Robert P. Jones - The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity

Praise for White Too Long

White Too Long is a rich and astute reflection on the role of white churches in creating and sustaining Americas system of racial caste. Robert P. Jones features his customary skillful blend of journalism, social science, and commentary, adding splashes of illuminating personal memoir, to explicate how churches perpetuated white supremacy for centuriesand still do.

Gary Dorrien, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary; author of The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel

Robert Jones combines the passion of a memoirist, the rigor of a social scientist, and the tenacity of a historian to produce this piercing exploration of the dark ties that bind aspects of American Christianity to the nations original sin of racism. For anyone hoping to understand the cultural, racial, and religious fault lines that divide America today, White Too Long is timely, insightful and indispensable.

Ronald Brownstein, Senior Editor, The Atlantic, Senior Political Analyst for CNN

Robert Jones here makes a remarkable contribution to a growing literature in which white Christian people finally face the facts and tell the truth. His combination of historical research, data analysis, theological reflection, and personal storytelling makes this book a unique and extraordinary work. White Too Long is a breakthrough for Jones and a gift to his readers.

David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University; author of Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism

White Too Long is a work of rare courage, conviction, and analytical acuity. Part memoir, part brilliantly incisive social history, it passionately lays bare the complicity of white Christianity in Americas ongoing plague of racism. Jones writes with the mind of a social scientist, the heart of a lover of humanity, and the soul of a fighter for a truly just society. White Too Long is a major contribution to the struggle to fully understand the forces that keep a fair and just America for all beyond our grasp.

Obery M. Hendricks Jr., Visiting Scholar, Departments of Religion & African and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University;author of The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted

Joness introspective, measured study is a revelatory unpacking of influence and history of white Christian nationalism.

Publishers Weekly

This book is a marvel. It manages to quietly excoriate the insidious, entrenched attitudes that continue to sow racial hatred and division and to show the large and small ways that they continue. Devoid of moralizing, this powerful, heavily researched and annotated book is a must-read for religious leaders and academics.

Booklist (starred review)

A concise yet comprehensive combination of deeply documented religious history, social science research about contemporary religion, and heartfelt memoir. An indispensable study of Christianity in America.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

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Copyright 2020 by Robert P. Jones

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition July 2020

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Interior design by Paul Dippolito

Illustrations by Tim Duffy

Jacket design by Jason Arias

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jones, Robert P. (Robert Patrick), author.

Title: White too long : the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity / Robert P. Jones.

Description: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: WHITE TOO LONG draws on history, statistics, and memoir to urge that white Christians reckon with the racism of the past and the amnesia of the present to restore a Christian identity free of the taint of white supremacyProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019049393 | ISBN 9781982122867 | ISBN 9781982122881 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: United States--Church history. | Christians, WhiteUnited StatesHistory. | Racism--Religious aspectsChristianity | Race relationsReligious aspectsChristianity. | RacismUnited States.

Classification: LCC BR515 .J66 2020 | DDC 277.30089dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049393

ISBN 978-1-9821-2286-7

ISBN 978-1-9821-2288-1 (ebook)

To Jodi and to the two First Baptist Churches of Macon, Georgia

I will flatly say that the bulk of this countrys white population impresses me, and has so impressed me for a very long time, as being beyond any conceivable hope of moral rehabilitation. They have been white, if I may so put it, too long.

James Baldwin, The New York Times, February 2, 1969

The Christian denomination in which I grew up was founded on the proposition that chattel slavery could flourish alongside the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its founders believed this arrangement was not just possible but also divinely mandated.

After decades of regional tensions at the Triennial Conventions, where Baptists gathered to coordinate their church and missions work in the early eighteen hundreds, Baptists in the South brought the issue of the compatibility of slaveholding and Christianity to a head. The lead architect of these efforts was Reverend Basil Manly Sr., president of the University of Alabama, and the former pastor of the prominent First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina. On November 25, 1844, Manly and a group of Alabama Baptists sent a letter to the managing board of the Triennial Convention, declaring, Our duty at this crisis requires us to demand from the proper authorities the distinct, explicit avowal that slaveholders are eligible, and entitled, equally with nonslaveholders [sic], to all the privileges and immunities of their several unions. They received a swift and blunt reply from the board: If any one [sic] should offer himself as a missionary, having slaves, and should insist on retaining them as his property, we could not appoint him. Leaving no doubt where they stood, they concluded, One thing is certain: we can never be a party to any arrangement that would imply approbation of slavery.