Thank you to NetGalley and Brazos Press for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

When I mentioned to a friend I was reading this book she replied, "America's original sin is Christianity" and that rang so true I almost quit reading the book. Because she's right. In the name of God, people who call themselves Christians have done horrific things in America. Jim Wallis, without making that bold statement might agree. He wrote in a 1987 article for Sojourners, "The United States of America was established as a white society, founded upon the near genocide of another race and then the enslavement of yet another." He's not wrong and neither is my friend. Where they have diverged is Wallis still believes, even with evidence to the contrary, that the Church is the answer to this original sin. He believes the Church will heal the sin. I believe he is wrong. The Church is committed to keeping the sin of racism alive and well and oddly enough, his examples of what he believes the Church needs to do support my belief that they will keep it going rather than his that it will heal the nation.

This book was written and published pre-Trump presidency and I would be curious to know if the 4 years of Trump disaster and the following he gained through the evangelical church in America has changed any of Wallis' ideas or thoughts on the Church being the healers of this nation. Because, if anything, the Church has driven the wounds of this nation deeper since Trump gave them permission to be complete jerks. (I want to use another word but I'll keep it clean out of respect for Wallis and his book.)

Wallis provides a lot of background and research and such for this book. Some of the chapters are very...Christianese...others hardly mention evangelicals, protestants, and faith. The chapters that didn't focus on faith were the easiest to read. As a former evangelical I found the chapters in which Wallis utilized a lot of scripture and quoted various faith leaders hard to read. Very tedious and frankly, white noise. In all the chapters Wallis would include large portions of quotes from other people that pertained to the topic at hand. The editing could have been a little tighter as that became a bit tedious to read as well. The point was being made, no need to provide *15* examples to back it up. (Random number I pulled out of the air, I think you get my point.)

All in all, it was a fine book but I can't help but think about what my friend said, "America's original sin is Christianity."

I believe that Jim Wallis will be remembered as a white ally who walked the talk on the right side of history. I also think that if he updated this book just these 4 years later, he would have something different to say in his "Blue Lives Matter" chapter

Reviewed in The Englewood Review of Books magazine and in RELEVANT magazine.

Also covered on The Englewood Review of Books via posts featuring the book trailer video:
http://englewoodreview.org/jim-wallis-americas-original-sin-book-trailer-2/

and an NPR interview:
http://englewoodreview.org/jim-wallis-americas-original-sin-racism-npr-interview/

I love everything from Jim Wallis. As an minister he deals with issues that others want to bypass, racism is one of those topics. Thanks Jim, for being a minister of social justice.

I read this book over the better part of a year. Some time was required for sheer length, some time was for processing, and some time was because it’s difficult to be repeatedly confronted with my white American privilege and look my sin in the eye. The church needs confronted with a book like this. That such confrontations are minimized, outright ignored, or decried when spoken by non-white voices indicates how far we still have to go.