The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Tisby, Jemar. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism. Zondervan Reflective, 2019.

Jemar Tisby's The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism, is divided into 11 chapters which trace the origin and perpetuation of racist practices in America from Columbus' invasion of the Americas, through the Trump era.

In Chapter 1, "The Color of Compromise," Tisby introduces his interests in examining the Christian church's involvement in racist American systems and customs. He identifies himself as a Christian believer, and a lover of the church. He holds that his faith inspires his profound investment in issues of social justice. He outlines his explorations and arguments to come, while also posing possible counterarguments to his writing. Instead of cowering before these dissenting viewpoints, Tisby boldly proceeds.

In Chapter 2, "Making Race in the Colonial Era," Tisby shifts back in history, describing Columbus' arrival in the Americas. He uses Columbus' writings to illustrate early evidence of white supremacy. Even before chattel slavery, white Christian Europeans, used the Bible to create racial divides. As colonial economics grew, colonizers looked for more labor to support their farms. Colonizers invaded African nations, kidnapped their people, transported them across the ocean, and enslaved them. Meanwhile, the church continued defending these practices as moral, seemingly constructing theological stances to support their egregious behaviors.

In Chapter 3, "Understanding Liberty in the Age of Revolution and Revival," Tisby examines the pre- and post-Revolutionary War period in America. Though colonists were fighting for independence from imperial British power, they had no intentions of extending this liberty to enslaved blacks. They actively sought the conversion of blacks to Christianity, yet used these paternalist principles to disempower blacks and demand their submission to white masters. After the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, equated liberty with whiteness, bondage with blackness. Converted blacks could not help but note the hypocrisy in white Christian principles and practices.

In Chapter 4, "Institutionalizing Race in the Antebellum Era," Tisby describes the increasing frustrations of enslaved Africans. Realizing the hypocrisy of white Christians, and the seeming impossibility of securing their freedom, they began staging insurrections. Countless slaves began organizing, only to have their plans foiled by a nervous member of their effort. Nat Turner's Rebellion was one of the most historic such uprisings. He and his followers murdered their master and his family, and avoided capture for several months. Turner's story empowered blacks and terrified whites.

In Chapter 5, "Defending Slavery at the Onset of the Civil War," Tisby argues that the Civil War conflict did not merely occur on the battlefields; it occurred in the Bible and the church as well. Northern and southern states began to divide over different Biblical interpretations. Northern Christians said Jesus' teachings proved slavery immoral. Southern Christians pointed to the story of Ham in Genesis to suggest the opposite. Denominations thus began dividing over state lines.

In Chapter 6, "Reconstructing White Supremacy in the Jim Crow Era," Tisby details the events and movements following the end of the Civil War. Though chattel slavery had effectively ended, Jim Crow laws created a new social order which consigned emancipated blacks to a new form of bondage. White supremacists rose to power and used violence and terror to enforce segregation statutes.

In Chapter 7, "Remembering the Complicity in the North," Tisby argues that racism was not just limited to the southern states. He cites how discriminatory government orders further marginalized blacks. Attempting to escape the oppressive southern climate, many blacks flocked to Midwestern, western, and northeastern cities. This influx of black citizens angered whites, inspiring blockbusting trends and white flight.

In Chapter 8, "Compromising with Racism during the Civil Rights Movement," Tisby compares the teachings and work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham during the 1960s civil rights movement. King took an assertive and active role in the movement, mobilizing the black middle class and Christian community. While he marched in the streets with his supporters, Graham assumed a laissez-faire stance. He hid behind tepid claims of love, and argued racial change had to start in the heart of the individual; he thus excused the system's fault and blamed the citizen.

In Chapter 9, "Organizing the Religious Right at the End of the Twentieth Century," Tisby shows how the rise of the Religious Right, effectively equated evangelicalism with whiteness and the Republican party. Conservative politicians, like Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump, gained power by winning the vote of the Religious Right. The policies of these presidents, have thus excluded the concerns of black citizens.

In Chapter 10, "Reconsidering Racial Reconciliation in the Age of Black Lives Matter," Tisby describes inception and foundation of the Black Lives Matter movement and organization. He cites Black Lives Matter as a source of contemporary division in the American Christian church, arguing that little has changed. Trump's election three years after the organization's formation, seemed to reverse many of its efforts.

In Chapter 11, "The Fierce Urgency of Now," Tisby uses the ARC (Awareness, Relationships, Commitment) model for racial justice to propose a thorough series of possible actions to promote change. He identifies a wealth of tangible forms of activism, encouraging his reader, and the church to pursue racial reform as soon as possible.

In the conclusion, "Be Strong and Courageous," rather than belittling his reader, Tisby encourages her. He suggests that most inaction originates with fear. He uses Bible verses to fortify the reader's spirit.