White Jesus

“For years, I have puzzled over the gaping chasm that so often divides the teachings of Jesus from the practice of White American Christians on matters of race and social justice—a chasm that led Frederick Douglass to affirm in 1845 that ‘between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference’; a chasm that prompted millions of White American Christians in the 1960s to enroll their children in ‘Christian’ schools so they could avoid attending school with blacks; and a chasm that, in 2016, allowed some 80% of White evangelical Christians to vote for a man with a long record of racism as president of the United States. This conundrum is so bizarre it simply makes no sense unless we admit to the truth embodied in this book—that we have painted Jesus White, God White, and salvation White. And because our religion is our ultimate concern, we have also painted White the deepest recesses of our hopes, our fears, and our loves. Why then should we be surprised to discover the weeds of racism, deeply rooted and flourishing in the garden of the American church?” —Richard T. Hughes, author of Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories That Give Us Meaning
“I loved this book! In this interdisciplinary resource, the authors powerfully show that White Jesus isn’t an innocuous inaccuracy. Rather, it is a powerful cornerstone of White supremacy and must be seen for the poison that it is. Drawing connections between historical events, theological affirmations and current, real-world examples of White supremacy in Christianity, this book illuminates the many ways in which White Jesus is the enemy, not the savior, of the world. Every Christian influencer—especially clergy, lay leaders, and scholars—should read this book. I know it’ll be required reading in the seminary courses I teach for years to come!” —Christena Cleveland, author of Disunity in Christ:Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart
“In the age of Trump, Americans have allowed a populist jingoism and White supremacy to dominate the conversation on race, even among Christians. American Evangelicals seem to excuse this dysfunctional intersection between a broken culture and God’s people. How did we get here? This text provides insight into the blueprint of how this dominating and dominant architecture came into being. By understanding this architecture, we may even have the possibility of plotting a way forward that shirks the White captivity of American Christianity. This work does not allow for simple reductionism, memes, or sound bites. It calls for a critical and intellectual engagement of the topic in ways that could change us. An important and significant contribution to a growing field of study.” —Soong-Chan Rah, Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary and author of The Next Evangelicalism and Prophetic Lament
“The authors of White Jesus have written a book for our time. As Christians, especially in the United States, wrestle with their public witness, this book analyzes the architecture of a theology steeped in Whiteness. It challenges readers to consider how a concept so central to Christianity—salvation by faith in Jesus Christ—can be affected by our socio-cultural location and how it even affects the way we craft material culture to reinforce a racially slanted view of the good news. White Jesus should give all of us a certain humility when it comes to theology as we consider the ways we have conflated religion and race and inculcated such ideas through our educational institutions. Although lament is a proper response to this book, so is the sense of hope that comes with realizing that change is possible.” —Jemar Tisby, President of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective
“White Jesus: The Architecture of Racism in Religion and Education is a book that deals with the religion of Whiteness and its discontents. A very ambitious text, White Jesus seeks to correct the many harms and long-standing traumas that Whiteness as religion has inflicted upon non-White peoples all over the world. Concerned with dismantling White supremacy, it correctly identifies the marriage between Whiteness and Christianity as the starting point for such an endeavor. The authors of this book do an excellent job in dissecting and criticizing the many layers of White religion. From architecture to higher education to missions to liturgy to the ideologies of empire, the historical, cultural, and institutional entanglements of Whiteness and Christianity are laid bare. The gravity of Whiteness and Christianity will force readers to rethink Catholicism, the legacies of the Protestant Reformation, and biblical texts. White audiences, particularly White Christians, who avail themselves to a critique of Whiteness and Christian identity, will be compelled to reimagine Whiteness and Christian identity. White Jesus is a timely text that speaks to our contemporary context, where a global resurgence of White nationalism in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world is reproducing the many problems this book seeks to overcome. I highly recommend White Jesus; it is a necessary book for our times.” —Ronald B. Neal, Department for the Study of Religions at Wake Forest University