From the preface of The Koinonia Theory: A Theological and Reflective Memoir on Racial Healing:
“This book was written by accident. Many of my readers know that I blog regularly at www.drprather.com. As I prepared for a presentation on Belonging to more than 100 student leaders and faculty at Catholic University, I went searching through my blog posts for material. I came across several reflections on Koinonia as a way for Christians to embody Christ’s welcome and confront racism both in our institutions and within our own hearts. One post in particular caught my attention: The Koinonia Theory. It became the backbone of my presentation (which I called The Koinonia Theory), and as I wove in other posts, I realized God had been leading me down this path for more than a year.
The presentation was so well received, especially among those with a Biblical worldview, who found in it a framework for navigating these challenging times. In the wake of growing backlash against DEI, many institutions are now turning toward the language of Belonging. But as Christians, we must pause and ask: what does belonging truly mean in the body of Christ?
With every new theory or philosophy that sweeps through our culture, Christians risk being “tossed by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Yet koinonia has always been here. From the very birth of the church, it has stood as a Gospel-rooted truth proclaiming, “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). It is not a passing idea, but a foundation that does not shift with the times. It holds steady when the world moves restlessly from one framework to the next.
After witnessing how much my talk on The Koinonia Theory resonated, I came home stirred. I began rereading my blog posts, and to my surprise, they felt connected—like chapters of a story I hadn’t realized I was writing. I shared them with AI, not to polish or rewrite, but simply to ask whether a book might already be hidden within them. What became clear was humbling: God had been stitching these words together all along. I thought I was writing isolated reflections, but in truth, I had been recording the steps of a journey. Together, the posts revealed themselves as a theological and reflective memoir—one that could not only tell my story but also invite others into their own reflection and healing.
The posts are not chronological — they reflect the messy, non-linear way God has been healing me. Each chapter is simply one of those blog posts, preserved as it was, with my unfiltered thoughts and emotions. This book is both a testimony and an invitation. It is my story of enduring racism within Christian spaces and, more importantly, of how God met me in that pain and drew me closer to the Gospel.
I no longer dream of changing the world. But I do believe we can change the Christian community if we are willing to share our stories, open our hearts, and allow the Spirit to make us new. My prayer is that what I share here will be a source of healing and revelation, so that God may be truly glorified and His love made clear to a world that has too often misunderstood Him because of many churches unwillingness to break free from the chains of racism.”
I am praying about if I should self-publish it or submit to a publisher. Pray for God to make the path I should take clear.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 