The Color of Compromise: Uncovering the American Church's Role in Perpetuating Racism

David Wampler: While the main purpose of The Color of Compromise is fantastic, and does a stellar job of giving an (as the author admits) general overview of racism in American history (as opposed to a deep-dive), the first chapter and last two chapters are where I had some serious objections.

To be clear, I learned quite a good bit in the "meat" of the book. For example, I did not know the flawed history of "The Great Awakening's" greatest preachers of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. I don't remember learning this part of their history in any of my religious studies (though, that might be at least in large part my failure as a student). I had also never read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," before (even though I had heard it was very good), and Tisby's explanation of the context of the letter compelled me to read it, and understand it better than I would have otherwise.

However, Tisby's first chapter, where he explains the definition of "racism" that he will be using, is the flawed re-interpretation of racism that is becoming increasingly accepted in secular culture. Instead of the definition for racism I've always used personally (the belief that...

United States on Aug 07, 2020

Amazon Customer: An excellent and powerful challenge for the church to face up To our complicity in racism. Definitely worth reading. You will want to do something as a result.

United Kingdom on Jul 30, 2020

Leanne: I had to read this slowly because there was SO much good information to absorb. Fantastic book.

Canada on Jun 25, 2020

Abayomi Odubanjo JNR: Absolutely amazing and very informative, if you’re looking for a real breakdown of the history of America’s complicity with racism form the faith aspect, look no further.

United Kingdom on Jun 02, 2020

Oyindamola Sosanya: As someone who was always intrigued by the devotion to the right by the white evangelical church (especially after 2016) the Color of Compromise really helped in explaining the historical context of how that has evolved over the years. Really great read

United Kingdom on Jan 05, 2020

Patrick: When it comes to race within the context of American history, most U.S. history courses provide a very Eurocentric and “white”-centric version of events that have come to shape our country. It typically begins with the “discovery” of the Americas all the way up to the Civil War. It then largely skips over Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights (while discussing WWI and WWII) before landing in the Cold War-era. Yet for nearly a century (post-Civil War through 1960’s), actions and policies were carried out that showed how racism evolved from chattel slavery to voting restrictions, redlining, and segregation academies. Many books have detailed the history of policies and actors during these times, but this book, The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby, pulls together how the (white) American church responded to issues of race and justice since the foundation of the country. It doesn’t go deep into any one issue but rather surveys a broad range of topics throughout the centuries, revealing patterns of how the American Church compromised with Biblical definitions of justice and equality.

Most of us are aware that a significant portion of Christians justified the...

United States on Jan 23, 2019