Stephanie Spellers serves as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Canon for Evangelism and Reconciliation. The author of The Church Cracked Open, and The Episcopal Way (with Eric Law), she has directed mission and evangelism work at General Theological Seminary and in the Diocese of Long Island. A native of Kentucky and a graduate of both Episcopal Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, she lives in Harlem, New York.

"Stephanie Spellers draws our attention to the unraveling of white Christianity in the face of contextual diversity and Jesus’s cross. She invites her readers to stop negotiating with the past and to realize that love is not maintaining and protecting community but the very cracking open at the heart of community. This book continues the theology of James Cone and Kelly Brown Douglas and signals a cruciform direction."—C. Andrew Doyle, IX Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Texas

"Every Christian—Episcopalian or not—stands to gain from this indispensable book. Stephanie Spellers has given a grace to the Church—and like all graces, it offers a challenge and a gift."—Marshall Jolly, Earth and Altar

"Spellers courageously challenges American Christians to have tough conversations surrounding imperialism, racism, and self-centrism. Moreover, she offers solutions that bring us back to what Jesus intended the church to look like and function."—Herman Baxter, Jr., The Christian Century

"The closing chapters offer practical steps to work through this rebirthing process, in which all cooperate in a new beloved community that does not play the zero-sum game of Empire….Congregations seeking to wrestle with their own past practices and future hopes will find this book a very helpful guide."—Tobias Stanislas Haller, BSG, Church of the Advent, Baltimore, MD, Anglican Theological Review