Taking Apart Bootstrap Theology

Book excerpt: "Professor and pastor Terrell Carter unites scholarly critique with practical wisdom in this new book that exposes the racist and classist assumptions entangled in the rugged individualism of what he calls "bootstrap theology." Dismantling both the impossible idiom of "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps" and the social theory of Marx's Protestant Work Ethic, Carter challenges the academy and church to advance a more faithful gospel, one that extends a spirit of generosity and a call to social justice for all God's people, especially those who are the most vulnerable"--