Jerome Gay - The Whitewashing of Christianity

THE WHITEWASHING OF CHRISTIANITY. Copyright 2020 by JEROME GAY, JR.. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Printed in the U. S. A.

First Printing, May 2021

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-1-953156-07-5

Praise for The Whitewashing of Christianity

JESUS DOES NOT NEED RESCUING, but Christianity does. Its been hijacked and held hostage by a set of racial and cultural attitudes and actions that suggest Christianity belongs to white people or is at least best expressed in white cultural idioms. That, of course, is rarely something people say explicitly. It is, however, a common posture people take in everything from assuming good theology comes only from predominantly white contexts, sound churches primarily exist in those contexts, and there are no meaningful contributions past or present from outside of white Christian society. Its a problem as old as early evangelicalisms equating of civilized with European and Christian. The time for a faithful interrogation of Christianitys captors has come and Jerome Gay provides us with both a tough and hopeful examination. If you sense that something is not quite right in the depictions of the Christian faith dominant in the West, pick up this book to learn more about the whole story and the rest of us.

Thabiti Anyabwile
Pastor of Anacostia River Church
Author, Exalting Jesus in Luke:
Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary

I still vividly remember the first time I saw Jesus. He was blonde haired. He had blue eyes. He had porcelain skin. His painting hung at the entrance of my familys all-Black Catholic Church. I remember the dissonance, even as a boy, and how I wondered how Jesus could look like that, but be Saviour of the world. This would not be the last time I saw that Jesus, and similar images of David, Goliath, Paul, and Pharaohall porcelain, thin lipped, with flowing hair. Many years, and many pains would pass before I would see clearly that Jesus was not white, and that the Bible was replete with image bearers who bore my brown skin. As I read this provocative and powerful work from my friend Jerome, I could but wonder what a help it would have been in those troubling years, as my faith itself teetered, because I could not reconcile a white Jesus, with my very Black experience.

LONCE B. CRUMP JR.

Pastor and Founder of Renovation Church
Author, Renovate: Changing Who You Are By Loving Where You Are

This book is more than a compilation of pages filled with information. This book is an answer to an evangelistic crisis in the African American community. It exposes how the whitewashing of our faith excludes African Americans from seeing themselves in the story of Scripture. However, it doesnt stop there. It also provides a balanced and biblical blueprint back to a Christianity for people of every nation, tribe, and tongue. Im so grateful that Jerome wrote it and its my prayer that the world will hear it.

DR. DHARIUS DANIELS
Lead Pastor, Change Church
Author, Relational Intelligence

This is a profoundly helpful book that will guide all people in understanding the Gospel and race in a Christocentric way. Jerome has written this book with a tone of pastoral-care and passionate pursuit of unity and reconciliation. This book will challenge everything you ever understood in the area of the Gospel and race with the truths of scripture, history, and Jeromes experiences that flood every page. After reading this book, Im sure some will feel confronted; some will feel vindicated, but none will be unclear about Jesuss heart for all people. Get this book, Read it, study it, teach it, heed it.

DR. DOUG LOGAN, JR.
President Grimke Seminary
Author, On the Block
Associate Director of the Acts 29 Family of Churches

Christianity is not a white mans religion, for we serve no tribal deity, but the Lord of the nations, Jesus Christ. The history of Christianity is beautifully diverse, and this fact needs to be made known today. My friend Jerome Gay has done some hard work in this area, leaving us with much to process and apply, and much to celebrate.

DR. TONY MERIDA

Pastor for Preaching, Imago Dei Church

Dean of Grimk Seminary
Director for Theological Training for Acts 29

This work is beyond past due. Whiteness has been exalted in the world and unfortunately in the church of Jesus Christ. From painting history white to asserting whiteness by assuming that Jesus is white has had a horrid impact on the Black community. That is why this work by Jerome Gay is extremely vital to the global body. Everyone from Black mystery groups and ideologies to white Christians need this. The 100 year silence is over and Jeromes work will ring heavy to aid generations who will never have to struggle like we did. They will have answers to the reality that Christianity is a global faith for all people rooted in the gospel.

DR. ERIC MASON

Lead Pastor, Epiphany Fellowship

Author, Woke Church

Truth can be wielded either as a knife, which harms, or a scalpel, which heals. The Whitewashing of Christianity is a much needed scalpel, exposing the truth of Christianity, but in a way that fosters true healing and reconciliation. I pray this book, written by my friend Pastor Jerome Gay, gets a wide reading and is used greatly to bring people to Christ, and open the eyes of so many who have been blind to these historical realities.

DR. BRYAN LORITTS

Author, The Dad Difference

In confronting cultural narratives, using plain language and retelling Christianitys story, yet doing it all with an eye toward hope and unity, Jerome Gay, Jr., has given the church a gift. Thank God that Christianity is not merely the white mans religion! This one resource compiles and gives us the opportunity to see the foundations of the church in full color, with all of its richness and beauty. We must expose and face the past if we want to make sense of the present, but he does not leave us there. Jerome shows us that there is hope for the future because the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to all people.

BILL RIEDEL

Lead Pastor Redemption Hill Church

This is a necessary book that helps correct the false narrative that Christianity is a white mans religion. Jerome Gay did a fantastic job!

LISA FIELDS
Founder and President of Jude 3 Project
Author, Through the Eyes of Color

Warning! This book contains industrial strength paint-stripper! Jerome Gay skill-fully exposes and removes the white wash which has covered up the rich African heritage that nurtured Christianity from the first days of the church to today. Gay methodically applies his knowledge of history, Biblical insight, theology and culture to expose the centuries-old project of whitening Christianity, and in doing so debunks the monumental myth it created: the Christianity is the white mans religion narrative. The Whitewashing of Christianity builds on and references previous works with over 100 citations dispelling the deception once and for all. The global reach of this lie, and the images it has created are so widespread, we all have been impacted, and need to read this! If you have considered rejecting Christianity based on the false premise that it could not celebrate Blackness, this book provides truth, renewed perspective and hope. I only wished it would have been around sooner to help me and so many I know we didnt have to choose between being Black and being Christian.