Absence of Light
What if the greatest threat to justice isn’t the people fighting against it, but the good people who looked away?
This question is at the heart of today’s Belief Behind the Book, Christie Hardwick’s The Absence of Light: Radical Accountability and a Way Forward.
Belief Behind the Book is a feature that gives readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the beliefs behind books written by progressive spiritual leaders. Inspired by the Ministry from the Margins Books program, Belief Behind the Book shines a spotlight on why authors write the books they write, offering practical tips readers can apply to their own belief systems.
Author Christie Hardwick had the career, the causes, the spiritual practices and the best of intentions. She wrote checks to nonprofits, voted in every election, and believed love would prevail. But when the cracks in democracy widened, she was forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: Good intentions are not the same as action.
The Absence of Light is a raw, unflinching self-inventory, a confession from a Black woman, ordained minister, former tech executive, and leadership coach who examines how privilege, comfort, and spiritual bypassing kept her from showing up when it mattered most.
This is not a book about shame. It is a blueprint for what comes next.
It examines how comfort zones and echo chambers quietly erode civic engagement, and why “checkbook activism” soothes our conscience while failing our communities. It explores how spiritual practices can shield us from the very pain meant to wake us up. And it offers a practical framework for radical accountability without self-destruction, pointing readers toward a path from remorse through self-forgiveness to renewed, meaningful engagement.
This book is for anyone who has ever wondered: Am I doing enough? Did my silence contribute to this? And what do I do now?
Rev. Christie Hardwick’s experience spans the public and private sectors with decades in high-tech leadership, elected school governance and a spiritual guidance ministry. She is the author of Radical Self-Tenderness and To What End, both of which have served many in search of peace, meaning and purpose in their lives. She lives between California and Italy and shares four children and seven grandchildren with her wife, Jane.
When I asked Christie why she wrote this book, she responded: “I don’t like where we are as a country in the USA. We got here together. I needed to retrace my own steps, my own baggage, to see my wrong turns, my missed turns, and my times of sitting it out. I knew I had good intentions, and yet my actions helped land us in a greed-filled, divisive, non-compassionate place. I needed to unpack and look squarely at the path ahead. A new journey can begin now.”
Continuing, she offers a practical takeaway for readers, “If I look at how I have lived and interacted up till now, can I see how I contributed to the current toxic environment in our society? Once I see that, can I forge a new path forward? Asking myself these questions, I can retake my own power and use my agency to decide how to respond to what confronts us all.”
Intention and impact are themes within spiritual social justice movements, and Christie’s writing offers the nuance so lacking in public discourse. Radical accountability is, indeed, our path forward.
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Award-winning author of ten books, including The Authorpreneur Handbook. Founder and CEO of Tehom Center Publishing, a nonprofit press publishing feminist and queer authors, with a commitment to elevate BIPOC writers. Rev. Dr. Yarber’s work has been featured in Forbes, HuffPo, NPR, The Advocate, Ms. Magazine, the television show Tiny House Nation, and more. She travels the world speaking, preaching, publishing, and writing, but she can always be found at www.tehomcenter.org