Unto Us Is Born

About the Book

The time is 1931. The three places we first visit are Iowa, South Africa and Alabama. The characters finally end up as neighbors in Alabama and the story is about three young men whose growing up years were typical for that place and that era. What makes it different is that rather than be in a culture that accepted racial bias as a way of life these three young men simply did not accept the status quo. One of the young men was the son of the local minister who had originally come from the Midwest and moved to Birmingham when his father became a minister there. The second friend was a native South African and arrived in Birmingham when his mother who was a nanny accompanied a family which had immigrated to the South. The third, whose father had been an alcoholic causing his mother to divorce him and who was raising her two children alone. The boys met and eventually became close friends and classmates. Each family has a fascinating history in the own right but after the boys meet the story becomes more about them as a trio.. The boys became fast friends. The first two boys became star athletes and entered the University of Alabama on football scholarships. They all entered the University together, pledged the same fraternity and continued their lives together. In their early teen years the boys had become friends with some young Black men their own age living neirar them and that friendship has something to do with later developments in the story. That part of the story is intriguing. Each character has a story of their own but the story of the three helps explain who they were and what they became. It is reflective of the times more than some would want to remember. You will enjoy the journey into their lives and perhaps better understand the tensions of a society which had nor yet faced the dark side of its culture. It is truly reflective of those times in the South, times that in some places might still be trying to exist.

About the Author

J. Benton White is a Methodist minister who grew up in Alabama, graduated from the U. of Alabama and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He received a third degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological School. He began his ministerial career as a SAC Chaplain, followed by stints as a campus minister at the University of Nebraska and San Jose State University in California. In 1967 he became the first Ombudsman in Higher Education, appointed by the then SJSU President Robert Clark to help deal with the problems of student unrest on campuses at that time. He became Assistant to the President at SJSU in 1969 and was appointed a Professor of Religious Studies at SJSU and the founding member of SJSU’s Religious Studies Program. He coordinated that Program until his retirement in 1992. He authored a very successful introductory textbook in 1986, From Adam to Armageddon: A Survey of the Bible, a book now in its fifth edition. He has a co-author for the last 2 editions of that book. He also has a successful book on the history of the modernist/fundamentalist controversy that was published by John Knox Press in 1993 entitled Taking the Bible Seriously: Honest Differences in Biblical Interpretation. After retirement he was invited to serve as an Adjunct Professor at Santa Clara University from 1992 until 2003. He lives with his wife Mary Lou in San Jose, CA, plays golf and travels when he is not trying to write. They are proud parent of 2 sons, and have 3 grandchildren. This is his first work of fiction.