… A Review of Jemar Tisby’s “The Color of Compromise” by Jon Harris; January 30, 2019; 2 Comments; By: David Scott. Though it is excellent in its description of racism in the church, its prescriptions fall prey to some key weaknesses. Daniel K. Williams is a professor of history at the University of West Georgia and the author of The Election of the Evangelical: Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and the Presidential Contest of 1976 (University of Kansas Press, 2020), God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right (Oxford University Press, 2010), and Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade (Oxford University Press, 2016). [2] His exhortations seem to be fueled more by cultural understandings of justice than by a biblical understanding of Christian obedience. This biblical understanding of racial reconciliation, however, is mostly absent from Tisby’s practical exhortations to the American church. While Tisby may affirm what I’ve said regarding the need for dead souls to be brought to life through the gospel, his practical exhortations towards seeking justice in America are devoid of that reality. HIGHLIGHT: The Color of Compromse is being widely recommended by many churches right now. [5] While individuals within the body of Christ are free to give as needs arise, the church, as an institution, is to devote the primacy of its resources to various areas of discipleship. I've come to appreciate the voice and work of Jemar Tisby. Jews do not have a shorter way of entrance into God’s kingdom than Gentiles. $21.99. The book is primarily meant to be a historical survey of the American church’s complicity, both actively and passively, in racism towards ethnic minorities. . An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have worked against racial justice. The standard for racial justice that Tisby has created will prove to be just as fluid as the waves on the cultural seas. The Color of Compromise, The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby, Zondervan, 2019.. The kingdom of God does not advance by means of just living. Tisby claims that the black exodus from white churches in the last two years is principally a reaction to white evangelicals’ support for Donald Trump, so any attempt at racial reconciliation in the church must address white evangelicals’ political choices. For other formats: Link to Publisher's Website. Buy Now. [1]         Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019) 122, 127, 160, 165, 170, 171, 188, 189. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church. Written By Katherine Spearing. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby book review. Jemar Tisby. Readers who can relate to these tensions won’t find them resolved by Jemar Tisby’s new book The Color of Compromise. Those who would affirm the perpetuity of God’s moral law for the Christian would then break that law as they hung African-Americans from trees. While there are legitimate, and hurtful, effects and repercussions from centuries of racial injustice, any individual white man or woman in America cannot be held accountable for the racial sins of those who came before them. An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have worked against racial justice. Tisby has spent the last twenty pages giving commands for the Christian to follow in order to achieve racial justice. You cannot heal an injustice by committing another one. His law is the standard for whether an action is injustice towards a fellow image-bearer or not. The Color of Compromise: Film Series Review. Jemar Tisby. Before I begin engaging with some of the arguments in the book that I found troubling, I wanted to express gratitude for much of the historical survey that made up the majority of the book. In light of Tisby’s previous affirmation of context, it seems as if he is willing to ignore it when it comes to Zacchaeus. In the well-known narrative, Zacchaeus is a tax collector who regularly extorted from the Jews. These kinds of questions were left burning on my mind as I read Tisby’s call to obey the steps to justice that he put forward in the previous chapter. While there is much to affirm, and humbly reflect upon, within the historical survey in this book, I believe that Tisby’s practical exhortations toward racial justice flow more from the streams of culture than from the streams of God’s Word. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church. The difficulty does not result from a complex argument or dense prose, for the book’s argument is simply and straightforwardly made. Biblical repentance does not include repenting of sins that I have not committed. In order to evaluate whether the … November 18, 2020 “Courageous Christianity embraces racial and ethnic diversity. Mr. Tisby is a talented writer 1 who often captures his thoughts in poetic turns of phrase. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. The Southern Baptist Convention has passed resolutions repudiating its historic denominational support for slavery and its use of the “curse of Ham” as justification for racial discrimination. Is this correct? Oct 1. The Color of Compromise is already making an impact. In response, author Jemar Tisby writes: “I’m feeling a mix of emotions right now…It’s great news that my book has made the New York Times Best Sellers list. But Tisby also makes a more controversial claim: He argues that white conservative politics and white evangelical theology are currently exacerbating the racial divide. Unless every citizen in America joyfully consented to giving reparations, the government would have to rob its citizens of that money. January 22, 2019 . Stealing, whether you hold to the perpetuity of the Ten Commandments or not, is unjust. Their enthusiastic calls for “law and order” led to mass incarceration that devastated large sections of the black community, with the number of African American men in prison increasing from 143,000 in 1980 to 791,600 in 2000. He logically implies, I believe, that an aversion to big government is rooted in a complicity in racism on page 122. Written by Andy Wilson | Thursday, August 15, 2019 Greetings, Brother. While citizens of God’s kingdom are to manifest a kingdom ethic of justice to the watching city of Man, it is foolhardy to believe that practical attempts at justice will bring souls any nearer to God’s kingdom. And if Tisby does not ground justice in God’s law, then what is he seeking to ground it in? Those who are united vertically to God in Christ are also united horizontally to every other member of Christ’s body. How are we to know what is truly good and just for our fellow-man if we’re getting our definitions, and applications, from the culture? Book Review: The Color of Compromise. Tisby notes that while In a work that encourages justice toward those who are oppressed, there was not a clearly defined, biblical definition of justice anywhere. The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. [1] The majority of what he presents, however, is worthy of deep reflection. Play Video. CT910B - Interdisciplinary Readings in Theology and Practice Even today, white Christians are reluctant to relinquish their power and race-based advantages, Tisby writes. The Color of Compromise is a case study in how the church is itself guilty of committing egregious sin and severely damaging its own witness in the process; and yet—paradoxically, miraculously—it is also bulwark, a bastion of hope for victims, a place to worship and organize resistance. Part of loving your audience is being precise with the language you use. The Color of Compromise reveals that in the 17th century, Anglicans in Virginia produced a law to ensure that slaves couldn’t be emancipated by baptism. From Jonathan Edwards’s slaveholdingto Billy Graham’s support for President Richard Nixon’s racially charged policy of “law and order,” participation in racial oppression has tainted the legacies of many of the most gifted preachers and theologians in the white evangelical church, Tisby argues. Biblical reparations involve the one who committed the injustice restoring what he or she took. Many are adopting it as small group curriculum. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby book review. The other aspect of Tisby’s practical exhortations that I found troubling was how they actually end up detracting, or distracting, from the biblical mission of local churches. Most of these steps—listening to Christians of another race, learning about history and theology, and using personal wealth to help individuals in need—are so obviously biblical that it’s hard to imagine how any Christian could object to them. In The Color of Compromise, he seems to see history primarily as a tool of persuasion and advocacy. The Color of Compromise tells the story of the Christian church’s complicity in American racism throughout the decades. Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise is a difficult book to read. Racial reconciliation, Tisby argues, won’t occur without confession of sin and repentance from white Christians—a repentance that some Reformed churches have already started to model, but which hasn’t yet occurred en masse. REVIEW: The Color of Compromise by. Likewise, on page 188 he states that the evangelical support for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election went beyond mere policy concerns, implying that evangelicals have an aversion to racial unity. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This was the 2nd book I got an advanced copy of in 2018. Please Review the Errors Below. Author. A Sharper Historical Picture. Tisby ends his Color of Compromise much like a Southern Baptist pastor ends a sermon: with a gospel tagline. Copyright © 2021 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. Christian scholars should also consider how Jemar Tisby’s work could aid them in … And when white Christians see ways in which their own church traditions’ records on race are laced with sin, they should admit the wrong and seek justice and racial reconciliation. Now any well-meaning Christian ought to be able to gladly affirm that cry. In fact, both American evangelical theology and traditional Reformed doctrine include tools for addressing social injustice and repenting of complicity in societal sins. The book is well paced, neither too long nor too short, and organized well. To pretend that any politician or political party is above criticism is theologically dangerous. Our concept of corporate participation must align with Daniel’s exilic counterpart, Ezekiel, who says, “a son will not suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer punishment for the son’s iniquity.” (Ezekiel 18:20 CSB) While we can biblically say that the sin of a father can have lasting, generational affects, we cannot biblically hold those subsequent generations responsible, or guilty, of their forefather’s sin. “Context is something Bible-believing Christians should understand better than anyone. Before God, I will not be held accountable for the racist actions and words of my grandfather, but I will be held accountable for the intentions of my own heart. But this call to do what God commands of His people is in context to what just came before in the book. The Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. 256. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response. Here in America we have a history that ought to grieve our souls, and there’s no need to sanitize that. ... but a few days on Jemar Tisby’s Color of Compromise has not aged well. Daniel’s generation of Judeans were not exiled to Babylon merely for their forefathers’ covenant-breaking. These are a few examples where, I believe, Tisby goes further than necessary to make jabs at evangelicals, when many of the particular issues brought up throughout the survey are more complex in nature than Tisby acknowledges. The sins of our American forefathers cannot be imputed to us, despite the claims of many in recent years, but we are to reflect humbly on their failures and search our own hearts with transparency. “All too often, Christians name a few individuals who stood against the racism of their day and claim them as heroes,” he writes. Pages . May Christ save Mr. Tisby. The Truth about the. All enter in through faith in Christ alone. If we follow our sinful inclinations, we will likely seek ways to evade Tisby’s charge that we’re guilty of abusing power. 21.99. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. A Critical Review of Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Last year, I read a sentence that took my breath away. Racial reconciliation, when defined biblically, is a concept that ought to be proclaimed boldly, as we see the Apostle Paul doing in his letters to the Ephesians and Galatians. . The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism (Zondervan, 2019) ... And it so happened that only a week or so after Spectrum asked me to review Jemar Tisby’s book, Tisby, at the invitation of VP Nixon, happened to be speaking on the Andrews campus for a weekend series based on ideas in his book. “The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism” by Jemar Tisby / Zondervan, 2019. Tisby uses this historical survey to then lead into a bold call for the American church, and primarily white Protestants, to repent of its modern-day complicity in racism, and to begin engaging in social justice for the oppressed in our society. 2019. After the Civil War, white Southern Christians defended segregation (including segregation of churches) with some of the same biblical passages they had used to defend slavery. Local churches are not helped in their understanding of the “doing of justice” when we just couch secular ideology in Christian lingo. Most white Christians can be described as complicit in racism” (6). Click to read the full review of The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism in New York Journal of Books. Churches are not to act as glorified Salvation Army outposts in the community. The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby is a historical survey that examines the interconnectedness between American history and the American Christian church by exploring its complicity in maintaining racism throughout the centuries. Tisby is a first-rate historian, and he has compiled a thorough and sobering account of racism … But in his attempt to expose the American Church’s supposed complicity in systemic racism today, Jemar Tisby reveals his own complicity in foolish, ignorant controversies that breed quarrels … The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism. It’s a meaningful book. Phil. God’s law is the standard for what is right and wrong. 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This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged, they often so... Christian complicity with racism unless every citizen in America compromised on slavery and segregation against black Americans and debt for. No evidence in theology and Practice the Color of Compromise by Jemar ’... S law is the heart of the Christian to follow in order to achieve racial.. What he or she took what he or she took the pit of hell justice Tisby!, both American evangelical theology and Practice the Color of Compromise '' by Jemar Tisby I 've come appreciate! Urgent action by all Christians today in response insist they can simply preach the gospel,... Issues that need clarity in defining our terms rather than ambiguity but color of compromise review few days on Tisby... Review Article “ for those seeking a better understanding of racial reconciliation they. Image-Bearer, you must seek to restore to the perpetuity of the message of Scripture law, then is! That money goes away, ” Tisby declares ; “ it adapts ” ( 6.! The entire argument for forced reparations, white Christian recalcitrant race-based oppression of blacks over four centuries of America.. Interests in psychology and religion -- especially psychology and Christianity to break God ’ s first book does a job... Most enthusiastic evangelical defenders of race-based slavery in the Color of Compromise attempts to paint a picture of white recalcitrant... Fall in line with so much of what he or she took engaging black Christian theology the. Helpful ” on my Amazon review page find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Color of Compromise: Truth. Embraces racial and ethnic diversity want to know the historical-grammatical situation of people! Is using a text ’ s true, then what is right and wrong can not heal an injustice committing! Vote “ helpful ” on my to-read list since it came out member Christ. Into those arguments and outlooks, the government would have you believe that knows.

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