Today’s conversation is with historian, author, and activist Dr. Jemar Tisby.
Early in 2025 I decided to read more history. Call it curiosity or wanting more context to our current political moment, I started to devour books about the Civil War and eventually more books about the Civil Rights era. One of those books was The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. And to be honest, I was blown away by this book. Mainly because I had never learned this stuff growing up. I’d learned history…but I hadn’t learned this history.
Why does this matter? I believe to my core that if we are unwilling to face and reckon with the darker parts of our history, we will continue to make the same mistakes. A quote that has been attributed to Mark Twain: History may not repeat itself but it does rhyme.
We are living in an incredibly dangerous and polarizing political moment in America. And like Jemary Tisby says in our podcast…what happens in culture is downstream of what happens in the church.
So we’re going to face some hard truths today. Reckon with some hard truths. And come out better on the other side. Jamar is a brilliant scholar and teacher. He’s bold yet gracious. And I’m excited to share this conversation with you today.
As always, thank you for listening. This is David Santistevan and you can reach out to me at any time at david@beyondsundayworship.com
Topics Covered:
- Jamar’s salvation story in the white evangelical church
- What the Mississippi Delta teaches us about American racism
- The church’s complicity in racism throughout history
- Doug Wilson and the spread of racist ideology
- The unique atrocity of American race-based, chattel slavery
- Why leftist, Marxist, DEI deflections are lazy and don’t make sense
- Racial bias in the Christian Music industry
Resources Mentioned
- Jemar Tisby Substack
- The Color of Compromise: The Truth About The American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jamar Tisby
- The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, & Resistance by Jamar Tisby
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