In the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Fuller Seminary theologian William Pannell decried the then-popular sentiment among white evangelicals that racism was no longer an urgent matter. In The Coming Race Wars? he meticulously unpacked reasons why our nation-and the church-needed to come to terms with our complicity in America’s racial transgressions before we face a more dire reckoning.
With his blunt assessment of our social condition, Pannell’s 1993 book sparked controversy. Critics dismissed him as alarmist. Back then, Pannell was among a scant number of Black evangelical leaders who called the evangelical church to account on issues of racial justice. Now, nearly thirty years later, his words are as timely as ever. Some would even argue that the “race war” has arrived.
In The Coming Race Wars: A Cry for Justice, from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter, Pannell revisits his provocative message with an expanded edition that connects its message to current events. With a new introduction by bestselling historian Jemar Tisby (The Color of Compromise) and a new afterword by Pannell, this compelling, heartfelt plea to the church will help listeners take a deeper look at the complexities of institutional racism and the unjust systems that continue to confound us.