The Color of Christ
The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America

Paul Harvey (Author)

9781469618845

Paperback / softback, published 1 August 2014

352 pages
23.7 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm, 0.505 kg

The authors' breadth of research is impressive, and their incorporation of material culture is a model for future scholarship." - Journal of American History

"[A] compelling study. . . . This work will captivate readers of American religious and racial history." - Library Journal

"Thoroughly fascinating." - Booklist

A 2013 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title.

How is it that in America the image of Jesus Christ has been used both to justify the atrocities of white supremacy and to inspire the righteousness of civil rights crusades? In The Color of Christ, Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey weave a tapestry of American dreams and visions - from witch hunts to web pages, Harlem to Hollywood, slave cabins to South Park, Mormon revelations to Indian reservations - to show how Americans remade the Son of God visually time and again into a sacred symbol of their greatest aspirations, deepest terrors, and mightiest strivings for racial power and justice.

The Color of Christ uncovers how, in a country founded by Puritans who destroyed depictions of Jesus, Americans came to believe in the whiteness of Christ. Some envisioned a white Christ who would sanctify the exploitation of Native Americans and African Americans and bless imperial expansion. Many others gazed at a messiah, not necessarily white, who was willing and able to confront white supremacy. The color of Christ still symbolizes America's most combustible divisions, revealing the power and malleability of race and religion from colonial times to the presidency of Barack Obama.