Christine Jeske
Racial Justice for the Long Haul
(IVP Academic, January 2026)
Many people who hear of racial injustice feel convicted but aren’t sure what to do. Over time, they can become overwhelmed by deep divisions, conflicting priorities, and historical burdens. They need a clearer vision for engagement with racial justice and reconciliation that goes beyond easy answers or simplistic optimism. In this one-of-a-kind research, Dr. Christine Jeske started by asking people of color about their work and experience with White advocates of racial justice. She then studied the postures, ideas, and actions of the White advocates they recommended as positive examples. This book presents findings from that research, offering an effective, enduring approach and a bold way of hope that perseveres.
About Christine
Dr. Christine Jeske is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Wheaton College (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison; MBA, Eastern University) with expertise in helping people live good and just lives in this multicultural world. She writes and speaks widely on topics of race, work, vocation, faith, and the good life. Her publications include Racial Justice for the Long Haul (IVP Academic, 2025), The Laziness Myth (Cornell, 2020), and numerous other books, chapters, and articles. For a decade prior to teaching at Wheaton, Dr. Jeske lived in Nicaragua, China, and South Africa, where she worked with a variety of economic empowerment initiatives. She and her husband are fortunate to have raised chickens, pigs, innumerable weeds, and two wonderful children.
Books and Articles
The Laziness Myth
When people cannot find good work, can they still find good lives? By investigating this question in the context of South Africa, where only 43 percent of adults are employed, Christine Jeske invites readers to examine their own assumptions about how work and the good life do or do not coincide. The Laziness Myth challenges the widespread premise that hard work determines success by tracing the “laziness myth,” a persistent narrative that disguises the systems and structures that produce inequalities while blaming unemployment and other social ills on the so-called laziness of particular class, racial, and ethnic groups.
Racial Justice for the Long Haul
This book invites readers to engage deeply, reflect thoughtfully, and grow authentically as allies in the work of racial justice. White Christians must learn the nature of true hope as they encounter the depths of injustice and of lament—and of grace. Racial Justice for the Long Haul offers the clarity, inspiration, and tools needed to persevere in the pursuit of a more just world.
This Ordinary Adventure
We start out living the dream. We promise ourselves that every day will be an amazing day. Then we land back home―to the land of shopping malls and manicured lawns. And we wonder what has become of those amazing days. In This Ordinary Adventure Adam and Christine Jeske mine their experience, from riding motorcycles in Africa to dicing celery in Wisconsin, in search of a God who is always present and charging every moment with potential.
Listen and Learn
Newsletter
How do people become long-term effective advocates for justice? Dr. Christine Jeske has spent years researching this question. Her newsletter – Just Learning – shares bite-sized lessons along the way. Consider it your own gradual, free, and applied course in pursuing justice. A just society requires people in it for the long haul. To get there, we’re going to need to keep learning together.
