Notes from an Evangelical Reject

The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise tells his story of losing faith in the Evangelical movement as it denied the fight for racial justice—and makes a case for how all of us can stand against the rising tide of White Christian Nationalism

For the longest time, Jemar Tisby believed that white evangelicals held the most authoritative interpretations of Christianity. They had all the Christian living books, all the Bible commentaries, all the biggest organizations. They must be getting something right, right?

But in the fallout from 2020’s racial reckoning, his role as a historian and speaker on racial justice forced him into a conflict: The more he spoke up about racism and the hope of a more inclusive future, the more vitriol he received. And that vitriol was coming from his fellow Christians. He discovered that if you talk about racial justice in white spaces long enough, you either sell out, burn out, or get pushed out. 

In Lessons from an Evangelical Reject, Tisby condenses decades of experience—including his brush with ordination in a nearly all-white denomination, starting a nonprofit focused on Black Christians, and writing a bestselling book about racism and the white church—to explore how American Christianity lost its plot, and why Black Christians should go where they are celebrated, not just tolerated. It’s not about turning your back on Jesus, he learned. It’s about realizing he may not be where you thought he was and seeking him on the path of true freedom. 

For anyone who has ever been disillusioned by Evangelicalism but is wondering what happens if you leave, Lessons from an Evangelical Reject is an illuminating read on how the movement reached this point and a hope-filled guide to a better future.