America's Original Sin
- World Religions
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
- Published: 2017
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Publisher's Description
America's problem with race has deep roots, with the country's foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation's original sin."It's time we right this unacceptable wrong," says bestselling author and leading Christian activist Jim Wallis. Fifty years ago, Wallis was driven away from his faith by a white church that considered dealing with racism to be taboo. His participation in the civil rights movement brought him back when he discovered a faith that commands racial justice. Yet as recent tragedies confirm, we continue to suffer from the legacy of racism. The old patterns of white privilege are colliding with the changing demographics of a diverse nation. The church has been slow to respond, and Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. In America's Original Sin, Wallis offers a prophetic and deeply personal call to action in overcoming the racism so ingrained in American society. He speaks candidly to Christians--particularly white Christians--urging them to cross a new bridge toward racial justice and healing. Whenever divided cultures and gridlocked power structures fail to end systemic sin, faith communities can help lead the way to grassroots change. Probing yet positive, biblically rooted yet highly practical, this book shows people of faith how they can work together to overcome the embedded racism in America, galvanizing a movement to cross the bridge to a multiracial church and a new America.
Endorsements (21)
“I am so grateful for Jim Wallis’s new book. Racism is a sickness that is as old as America itself. America’s Original Sin helps us see how this sickness creates patterns and systems that perpetuate national tragedies such as the one at Mother Emanuel AME Church. Jim gently and passionately invites us to look inside ourselves and acknowledge the ways that pride, privilege, and resentment affect our actions and words, and then he courageously extends a hand for us to walk together into a new future. As an African American man and a fellow brother in Christ, I trust Jim’s offer in this powerful book, and extend my hand in return.”
“Can we calculate the heartbreak, the destroyed families, the broken lives, the jobs denied, the inferior educations, the anger and hatred, the division, the laws meant to segregate or incarcerate, the lengths people go to to avoid each other, or the number of deaths due to racism? The pain created by racism is huge, it’s massive, and it needs to end—now. In this powerful book, Jim Wallis outlines the path forward, a path of true repentance and one that moves us in a new direction, as a new people. In the land of opportunity and hope, it can be done. With clarity and wisdom, this book shows us how.”
“Jim Wallis takes on the defining challenge not only of our current cultural moment but also of our entire American history. By laying out a bold, prophetic message of hope, Jim calls for the change we need in a society suffering from the deep and open wounds of white supremacy.”
“America’s Original Sin confirms Jim Wallis’s standing as one of America’s foremost prophets and greatest truth tellers. This brilliantly argued, eloquently written, and passionately delivered analysis of the most stubborn feature of our national existence—the yawning chasm of race and the bitter divide of racism—forces us to confront both systemic inequities and individual habits that mock our claim to be the greatest democracy in the world. This book echoes the Old Testament prophet Amos and the American prophet Martin Luther King Jr. in calling for justice and righteousness to cleanse our country from the sin of racism that to this day stains our collective soul.”
“Jim Wallis is calling America to sincerely address the potholes of injustice that have damaged the undercarriage of justice in America. Civil and human rights are once again caught up in a traffic jam with racial profiling, police brutality, ‘stand your ground’ laws, poor public education, the lack of a living wage, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Wallis helps us see that this is more than a discussion of polity and praxis; this is a critical issue for people of faith in the sanctuary, the synagogue, and the temple.”
Bishop. Vashti Murphy McKenzie
“Jim Wallis loves Jesus and hates racial injustice. This gifted gospel preacher has written America’s Original Sin with prophetic courage and pastoral care. In the tradition of Harriet Beecher Stowe, he uses his remarkable literary skills and searing analysis to force our not-yet-United States to look into the mirror of reality and confront the ugly wound of racism and white supremacy. This book may be the match that lights the fire of a redemptive revolution that makes America truly ‘one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
“America’s Original Sin is both unsparing and sympathetic in its brilliant analysis of how racism and white privilege have shaped and disabled American society throughout history—and how they do so today. But Jim Wallis goes much further than tracing how the scourge of racism harms citizens and immigrants of color. This book is a call to action packed with practical and powerful lessons and solutions that individuals, churches, and community organizations can follow to create a new and just social contract for the country we love.”
“Jim Wallis has a fire in his bones and cannot be silenced. In this landmark book, he takes on one of the most important issues of our age, America’s original sin—racism. But this isn’t a rant. It is a thoughtful, heartfelt, compassionate plea for us to heal the wounds of racial injustice and build a new America, and a new world, together.”
“We stand at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, as the United States becomes a nation with no clear ethnic majority. Our future could be characterized by great unity or by great discord. Jim Wallis engages in the kind of truth telling that is necessary to move toward a more hopeful future. Revealing the depth of sin endemic in our racialized history, Wallis names not only the symptoms but also the disease. The book is difficult to read at times. But truth does not come easily. Please embrace the truths that are found in this text so that our conversations on race may begin to move us forward.”
“Jim Wallis makes a convincing argument that honestly confronting the sins of our past does not paralyze us but rather compels us to act with moral urgency. His book is simultaneously a sermon of hope and repentance and a practical guide for making real and positive change, based in the gospel lessons of empathy and social responsibility. A work of both splendid critical analysis and profound faith.”
“Jim Wallis has been a fighter for economic and racial justice for decades. Now this activist par excellence has written a brilliant, passionate exploration of racism and the surprisingly pervasive reality of white supremacist supremacist sensibilities in America and how they keep our nation divided. Wallis’s purpose is not to indict but to chart a path to true community. This is a book that all Americans should read and ponder deeply, both those who acknowledge the reality of white privilege and those who do not.”
“In 1903, in The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois engaged the questions of race, racial domination, and racial exploitation with the well-known proposition that ‘the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.’ In America’s Original Sin, Jim Wallis affirms that racism remains a primary problem in the twenty-first century. As a white, male Christian, Wallis lovingly but persuasively appeals to fellow white Americans of all faiths to reflect on this painful truth, repent of white privilege, and help build a bridge to a new America. It is a must-read for all who seek the healing of the soul of America.”
“Jim Wallis’s latest book is a masterpiece that pulls readers into a conversation that the church and society have needed for decades. Jim has committed his life to correcting and eradicating ignorance, stereotypes, and biases, and he speaks with prophetic power and authority. He has witnessed countless examples of the double standards that exist in America and the world. He has questioned the church’s silence on the evil acts of the racial divide. This book calls us to acknowledge, identify, and put away our prejudices and challenges us to have honest discussions to end the biases and crimes against people of color.”
Bishop. Carroll A. Baltimore
“Jim Wallis continues to write, build, lead, and serve for common ground that leads to higher ground. Everyone who reads this book will grow wiser and stronger.”
Rev. Otis Moss Jr.
“Part theological treatise, part policy paper, America’s Original Sin critically assesses and proposes solutions to some of our country’s most pressing issues while offering tools for racial healing to every citizen of faith and good conscience. Jim Wallis calls our nation to a time of truth telling, storytelling, and action as faithful responses to a dark past and challenging present. While the book will be controversial to some, by treating racism as sin—not merely a social or political problem—Wallis opens the door of hope and redemption that is unlocked by true repentance, renunciation (of Whiteness), and restorative practices.”
Rev. Starsky D. Wilson
“In classic Jim Wallis style, he speaks a powerful prophetic word about one of the most critical issues at this moment in time. Jim not only provides biblical insights but also calls for an action plan that requires transformative leadership. This book should be read and used as a road map for change. Its insightful biblical principles are applicable both in the USA and around the world.”
“Jim Wallis’s life and message have resonated with me for years because of his undying desire to overturn racial injustice in America. Read this book not because you must. Read it because together we are compelled to set right the path toward our country’s promise of greatness as a diverse people who must treat one another in a gracist manner, not a racist one. I commend to you Wallis’s message of hard truth with practical help toward a better future.”
“With prophetic vision, incisive analysis, and moral grounding in a paradigm of sin and repentance, Jim Wallis’s deconstruction of racism and white privilege is a clarion call to twenty-first-century America. This book is a special charge to people of faith who have the power to change the course of the nation and cross the bridge of redemption and transformation.”
“America’s Original Sin is a brilliant, thorough, and extraordinarily timely book. Its persuasive evidence, personal storytelling, and lack of sanctimony make it hard to resist. Jim Wallis goes beyond guilt and blame to strike a mighty blow for honesty, sanity, decency, and love—not the first words that come to mind in America’s persistent wrestling with race.”
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