Overview

An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically-up to the present day-worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response. The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church. The Color of Compromise: Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today's Black Lives Matter movement Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learners The Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality. A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to standup now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God's people. Starting today.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jemar Tisby
Publisher:   Zondervan
Imprint:   Zondervan
ISBN:  

9780310597261

ISBN 10:   0310597269
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   07 February 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Color of Compromise uses history to present a jarring picture of how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. In doing so, readers begin to realize just how far back and deep the problem of race and the church goes. But the book doesn’t just look backwards; it looks forward to a future of improved race relations and a more racially inclusive church. But because Christians have worked so hard in the past to divide and separate based on race, believers today will have to work even harder to foster equity and unity. The introduction explains the book’s premise by unpacking its title and its relation to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech where he uses the phrase “the fierce urgency of now.” Chapter 1- Making Race: The Colonial Era In the early years of the European colonization of North America, the racial caste system had not yet been rigidly defined. Indigenous people, Europeans, and Africans ranged from free, to indentured servants, to slaves for life. During this period, white Christians grappled with questions of evangelism. If a person of color converted to the faith did he or she become an equal? Should slaves who were now Christians be granted freedom? This chapter explores how Christians in America began to excuse racialized slavery and even participated in its formation during the seventeenth century. Chapter 2- Christian Slave Owners: Antebellum Era Over time, slavery became increasingly common and regulated in North America. Christians became slave owners and often failed to see the contradiction between their faith and owning people as property. Growing denominations (like Baptists) punted the question of slavery to the civil authorities and nationally known Christian leaders (like Jonathan Edwards) held slaves without apparent contradiction. This chapter details how racism became staples of American Christianity as slavery became an American institution during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Chapter 3- With God on Our Side: The Civil War Era By the mid-eighteenth century, the nation faced a sectional conflict about the perpetuation of slavery that would end in a bloody war. The Civil War pitted North against South and those who wanted a country that maintained slavery against those who, for various motives, did not. Both Union and Confederate forces thought God was on their side. This chapter explains how Christians in the Confederacy sanctified slavery and tried to make racism sound righteous. Chapter 4- Taking Back the South: The Lost Cause, Redemption and Jim Crow After losing the Civil War, white southerners had to find ways to explain their defeat. They couched their plight in theological terms that made their side seem like tragic victims. Although their cause had been just, they had to suffer through the “Lost Cause.” But Christians who wanted a return to white racial dominance dubbed their crusade “Redemption” as they attempted to return to what they lost. They recast slavery in the form of Jim Crow and used the Bible to defend the inferiority and segregation of black people. This chapter shows how Christians processed the Civil War and adapted their beliefs of racial superiority in the years from 1865 to 1945. Chapter 5- On the Wrong Side of the Fight for Equality: The Civil Rights Era By the middle of the twentieth century, African Americans and their allies became increasingly public with their protests of Jim Crow inequality and brutality. They began boycotting, marching, and rallying for their basic civil rights. Instead of siding with African Americans, however, conservative white Christians resisted their efforts. Both silence and outspoken opposition to these protests characterized Christians in this period. They vigorously obstructed integration and often populated racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Citizens’ Council. This chapter details the tumultuous Civil Rights era from its rumblings in the 1940

Reviews

'In giving us a history of America and the Protestant church, Jemar Tisby has given us a survey of ourselves--the racial meanings and stratagems that define our negotiations with one another. He points courageously toward the open sore of racism, not with the resigned pessimism of the defeated but with the resilient hope of Christian faith. The reader will have their minds and hearts pricked as they consider just how complicit the church has been in America's original sin and how weak a word complicit is for describing the actions and inactions of those who claim the name of Christ!' * THABITI ANYABWILE, pastor, Anacostia River Church * 'With clinical precision, Jemar Tisby unpacks the tragic connection between the American church and the countless historic iterations of American racism. Readers are served well by Jemar's refusal to minimize the horror of this history or sanitize the church's hands from its complicity. For this reason and many others, The Color of Compromise is an appropriately discomforting volume for such a time as this. May it be referenced and heeded as a prophetic warning for decades to come.' * TYLER BURNS, vice president, The Witness * 'If you want to understand why we remain mired in racial unrighteousness, you need to read this book. Its pages radiate not just historical but also moral insight, as Tisby shines a light on to the dark places of American church history. The Color of Compromise tells the truth--and only the truth will set us free.' * HEATH W. CARTER, associate professor of history, Valparaiso University, author, Union Made * The Color of Compromise is essential reading for American Christians. By telling the brutal history of white Christians' deliberate complicity in racial oppression, Jemar Tisby confronts the church with its own past. But his is not simply a story of condemnation. If racism can be made, it can be unmade, he reminds us. 'There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love,' Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote. Tisby's book is a labor of love and, ultimately, a work of hope. * KRISTIN DU MEZ, professor of history and gender studies, Calvin College * Each individual and society is a compilation of what has come before them, whether they own this notion or not. Tisby's thoughtful work reminds us that you can run from, deny, or remix it, but history will find you out. The American church's history of wanting to hold holiness in one hand and racial stratification in the other has seeded a deeply corrupted tree. The book causes us to examine the implications of the historical trajectory of our theological influences. Yet this book, with the same intensity that it offers historical truth, provides grace. If race can be constructed, racism can be deconstructed. In Christ's name, it must be! * CHRISTINA EDMONDSON, dean for intercultural student development, Calvin College * Christianity in the United States has had problems for centuries as it concerns racial injustice, and most American Christians need what can only be described as remedial education when it comes to understanding the abusive racist history of our faith tradition. In The Color of Compromise Jemar Tisby courageously challenges some of our long held collective assumptions and whitewashed accounts of rationalized racism for the church in America. With a thoroughly researched and detailed examination of archival documents and literary sources, he compels readers to focus on hard truths, addresses the realities of American Christianity's past, and does so in a well-reasoned and lovingly direct writing style. Upon reading this book, one will come away having to reconsider how individuals who proudly boast of a Christian way of life in America continue to do so at the expense of others. As a historian and a Christian, Tisby presents truth with accuracy but also with much love and humility. If it is true that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, then this book is a timely must-read for any Christian seeking justice and mercy, as we learn how problems in American Christianity's past could lead to solutions in our future. * ALEXANDER JUN, professor of higher education, Azusa Pacific University, author, White Out and White Jesus * Reconciliation doesn't happen without truth telling. Jemar takes us on a historical journey laying out the racial complicity of the church. It's difficult to understand the complexities of the history of racial oppression in America; one must begin to identify the intentional and unintentional blind spots many have. Jemar calls the church to face its tragic history in an effort to build a new future and to save it from repeating past mistakes. The foundation of reconciliation begins with truth. Tisby encourages us to become courageous Christians who face our past with lament, hope, and humility. History is imperative to understanding the present. The Color of Comprise gives us an aerial view of our past with hopes of a Christian awakening. This is a must-read for all Christians who have hopes of seeing reconciliation. * LATASHA MORRISON, founder and president, Be the Bridge * With the incision of a prophet, the rigor of a professor, and the heart of a pastor, Jemar Tisby offers a defining examination of the history of race and the church in America. Comprehensive in its scope of American history, Tisby's data provides the full truth and not a sanitized version that most American Christians have embraced. Read this book. Share this book. Teach this book. The church in America will be better for it. * SOONG-CHAN RAH, Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism, North Park Theological Seminary, author, The Next Evangelicalism and Prophetic Lament * In The Color of Compromise, Tisby reveals the role that racism has played in the American church and how that has manifested in policy making. Those following the relationship between white evangelicals and President Trump need to know that this union was a long time comin--even before the rise of the Moral Majority, led in part by the late Jerry Falwell, father of one of Trump's most vocal evangelical supporters, Jerry Falwell Jr. Tisby's book gives the historical context that is often missing from the conversation about how so many black and white Christians can be described as theologically conservative but vote so differently on Election Day. Compromise helps the reader understand that Martin Luther King Jr.'s assessment--that Sunday morning is the most racially divided hour in America--rings true today and manifests in the voting booths when Christians express their deeply held convictions. * EUGENE SCOTT, reporter covering identity politics for The Fix for The Washington Post * Some American evangelical Christians are often confused and sometimes frustrated by all the talk surrounding white supremacy and American Christianity. Some think that racism and its deleterious intergenerational, personal, psychological, social, institutional, and systemic effects are of the past and too often exaggerated in the present or that in a certain way American Christianity was somehow immune to this national spiritual and moral pathology. In The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby has provided an account that reminds some of us and informs others of the sad demonstrably historical fact that the American church intentionally perpetuated racial injustice socially and politically while attempting to undergird all of this theologically. The claim itself will no doubt make some uncomfortable. We must nevertheless come to grips with these realities. Others may even become defensive, yet this response must be resisted. For those who care about the collective witness of the American church, it is necessary that readers journey with Tisby through this treacherous landscape of American church history. This sordid history should not be hidden, downplayed, or explained away. It must be confronted. There cannot be a way forward without a profound truth telling. This is exactly what The Color of Compromise does. Those who are deeply concerned about the witness of the American church must read this book and pass it on to others. By looking back, The Color of Compromise pushes us to look forward to live out a courageous Christianity that is authentically grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. * PATRICK SMITH, associate research professor of theological ethics and bioethics, Duke Divinity School, senior fellow, Kenan Institute of Ethics, Duke University * The Color of Compromise presents an irrefutable and haunting historical survey of white evangelical churches' complicity with racism and white supremacy. Tisby invites the reader to answer this question: What is the color of compromise? The answer is red, politically and literally, as the blood of black women and men--slain by the wickedness of white supremacy and antiblack racism vis-and agrave;- vis the altar of complicity--continues to pour out. * EKEMINI UWAN, public theologian * Jemar Tisby has written a concise history of the way white supremacy wrapped itself in Christianity in the American story, compromising the gospel for the sake of money and power. This slaveholder religion is with us still, adding fuel to the fire that threatens to consume the institutions of our common life. To face the truth this book illuminates is to see that it didn't have to be this way--and that, by God's grace, there has always been a prophetic tradition calling us to confront the compromise and be born again. * JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE, author, Reconstructing the Gospel *

Jemar Tisby has written a concise history of the way white supremacy wrapped itself in Christianity in the American story, compromising the gospel for the sake of money and power. This slaveholder religion is with us still, adding fuel to the fire that threatens to consume the institutions of our common life. To face the truth this book illuminates is to see that it didn't have to be this way--and that, by God's grace, there has always been a prophetic tradition calling us to confront the compromise and be born again. * JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE, author, Reconstructing the Gospel * The Color of Compromise presents an irrefutable and haunting historical survey of white evangelical churches' complicity with racism and white supremacy. Tisby invites the reader to answer this question: What is the color of compromise? The answer is red, politically and literally, as the blood of black women and men--slain by the wickedness of white supremacy and antiblack racism vis-and agrave;- vis the altar of complicity--continues to pour out. * EKEMINI UWAN, public theologian * Some American evangelical Christians are often confused and sometimes frustrated by all the talk surrounding white supremacy and American Christianity. Some think that racism and its deleterious intergenerational, personal, psychological, social, institutional, and systemic effects are of the past and too often exaggerated in the present or that in a certain way American Christianity was somehow immune to this national spiritual and moral pathology. In The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby has provided an account that reminds some of us and informs others of the sad demonstrably historical fact that the American church intentionally perpetuated racial injustice socially and politically while attempting to undergird all of this theologically. The claim itself will no doubt make some uncomfortable. We must nevertheless come to grips with these realities. Others may even become defensive, yet this response must be resisted. For those who care about the collective witness of the American church, it is necessary that readers journey with Tisby through this treacherous landscape of American church history. This sordid history should not be hidden, downplayed, or explained away. It must be confronted. There cannot be a way forward without a profound truth telling. This is exactly what The Color of Compromise does. Those who are deeply concerned about the witness of the American church must read this book and pass it on to others. By looking back, The Color of Compromise pushes us to look forward to live out a courageous Christianity that is authentically grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. * PATRICK SMITH, associate research professor of theological ethics and bioethics, Duke Divinity School, senior fellow, Kenan Institute of Ethics, Duke University * In The Color of Compromise, Tisby reveals the role that racism has played in the American church and how that has manifested in policy making. Those following the relationship between white evangelicals and President Trump need to know that this union was a long time comin--even before the rise of the Moral Majority, led in part by the late Jerry Falwell, father of one of Trump's most vocal evangelical supporters, Jerry Falwell Jr. Tisby's book gives the historical context that is often missing from the conversation about how so many black and white Christians can be described as theologically conservative but vote so differently on Election Day. Compromise helps the reader understand that Martin Luther King Jr.'s assessment--that Sunday morning is the most racially divided hour in America--rings true today and manifests in the voting booths when Christians express their deeply held convictions. * EUGENE SCOTT, reporter covering identity politics for The Fix for The Washington Post * With the incision of a prophet, the rigor of a professor, and the heart of a pastor, Jemar Tisby offers a defining examination of the history of race and the church in America. Comprehensive in its scope of American history, Tisby's data provides the full truth and not a sanitized version that most American Christians have embraced. Read this book. Share this book. Teach this book. The church in America will be better for it. * SOONG-CHAN RAH, Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism, North Park Theological Seminary, author, The Next Evangelicalism and Prophetic Lament * Reconciliation doesn't happen without truth telling. Jemar takes us on a historical journey laying out the racial complicity of the church. It's difficult to understand the complexities of the history of racial oppression in America; one must begin to identify the intentional and unintentional blind spots many have. Jemar calls the church to face its tragic history in an effort to build a new future and to save it from repeating past mistakes. The foundation of reconciliation begins with truth. Tisby encourages us to become courageous Christians who face our past with lament, hope, and humility. History is imperative to understanding the present. The Color of Comprise gives us an aerial view of our past with hopes of a Christian awakening. This is a must-read for all Christians who have hopes of seeing reconciliation. * LATASHA MORRISON, founder and president, Be the Bridge * Christianity in the United States has had problems for centuries as it concerns racial injustice, and most American Christians need what can only be described as remedial education when it comes to understanding the abusive racist history of our faith tradition. In The Color of Compromise Jemar Tisby courageously challenges some of our long held collective assumptions and whitewashed accounts of rationalized racism for the church in America. With a thoroughly researched and detailed examination of archival documents and literary sources, he compels readers to focus on hard truths, addresses the realities of American Christianity's past, and does so in a well-reasoned and lovingly direct writing style. Upon reading this book, one will come away having to reconsider how individuals who proudly boast of a Christian way of life in America continue to do so at the expense of others. As a historian and a Christian, Tisby presents truth with accuracy but also with much love and humility. If it is true that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, then this book is a timely must-read for any Christian seeking justice and mercy, as we learn how problems in American Christianity's past could lead to solutions in our future. * ALEXANDER JUN, professor of higher education, Azusa Pacific University, author, White Out and White Jesus * Each individual and society is a compilation of what has come before them, whether they own this notion or not. Tisby's thoughtful work reminds us that you can run from, deny, or remix it, but history will find you out. The American church's history of wanting to hold holiness in one hand and racial stratification in the other has seeded a deeply corrupted tree. The book causes us to examine the implications of the historical trajectory of our theological influences. Yet this book, with the same intensity that it offers historical truth, provides grace. If race can be constructed, racism can be deconstructed. In Christ's name, it must be! * CHRISTINA EDMONDSON, dean for intercultural student development, Calvin College * The Color of Compromise is essential reading for American Christians. By telling the brutal history of white Christians' deliberate complicity in racial oppression, Jemar Tisby confronts the church with its own past. But his is not simply a story of condemnation. If racism can be made, it can be unmade, he reminds us. 'There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love,' Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote. Tisby's book is a labor of love and, ultimately, a work of hope. * KRISTIN DU MEZ, professor of history and gender studies, Calvin College * 'If you want to understand why we remain mired in racial unrighteousness, you need to read this book. Its pages radiate not just historical but also moral insight, as Tisby shines a light on to the dark places of American church history. The Color of Compromise tells the truth--and only the truth will set us free.' * HEATH W. CARTER, associate professor of history, Valparaiso University, author, Union Made * 'With clinical precision, Jemar Tisby unpacks the tragic connection between the American church and the countless historic iterations of American racism. Readers are served well by Jemar's refusal to minimize the horror of this history or sanitize the church's hands from its complicity. For this reason and many others, The Color of Compromise is an appropriately discomforting volume for such a time as this. May it be referenced and heeded as a prophetic warning for decades to come.' * TYLER BURNS, vice president, The Witness * 'In giving us a history of America and the Protestant church, Jemar Tisby has given us a survey of ourselves--the racial meanings and stratagems that define our negotiations with one another. He points courageously toward the open sore of racism, not with the resigned pessimism of the defeated but with the resilient hope of Christian faith. The reader will have their minds and hearts pricked as they consider just how complicit the church has been in America's original sin and how weak a word complicit is for describing the actions and inactions of those who claim the name of Christ!' * THABITI ANYABWILE, pastor, Anacostia River Church *

Author Information

Jemar Tisby (B.A., University of Notre Dame, Mdiv Reformed Theological Seminary) is the president of The Witness, a Black Christian Collective where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also the co-host of the Pass The Mic podcast. He has spoken nation-wide at conferences and his writing has been featured in the Washington Post, CNN, and Vox. Jemar is a PhD student in History at the University of Mississippi studying race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century.

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