Plantation Jesus

Race, Faith, & a New Way Forward

By: Skot Welch, Rick Wilson

Narrated by: Skot Welch

Not long ago, most White American Christians believed that Jesus blessed slavery. God wasn't bothered by Jim Crow. Baby Jesus had white skin. Meet Plantation Jesus: a god who is comfortable with bigotry and an idol that distorts the message of the real Savior.

That false image of God is dead, right? Wrong, argue the authors of Plantation Jesus, an authoritative new book on one of the most urgent issues of our day.

Through their shared passion for Jesus Christ and with an unblinking look at history, church, and pop culture, authors Skot Welch and Rick Wilson detail the manifold ways that racism damages the church's witness. Together Welch and Wilson take on common responses by White Christians to racial injustice, such as I never owned a slave; I don't see color, only people; and we just need to get over it and move on. Together they call out the church's denials and dodges and evasions of race, and they invite listeners to encounter the Christ of the disenfranchised.

With practical resources and Spirit-filled stories, Plantation Jesus nudges listeners to learn the history, acknowledge the injury, and face the truth. Only then can the church lead the way toward true reconciliation. Only then can the legacy of Plantation Jesus be replaced with the true way of Jesus Christ.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2018 Skot Welch and Rick Wilson (P)2020 Oasis Audio

Plantation Jesus, A+

I really enjoyed this detailed explanation and exposition on Plantation Jesus. It was a methodical breakdown of what Plantation Jesus is, how to recognize it, and how to relieve ourselves of it. To REVEAL, of course, the real Jesus, in all of us. There are eye-opening revelations and opportunities to rethink, conventional norms, and thought patterns. This is in EXCELLENT read.

Jesus of Nazareth or Plantation Jesus?

Wow. This Book. Wow. I knew much of the content already, but it laid it out in more detail. With every book on social justice, I learn more, and I learned more again here.

We have so very far to go. I appreciated the author's comparison of Jesus of Nazareth and Plantation Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth is the one we learn about in the Bible who says to take care of the least, each other, and do so with love. Plantation Jesus says I am the master, and you are my slave, so I may mistreat you, harm you, and certainly not care for you. Plantation Jesus also says I am the important one, not "I am" as in God, but "I", the individual. Where Jesus of Nazareth says that we are all one in the Lord, and we must love one another just as the Lord loves us.

We keep hurting each other. And then we find reason for it in the Bible, so then we defend our need to hurt one another. It reminded me that there are folks who want to claim when I speak of being an anti-racist ally, that I am hurting them by calling out racism in individual or group actions and in our laws and systems. But those are the folks who are okay with the laws that harm our fellow humans of color. It's protecting their right to cause harm. And they are okay with causing harm to others so long as their privilege is both not pointed out to them and not taken from them in any way.

This book was good in that it ended with steps we must take to end the systemic racism our nation was built on which invites individuals to maintain a heavy level of racism. All white folks who are born in this country are racist ... our education system, entertainment system, justice system, financial system, etc. are all built on and continue to strengthen systemic racism by our lack of action and our tight grip on control and power. We must work to break down this racist foundation of our nation.

I pray one day this is a book in a museum where folks can say, "remember when". It won't be in my lifetime, or the lifetime of the next generation, for sure. But maybe one day, we can all worship and model our lives after Jesus of Nazareth.

Truth on enslavement, racism and America’s history.

This is an enlightening book. My only question/small problem with it, is that he speaks of Jesus as though Jesus was a real person. There’s so much historical information that points to Jesus not ever being a human who once walked the earth. Other than that, I highly recommend this book.