Plantation Jesus: Race, Faith, and a New Way Forward

"Deserving of the widest possible readership. Midwest Book Review

"This provocative book will encourage conversations about one of American Christianity's most challenging issues. --Publishers Weekly

Not long ago, most white American Christians believed that Jesus blessed slavery. God wasn t bothered by Jim Crow. Baby Jesus had white skin. Meet Plantation Jesus: a god who is comfortable with bigotry, and an idol that distorts the message of the real Savior.

That false image of God is dead, right? Wrong, argue the authors of Plantation Jesus, an authoritative new book on one of the most urgent issues of our day.

Through their shared passion for Jesus Christ and with an unblinking look at history, church, and pop culture, authors Skot Welch and Rick Wilson detail the manifold ways that racism damages the church's witness. Together Welch and Wilson take on common responses by white Christians to racial injustice, such as I never owned a slave, I don t see color; only people, and We just need to get over it and move on. Together they call out the church's denials and dodges and evasions of race, and they invite readers to encounter the Christ of the disenfranchised.

With practical resources and Spirit-filled stories, Plantation Jesus nudges readers to learn the history, acknowledge the injury, and face the truth. Only then can the church lead the way toward true reconciliation. Only then can the legacy of Plantation Jesus be replaced with the true way of Jesus Christ.