In the initial visit with a new doctor, a question that is frequently asked is about the patient’s family history. The doctor asks, “Do you have any family history of X, Y, or Z?” Even if the patient can’t remember every detail of the family’s medical history, the doctor records them in the patient’s file anyway. All of this is to help the doctor better understand the patient and his or her medical condition. The current treatment begins with a look back. This is a helpful metaphor to use for diagnosing the state of American Christianity.

The American Church has had a long and often dark history when it comes to its involvement with issues of race. From slave owners' use of the Bible to keep human beings in subjugation to the more modern denominational divisions along racial lines, American Christianity would not look like what it does today without its past, both good and bad. And as much as the American church has improved in many ways on the darkness of its past, there is still work to be done to better understand today’s American Church and consider ways forward. Part of that work is taking an honest look at the past. In this series, we try to do that.

In this episode, we ask: How did the American church interact with racial issues throughout its history? How has that shaped the way the American Church looks today? We’ll be exploring these questions in various ways throughout this series, starting with this episode. All that and more on this edition of the podcast.