Black Arts & Culture Feature:
- Valentine’s Day refocuses love toward a deeper relationship with God beyond romantic expressions.
- Curated list of ten books emphasizes theology, devotionals, sermons, children’s titles, and spiritual formation.
- Works highlight justice, identity, grace, and God’s love demanding liberation and dignity.
- Children’s titles nurture faith and cultural identity, teaching diversity and the vision of the Beloved Community.
- Authors like Francis Chan, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Martin Luther King Jr. model transforming, practical Christian love.
Overview: Awash in hearts, roses and chocolate, Feb. 14 centers on romance, but for many believers, the deepest expression of love begins with faith. This curated reading list gathers theology, devotionals, sermons, and children’s titles that explore spiritual connection, justice, identity, and grace.
(WIB) – Given that the stores are awash in red roses, balloons, chocolates, and sentimental cards, there’s no question that love — between romantic couples, parents and children, and among extended family and friends — is of singular focus on Valentine’s Day.
But our view of Feb. 14th often ignores arguably the most important love: between us and God, our Creator. Indeed, scripture tells us it endures beyond a single random day in the middle of a long, cold winter, and is lavished on all who will receive it.
We at Word In Black have collected 10 books—mostly for adults, with a few for children—that can reinforce or help build Christian faith and spiritual love. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan
Chan is passionate about the love God extends to everyone who will accept it, and assures that once experienced, that love cannot be resisted.
Black Bodies and the Justice of God, by Kelly Brown Douglas
Douglas explores the love of God through the lens of justice and embodied human experience, showing how divine love demands liberation and dignity.
God’s Love in Every Word: A Collection of Prayers for Black Christian Children, by Cookie Jackson
Jackson has created a prayer book to nurture and affirm the faith of Black Christian Children, celebrating God’s love through prayer rooted in cultural identity, resilience, and joyful trust in God.
Strength to Love, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
King’s book is a powerful collection of sermons exploring the Christian concept of agape love: selfless, redemptive devotion rooted in God’s character. Writing during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, he presents God’s love as both sustaining and demanding, urging believers to respond to hatred, injustice, and suffering with courageous faith and moral conviction.
Love Letters From God: My Love for You Never Ends, by Lee Richards
For those not quite sure, Richards has collected 103 letter-essays from God that expound on God’s love for the reader and his unwillingness to be without that love.
The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, by Brennan Manning
If you’ve ever read a book by Manning, you know you’re in for a transformed notion of God and His love for humanity. This one is no different.
If God Be For Us, by Trillin Newbell
A devotional-style book that explores living with confidence in God’s love and goodness.
God’s Beloved Community: A Picture Book, by Michelle T. Sanchez and Camila Carrossine
Created for children ages 3 to 7, the book illustrates God’s love for all people, the value of diversity, and how Christians demonstrate that love. It was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s vision of the beloved community.
Shouting in the Fire: An American Epistle, by Dante Stewart
A semi-autobiographical spiritual narrative wrestling with identity, Christianity, race and what it means to experience God’s love and presence in hard and hopeful moments.
For God So Loved the World: A Blueprint for Kingdom Diversity, by Walter R. Strickland II
A theological reflection on how God’s love for the world inherently includes diversity and unity in Christ, offering a kingdom vision rooted in love.
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