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The Coming Race Wars?: A Cry for Reconciliation
William Pannell, Dean of the Chapel at Fuller Theological Seminary, decries the mainstream idea that prejudice is no longer an issue in the United States and relates the reasons why he feels we need a serious change - before something bad really happens.
143 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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October 15, 2021
Summary: A new edition of a book first released in 1993 following riots in Lost Angeles, calling the evangelical church to address the issues of racial justice in the country. The new edition shows the prescience of Pannell’s observations and the even greater urgency of coming to grips with our racial transgressions.
The year 2020 was not unlike 1992 in a number of ways. In 1992 riots broke out in Los Angeles and other cities over the acquittal of officers involved in the beating of Rodney King. In 2020, people took to the streets once more in anger over the police involved death of George Floyd. In 1993, William Pannell, a Black evangelical who taught at Fuller Seminary wrote the first edition of this book as a wake up call to the White evangelical church to deal with the ways it was implicated in the legacy of evangelicalism in America. It is a cry of the heart combined with a social analysis of American culture.
This new edition, introduced by Jemar Tisby, a Black Christian leader of this generation, draws the arc between the book’s original publication and the present, noting some of the ways that Pannell’s analysis was prophetic, prescient in identifying both the deepening of our cultural divides around race and the neglect of a prosperous evangelicalism to address these issues. In the first chapter of the book, Pannell extends the arc further back. Evangelicals were largely silent in the years of Dr. King, choosing instead to migrate to the suburbs.
Pannell then discusses the black male, and all the ways black men were excluded from economic progress during the Reagan years. He traces the beginning of Republican efforts to play on discontents of the working class to drive a deep divide between them and Blacks where once there had been shared interest. He describes a multiculturalism that displays diversity without allowing Black evangelical leaders real influence. Against the popular focus on violence in the cities, Pannell decries the psychological violence of the warfare between city and suburb and unequal education systems.
The evangelical church of the 1990’s is a big part of this warfare. Black churches are no less evangelical than their white sisters in the suburbs. He chides Christianity Today as becoming Suburban Christianity Today, reflecting both in the housing patterns of its staff and the network of ministries on which it reports a highly networked suburban evangelicalism far removed from their sister churches in the city. In his original concluding chapter, he asks “where do we go from here?” and in the words of Rodney King, “Why can’t we get along?” He believes that an evangelicalism infatuated with ministry in the countries of the former Eastern bloc ought instead consider its own cities. He calls for reconciliation, and with it a ministry that unflinching speaks against the sins it is politically incorrect to denounce, both personal and social. He calls for a spirituality centered on the development of character. He calls for discipleship.
In his afterword, while not losing hope, acknowledges that white evangelicalism has unraveled in many of the ways he feared, becoming a church that looks for revival in the form of Christian nationalism, where most evangelicals align with “Make America Great” while from across the divide comes the cry “Black Lives Matter.” He leaves open what will become of a race war that already exists in the psychology and structures of the country. What he calls for in the end is the making of disciples. He observes that if we set out to make churches, we may miss making disciples, but if we call people to be the disciples of Jesus who become the “beloved community” Dr. King envisioned, we will be the church, which he believes our only hope.
The striking thing to me about this work is how evangelical it is. It is a call to conversion from affluence and infatuation with the American dream to following Jesus, becoming salt and light. It is Christ and cross centered, a call to a downward journey amid a church infatuated with power and access. It is a call to be shaped by our Bibles and to act in light of them. The most chilling part of the book’s analysis for me was to see his anticipation of what would come to fruition in 2016 and 2020 in the driving of a wedge between the working class and Blacks where once they shared values of both social and economic justice. Pannell also sees through the heady growth of evangelicalism in the 1980’s and 1990’s to its spiritual bankruptcy and questionable strategies of church growth that are now bearing fruit in the unraveling of many of these mega-ministries.
I wonder how Pannell’s words about reconciliation would be received today when the conversation has shifted to reparations, the repairing of the harms done over our four hundred years. Perhaps that is for another conversation. What is striking for me is how much Pannell saw with clarity nearly thirty years ago and how much benefit remains in listening to him today. I’ve seen Pannell compared to Jeremiah. The question is whether we will give him greater attention than the prophet. Let us hope.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
The year 2020 was not unlike 1992 in a number of ways. In 1992 riots broke out in Los Angeles and other cities over the acquittal of officers involved in the beating of Rodney King. In 2020, people took to the streets once more in anger over the police involved death of George Floyd. In 1993, William Pannell, a Black evangelical who taught at Fuller Seminary wrote the first edition of this book as a wake up call to the White evangelical church to deal with the ways it was implicated in the legacy of evangelicalism in America. It is a cry of the heart combined with a social analysis of American culture.
This new edition, introduced by Jemar Tisby, a Black Christian leader of this generation, draws the arc between the book’s original publication and the present, noting some of the ways that Pannell’s analysis was prophetic, prescient in identifying both the deepening of our cultural divides around race and the neglect of a prosperous evangelicalism to address these issues. In the first chapter of the book, Pannell extends the arc further back. Evangelicals were largely silent in the years of Dr. King, choosing instead to migrate to the suburbs.
Pannell then discusses the black male, and all the ways black men were excluded from economic progress during the Reagan years. He traces the beginning of Republican efforts to play on discontents of the working class to drive a deep divide between them and Blacks where once there had been shared interest. He describes a multiculturalism that displays diversity without allowing Black evangelical leaders real influence. Against the popular focus on violence in the cities, Pannell decries the psychological violence of the warfare between city and suburb and unequal education systems.
The evangelical church of the 1990’s is a big part of this warfare. Black churches are no less evangelical than their white sisters in the suburbs. He chides Christianity Today as becoming Suburban Christianity Today, reflecting both in the housing patterns of its staff and the network of ministries on which it reports a highly networked suburban evangelicalism far removed from their sister churches in the city. In his original concluding chapter, he asks “where do we go from here?” and in the words of Rodney King, “Why can’t we get along?” He believes that an evangelicalism infatuated with ministry in the countries of the former Eastern bloc ought instead consider its own cities. He calls for reconciliation, and with it a ministry that unflinching speaks against the sins it is politically incorrect to denounce, both personal and social. He calls for a spirituality centered on the development of character. He calls for discipleship.
In his afterword, while not losing hope, acknowledges that white evangelicalism has unraveled in many of the ways he feared, becoming a church that looks for revival in the form of Christian nationalism, where most evangelicals align with “Make America Great” while from across the divide comes the cry “Black Lives Matter.” He leaves open what will become of a race war that already exists in the psychology and structures of the country. What he calls for in the end is the making of disciples. He observes that if we set out to make churches, we may miss making disciples, but if we call people to be the disciples of Jesus who become the “beloved community” Dr. King envisioned, we will be the church, which he believes our only hope.
The striking thing to me about this work is how evangelical it is. It is a call to conversion from affluence and infatuation with the American dream to following Jesus, becoming salt and light. It is Christ and cross centered, a call to a downward journey amid a church infatuated with power and access. It is a call to be shaped by our Bibles and to act in light of them. The most chilling part of the book’s analysis for me was to see his anticipation of what would come to fruition in 2016 and 2020 in the driving of a wedge between the working class and Blacks where once they shared values of both social and economic justice. Pannell also sees through the heady growth of evangelicalism in the 1980’s and 1990’s to its spiritual bankruptcy and questionable strategies of church growth that are now bearing fruit in the unraveling of many of these mega-ministries.
I wonder how Pannell’s words about reconciliation would be received today when the conversation has shifted to reparations, the repairing of the harms done over our four hundred years. Perhaps that is for another conversation. What is striking for me is how much Pannell saw with clarity nearly thirty years ago and how much benefit remains in listening to him today. I’ve seen Pannell compared to Jeremiah. The question is whether we will give him greater attention than the prophet. Let us hope.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
August 22, 2021
The Coming Race Wars was first published in 1993. It is an indictment on the United States of America that it can be republished nearly thirty years later with minimal adaptation. In many ways, we’ve come a long way. But in many others, we remain with the same injustices we always have. The 1993 edition was written by William Pannell in the wake of the Los Angeles riots that followed the brutal beating of Rodney King by the police. The 2021 edition comes after a year of global protest following the murder of George Floyd—again by the police. And the names that I could place in between those two would fill the page. The first edition of The Coming Race Wars ended its title with a question mark. Pannell was asking “Will this lead to war?” Twenty-eight years later, the new edition removes the question mark. Enough said.
Since Pannell’s book is mostly unedited from its original form, there is a sense of history when reading the book. Pannell writes from the culture of the early 1990s—a much different time in many ways from the 2020s. That fact stands as the starkest of contrasts and comparisons throughout the book. At times, you fully understand that you’re reading a period piece whether that’s from simple culture references or the authors he cites and political figures he mentions. There’s immense value in hearing this history and its interpretation from an “eyewitness” perspective, rather than from a “historical” perspective.
Pannell expertly takes his readers through the politics of race and class, he details America’s history of racism and violence against minorities, Black people especially. He criticizes the Republican Party and its leaders: “Republicans haven’t spoken to Black people since Abe Lincoln. They do, however, speak about Black people.” He accurately identifies why the GOP—family values aside—continue to attract racist elements in their ranks. And then, political parties aside, notes why multiculturalism is seen as a threat to those in power: “the fundamental issues in all this talk about multiculturalism is power, specifically white male power.”
The Coming Race Wars is prescient in some of its thinking. In the chapter on multiculturalism, Pannell envisions that women—particularly Black women—will play a large part in future political endeavors. He writes that white people will begin to feel their whiteness and be afraid of the growing numbers of those of minority cultures. He fears that modern evangelicalism will flee urban areas and take up residence in the suburbs. And in almost every account, he is right.
The book closes with a new afterword from Pannell, now retired and professor emeritus at Fuller University, where he taught for over forty years. It’s an eloquent essay that shows that thirty years have perhaps only sharpened Pannell’s mind and his views. Again and again, he asks “Where do we go from here?” Before I share Pannell’s answer, let me answer myself with a clue from the book’s subtitle.
The first edition of this book was subtitled “a cry for reconciliation.” This second edition changes that to “a cry from justice.” The conversation has shifted. We have moved on, in many ways, as a society. Pannell’s cry has grown louder and bolder. To reconcile—an interesting term considering there was hardly ever conciliation to begin with—means to restore a friendly relationship. Justice is different. Justice doesn’t just ask for relationships to restored, it asks for all wrongs to be made right. You can restore a relationship and maintain inequality. That’s what we’ve seen in American history. Slaves were freed, but Jim Crow laws and segregation ensured inequality. Civil rights were gained, but institutional inequalities and prejudices ensure that inequality remained. For generations, America has attempted reconciliation without justice and while it has led to improvements, there is so much more that should be done. We need reconciliation with justice, and that’s what Pannell advocates here. Where do we go from here? We move toward justice.
Pannell concludes that Christians must begin to understand themselves as a new community. We must understand that the race wars might still come—that they have come—and that our fight is against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. And that progress can come slowly, but progress must come.
Since Pannell’s book is mostly unedited from its original form, there is a sense of history when reading the book. Pannell writes from the culture of the early 1990s—a much different time in many ways from the 2020s. That fact stands as the starkest of contrasts and comparisons throughout the book. At times, you fully understand that you’re reading a period piece whether that’s from simple culture references or the authors he cites and political figures he mentions. There’s immense value in hearing this history and its interpretation from an “eyewitness” perspective, rather than from a “historical” perspective.
Pannell expertly takes his readers through the politics of race and class, he details America’s history of racism and violence against minorities, Black people especially. He criticizes the Republican Party and its leaders: “Republicans haven’t spoken to Black people since Abe Lincoln. They do, however, speak about Black people.” He accurately identifies why the GOP—family values aside—continue to attract racist elements in their ranks. And then, political parties aside, notes why multiculturalism is seen as a threat to those in power: “the fundamental issues in all this talk about multiculturalism is power, specifically white male power.”
The Coming Race Wars is prescient in some of its thinking. In the chapter on multiculturalism, Pannell envisions that women—particularly Black women—will play a large part in future political endeavors. He writes that white people will begin to feel their whiteness and be afraid of the growing numbers of those of minority cultures. He fears that modern evangelicalism will flee urban areas and take up residence in the suburbs. And in almost every account, he is right.
The book closes with a new afterword from Pannell, now retired and professor emeritus at Fuller University, where he taught for over forty years. It’s an eloquent essay that shows that thirty years have perhaps only sharpened Pannell’s mind and his views. Again and again, he asks “Where do we go from here?” Before I share Pannell’s answer, let me answer myself with a clue from the book’s subtitle.
The first edition of this book was subtitled “a cry for reconciliation.” This second edition changes that to “a cry from justice.” The conversation has shifted. We have moved on, in many ways, as a society. Pannell’s cry has grown louder and bolder. To reconcile—an interesting term considering there was hardly ever conciliation to begin with—means to restore a friendly relationship. Justice is different. Justice doesn’t just ask for relationships to restored, it asks for all wrongs to be made right. You can restore a relationship and maintain inequality. That’s what we’ve seen in American history. Slaves were freed, but Jim Crow laws and segregation ensured inequality. Civil rights were gained, but institutional inequalities and prejudices ensure that inequality remained. For generations, America has attempted reconciliation without justice and while it has led to improvements, there is so much more that should be done. We need reconciliation with justice, and that’s what Pannell advocates here. Where do we go from here? We move toward justice.
Pannell concludes that Christians must begin to understand themselves as a new community. We must understand that the race wars might still come—that they have come—and that our fight is against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. And that progress can come slowly, but progress must come.
April 23, 2022
This is a prophetic call to the church - written in light of the 1992 LA riots after Rodney King’s beating - and it continues to speak a meaningful word today.
June 7, 2021
An important and prophetic work. We must understand the past to live productively in the present.
October 14, 2024
More relevant than I'd like.
A useful recapitulation of the issue of racism in American culture, with a focus on the L.A. riots and how white evangelicals haven't made a difference. Pannell holds out some hope that evangelicalism could make a difference, if they really believed in the gospel and embraced a mission of reconciliation and stopped dismissing practical and social needs, but doesn't go too far in exploring that hope or even defending it as something worth hoping for.
A useful recapitulation of the issue of racism in American culture, with a focus on the L.A. riots and how white evangelicals haven't made a difference. Pannell holds out some hope that evangelicalism could make a difference, if they really believed in the gospel and embraced a mission of reconciliation and stopped dismissing practical and social needs, but doesn't go too far in exploring that hope or even defending it as something worth hoping for.
August 19, 2021
Eerily for the times and honest, Mr. Pannell presents an honest look at what was going on in the 90s and today. He covers a huge history about the church, where it's been, and where it's headed. If you're a white evangelical, please read it. The wisdom here is immense and God really moved during this reading.
October 18, 2024
Upon news of the death of Black Christian leader and teacher Bill Pannell, I decided to finally read his classic THE COMING RACE WARS. It was more radical and hard-hitting than I had thought--and right on target.
December 31, 2021
Originally published in 1993, yet it is incredible how much still applies today.
February 1, 2022
Parnell and my father-in-law are cut from the same ideological school of thought, that’s for sure.
April 12, 2018
This book was written in 1993. But it is profoundly on target for where we would be and are today. It's a book I wish we had all read when it came out. But there is still so much to learn from this extraordinary and very passionate work by a writer I love, who also happens to be a good friend.
If you care about understanding race in America, or understanding divisions that keep us from moving forward, this is a must read. If you care about Jesus, it is a must read. If you care about people, it is a must read.
I am sure I will re-read it and reference it a lot in conversations.
If you care about understanding race in America, or understanding divisions that keep us from moving forward, this is a must read. If you care about Jesus, it is a must read. If you care about people, it is a must read.
I am sure I will re-read it and reference it a lot in conversations.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews