Unmuted
Speaking to be heard
A compelling case for how Muted Group Theory can help restore voice to the voiceless to strengthen and reinvigorate global evangelicalism.
In stock
ISBN-13
9781789745535-grouped
From £25.00
Usha Reifsnider is a British South Asian Christ-follower from a Hindu background. She and her American husband, Matt, have served as mission partners working with migrants, refugees, and diaspora people groups for over three decades. Usha’s research interests are in the intersection of cultural anthropology and practical theology.Her various roles in ministry include serving as a director with the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World (CMMW), training churches and para-church agencies on mission to, through, from, and with diaspora people groups. Usha also teaches a module on philosophical frameworks and ethics at the postgraduate level at Waverley Abbey College.
'In Unmuted, the reader is confronted with new ideas and people not like themselves in situations not like theirs and the rupturing experience invites transformation, if we take the time to listen deeply. Unmuted encourages us to "let the whole earth sing to the Lord" (Ps 96:1, nlt), with every voice contributing to the harmony unrestrainedly, even if to our ears it seems a little off pitch or out of sync. This book challenges us to deal with real relationships in groups rather than large disembodied systems. It is likely to be far more beneficial as a tool to help Christians understand how to create space for others to speak and be heard.
'The irony that it falls to me, a white British able-bodied university educated male in his late fifties, to write an endorsement for a book which gathers the perspectives of those whose voices have been muted, is not lost on me. Not to be heard, nor even allowed to speak, is one of the ultimate indignities, yet it is sadly very common, even in the Church and in Christian mission, as the book you have in your hands painfully recounts.This book is, as the author confesses, an uncomfortable read. As we hear the unmuted voices of women, disabled people, the Roma, those from other cultures and many others, our discomfort stirs in us a desire to interject. Yet may I invite you, for just a moment, to mute that inner voice so that you can genuinely hear the voice of those who are rarely given a platform like this.
About
Proverbs 31:8 challenges God's people to 'Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed' (ESV).
In Unmuted, Usha Reifsnider makes use of 'muted group theory' to help church leaders and theologians understand the real challenges of identity, intersectionality, and the myriad ways of being human in God's world.
Drawing together powerful testimonies from disciples of Jesus from around the world, Usha Reifsnider brings theological reflection and biblical insight to the contested question of multifaceted identities. As a convert from a Hindu background and, married to an American, she is well placed to do so.
Unmuted ends with a powerful statement about the future of evangelicalism - in a clarion cry to the West to listen again to the voices of global church and join in with what God is doing.
In Unmuted, Usha Reifsnider makes use of 'muted group theory' to help church leaders and theologians understand the real challenges of identity, intersectionality, and the myriad ways of being human in God's world.
Drawing together powerful testimonies from disciples of Jesus from around the world, Usha Reifsnider brings theological reflection and biblical insight to the contested question of multifaceted identities. As a convert from a Hindu background and, married to an American, she is well placed to do so.
Unmuted ends with a powerful statement about the future of evangelicalism - in a clarion cry to the West to listen again to the voices of global church and join in with what God is doing.
Author
Usha Reifsnider is a British South Asian Christ-follower from a Hindu background. She and her American husband, Matt, have served as mission partners working with migrants, refugees, and diaspora people groups for over three decades. Usha’s research interests are in the intersection of cultural anthropology and practical theology.Her various roles in ministry include serving as a director with the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World (CMMW), training churches and para-church agencies on mission to, through, from, and with diaspora people groups. Usha also teaches a module on philosophical frameworks and ethics at the postgraduate level at Waverley Abbey College.
Reviews
'In Unmuted, the reader is confronted with new ideas and people not like themselves in situations not like theirs and the rupturing experience invites transformation, if we take the time to listen deeply. Unmuted encourages us to "let the whole earth sing to the Lord" (Ps 96:1, nlt), with every voice contributing to the harmony unrestrainedly, even if to our ears it seems a little off pitch or out of sync. This book challenges us to deal with real relationships in groups rather than large disembodied systems. It is likely to be far more beneficial as a tool to help Christians understand how to create space for others to speak and be heard.
'The irony that it falls to me, a white British able-bodied university educated male in his late fifties, to write an endorsement for a book which gathers the perspectives of those whose voices have been muted, is not lost on me. Not to be heard, nor even allowed to speak, is one of the ultimate indignities, yet it is sadly very common, even in the Church and in Christian mission, as the book you have in your hands painfully recounts.This book is, as the author confesses, an uncomfortable read. As we hear the unmuted voices of women, disabled people, the Roma, those from other cultures and many others, our discomfort stirs in us a desire to interject. Yet may I invite you, for just a moment, to mute that inner voice so that you can genuinely hear the voice of those who are rarely given a platform like this.
In Unmuted, Usha Reifsnider makes use of 'muted group theory' to help church leaders and theologians understand the real challenges of identity, intersectionality, and the myriad ways of being human in God's world.
Drawing together powerful testimonies from disciples of Jesus from around the world, Usha Reifsnider brings theological reflection and biblical insight to the contested question of multifaceted identities. As a convert from a Hindu background and, married to an American, she is well placed to do so.
Unmuted ends with a powerful statement about the future of evangelicalism - in a clarion cry to the West to listen again to the voices of global church and join in with what God is doing.