and brief overview is below👇👇👇
PREORDER NOW 👏👏👏 Aspiring to Antiracism: The Pursuit of Antiracism in White Progressive Churches (Oxford University Press 2027)
$29.99 296 Pages 02 April 2027 * ISBN 9780197802151
gerardomarti.substack.com

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 5h
Written last Fall, published end of August, still thinking about it today👇

How church worship can accentuate racial justice, yet worshippers will leave it behind
gerardomarti.bsky.social Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 14d
Lead Article in the new issue of Liturgy

Theme: "Liturgy Confronting the Powers"

LINK to ResearchGate
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

LINK to Original Article Website
doi.org/10.1080/0458...
The Lull of Liturgy: How Ritual Defers the Demands of Racial Justice Gerardo Martí Davidson College, Davidson, NC, USA ABSTRACT White progressive congregations routinely enact values of inclusion and justice in worship through confession, prayer, and preaching. Yet familiar liturgical rhythms can inhibit deeper transformation, absorbing even radical antiracist language and gestures without unsettling congregants’ self-understanding or altering underlying church structures. Drawing on ethnographic observation and Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical sociology, this essay heuristically interprets worship as a social performance through which participants adopt a “circumstantial self,” projecting idealized commitments that may not extend beyond the occasion. This performative dynamic produces what is here called the lull of liturgy: a condition in which devotional practices generate moral satisfaction while deferring the sustained, disruptive work required to dismantle systemic racism. Supported by qualitative data, the result is a pattern of symbolic allyship, where low-risk gestures substitute for substantive action, and clergy prioritize harmony over confrontation. Rather than equipping congregants for costly engagement, worship risks only comforting them. For liturgy to “confront the powers,” it must disrupt as well as console. Only when embedded within a broader ecology of formation—including teaching, political education, and structural change—can worship form people capable of sustained, courageous antiracist action. The measure of liturgical formation, then, lies not in its emotional resonance within sacred walls, but in the transformation it produces beyond them. KEYWORDS Racism, racial justice,sociological theory,sociology of religion,symbolic allyship, progressive congregations, spiritual formation, ritual performance

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 1d
JAX
Clouds through floor to ceiling windows at Jacksonville airport.

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 1d
FYI

Co-written with Joseph Baker in early 2020
Is the Religious Left Resurgent?
Abstract. Journalistic sources seem to suggest that there has been a resurgence of the American Religious Left (i.e., politically liberal Christians who su
academic.oup.com

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 1d
When it comes to media feeds, we've come to another crossroads. I suggest:

Feed honor with attention.

Starve bullying with silence.

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 2d
"Come grumpy, leave happy."
A hand holding an off-white ceramic coffee mug printed with a black logo reading "GRUMPY'S" above a cartoon chef with a frowning face, flanked by "HOME OF THE BAD MOOD DUDE" and "• BREAKFAST & LUNCH •".

gerardomarti.bsky.social
Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 2d
Dinner @ Cantina Louie

Jacksonville, Florida
Alt Text: Vibrant interior of a Mexican-themed restaurant featuring a large Day of the Dead mural of a woman with face paint and a rose in her hair, string lights overhead, and an olive-green wall adorned with decorative crosses, framed art, and mirrors above pink booths with agave plants. Detailed Description: * Left Wall Mural: A colorful mural depicts a woman with Día de los Muertos sugar skull face paint—featuring bright teal patterns around her eyes—and a prominent pink rose in her hair against a blue-water backdrop. * Gallery Wall: An olive-green wall densely filled with various decorative crosses, framed Day of the Dead artwork, small ornate mirrors, and sunburst decorations. * Foreground & Overhead: Warm string lights with exposed bulbs hang in rows across the ceiling, while green agave plants sit along the top of pink booth dividers.