New Book Confronts the Racial Wounds That Keep Some Black People From Christianity

A new book by a California pastor is taking on one of the harder conversations in Black Christianity: why the faith's history of being used to justify slavery and racism still pushes some Black people away from it.

"The Gospel and My Black Skin: Confronting the Past, Reclaiming the Future" by JP Foster, pastor of a predominantly Black church in Inglewood, California, was reviewed by Christianity Today in May 2026. The review described it as a serious work of apologetics aimed at Black readers who have questions about whether Christianity can be separated from its worst historical uses.

Foster does not sidestep the hard history. He addresses how scripture was manipulated to justify slavery, how Southern evangelicals resisted the Civil Rights Movement, and how the legacy of colonialism continues to shape Black people's relationship with the faith. He also criticizes the fusion of Christianity and nationalism.

But his primary aim is to make the case that one can be both Black and a faithful Christian, without having to choose between racial identity and faith. He traces the long history of Christianity in Africa, challenging the idea that Black people first encountered the faith on slave ships. He highlights the African heritage of early theologians like Tertullian, Athanasius, and Augustine.

The book includes personal stories, including Foster's account of his brother joining the Nation of Islam and a painful episode involving a predominantly white church that failed to reciprocate a reconciliation effort.

Christianity Today called the book a defense of the Christian faith that takes seriously the legitimate wounds that deter Black people from the church. Foster's church is in Inglewood, a city in Los Angeles County with a large Black population.