Urban Apologetics: Restoring Black Dignity with the Gospel

by Eric Mason

Overview

Urban Apologetics examines the legitimate issues that Black communities have with Western Christianity and shows how the gospel of Jesus Christ—rather than popular, socioreligious alternatives—restores our identity.

African Americans have long confronted the challenge of dignity destruction caused by white supremacy. While many have found meaning and restoration of dignity in the black church, others have found it in ethnocentric socioreligious groups and philosophies.

These ideologies have grown and developed deep traction in the black community and beyond. Revisionist history, conspiracy theories, and misinformation about Jesus and Christianity are the order of the day. Many young African Americans are disinterested in Christianity and others are leaving the church in search of what these false religious ideas appear to offer, a spirituality more indigenous to their history and ethnicity.

Edited by Dr. Eric Mason and featuring a top-notch lineup of contributors, Urban Apologetics is the first book focused entirely on cults, religious groups, and ethnocentric ideologies prevalent in the black community. The book is divided into three main parts:

• Discussions on the unique context for urban apologetics so that you can better understand the cultural arguments against Christianity among the Black community.
• Detailed information on cults, religious groups, and ethnic identity groups that many urban evangelists encounter—such as the Nation of Islam, Kemetic spirituality, African mysticism, Hebrew Israelites, Black nationalism, and atheism.
• Specific tools for urban apologetics and community outreach.

Ultimately, Urban Apologetics applies the gospel to black identity to show that Jesus is the only one who can restore it. This is an essential resource to equip those doing the work of ministry and apology in urban communities with the best available information.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310100959
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Series:	Urban Apologetics
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	266,978
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Eric Mason (DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is the founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, as well as the founder and president of Thriving, an urban resource organization committed to developing leaders for ministry in the urban context. He has authored four books: Manhood Restored, Beat God to the Punch, Unleashed, and Woke Church.

Table of Contents

Contributors, xi

Introduction, xiii

Part 1: The Context for Urban Apologetics

1. Restoring Black Dignity, 3

Eric Mason

2. All White Everything, 13

Jerome Gay

3. What is Urban Apologetics?, 26

Eric Mason

4. Black Church History and Urban Apologetics, 35

Tiffany Gill

5. Why the Black Church Must Be Relevant, 51

Zion McGregor

Part 2: Religious and Ethnic Identity Groups

6. The Nation of Islam, 67

Damon Richardson

7. Engaging Hebrew Israelites, 92

Eric Mason

8. Kemeticism and the Gospel, 115

Vince Bantu

9. Black Women and the Appeal of the Black Conscious Community and Feminism, 129

Sarita T. Lyons

10. Intentionally Engaging Black Men, 157

Eric Mason

11. Black Atheism, 167

Adam Coleman

Part 3: Tools for Urban Apologetics

12. Philosophy and Worldviews, 189

Brandon Washington

13. Outreach as Apologetics, 204

Doug Logan

14. Knowing Your Bible, 217

Blake Wilson

15. Apologetics as Spiritual Warfare, 227

Eric Mason

Notes, 237

Subject Index, 261

Scripture Index, 275

Editorial Reviews

'A much-needed resource for those doing ministry in the urban context, and a great tool to debunk false narratives about the Christian faith.'

founder and president of the Jude 3 Project Lisa Fields

'It is my privilege to endorse this very timely and important work, full of information and insight. In contrast to historically false claims that Christianity is a white religion or irrelevant to justice, this work articulates the real story based on real facts from African and African American Christian history. It also invites the church to communicate that message. If you care about communicating to the rising generation, this book is worth your time.'

Dr. Craig S. Keener

'Dr. Eric Mason has assembled a brilliant group of male and female marketplace scholars who have symphonically brought together historical accuracy and biblical truth to dispel destructive myths. These myths, if left unaddressed, will continue to do damage in our culture today and for years to come. This book clarifies our past while at the same time providing insight for engaging the present. Urban Apologetics is one of those rare books that will become a baton to be handed to men and women who are serious about global gospel transformation.'

executive VP of organizational relations at the YM Pastor James White

'Black Christians—in schools and prisons, on the streets and on the internet—are under siege, consistently questioned about their faith in Jesus Christ, aggressively told that Christianity is a tool of white supremacy and incompatible with a healthy black identity. That's why Urban Apologetics is a godsend, a book that is fully equipped to demolish the myth that 'Christianity is the white man's religion' once and for all. Through scholarship that is irrefutable and writing that is engaging and understandable to laymen and academics alike, this work is a must-read for anyone interested in reaching people of African descent with the gospel.'

Chris Broussard

'In a social climate where genuine Christianity is increasingly seen as irrelevant and impotent, false religions proliferate and entice in every area of culture. The authors of Urban Apologetics unpack how false religions exploit Western Christianity's errors to target African American communities; their essays simultaneously celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit to expose all falsehoods and point souls home to Christ. Urban Apologetics shows the reader how God transforms persuasive ideological arguments into gospel opportunities, proclaiming Christ's victory over sin, error, and human insufficiency—for his glory and fame.'

K. A. Ellis

'As its title suggests, Urban Apologetics is about the defense of the faith and, more particularly, a contextualized defense of the faith. It addresses serious threats to the truth of the gospel within the Black community that are mostly unfamiliar to believers outside that community. The contributors are expert analysts who serve readers well with insightful, intelligent commentary and strategy. But the book is so much more. The editor wisely anticipates that many readers will first need to understand why so many in the Black community reject the gospel in favor of some truly bizarre belief systems. The common denominator is dismissal of, and reaction to, whiteness. Urban Apologetics helps outsiders comprehend what the problem of whiteness means and how it is a genuine impediment for so many to embrace the gospel of Christ. Only after understanding how Western history, culture, and Christianity have contributed to the power of this obstacle can one understand why so many people in the Black community are attracted to belief systems that seem so peculiar to outsiders. Urban Apologetics simultaneously informs and provokes, inspires and saddens, educates and chastises, all with an irenic tone from brothers and sisters in Christ that will stir believers within and without the Black community to spiritual solidarity under Jesus our king and brother.'

Dr. Michael S. Heiser

'The urban context of America warrants a fresh and fiery apologetic. With this text, Dr. Mason delivers! The contributors provide the reader with ample tools to cast down numerous obstacles to the faith. Moreover, this book transforms defenders of the faith to be holistic disciples in their cities. For far too long, our communities have awaited a book like this. At last, it is here!'

Grace Alive Pastor Cam Triggs

'Seldom is there a bridge built between the prophetic, the pastoral, and the personal. Such is the case in this work under the oversight of Dr. Eric Mason. The reader senses and experiences the divinely intended connection between the pulpit, the pew, and the prophetic with in this rare work produced out of the contextual hermeneutic of the reality of the westernized urban community.'

Kenneth C. Ulmer

'Eric Mason's team of philosophers and theologians has created apologia for a community whose heterodox teachings have been misunderstood and ignored by traditional theological resources. Speaking to those who have whitewashed or 'consciousness community' educations, Urban Apologetics reveals the racial biases—evangelical and secular—that have been baptized as truth and masqueraded as the only right readings of history, theology, and Scripture. Within these pages is a corrective needed to help defend the hope all believers hold while also embracing the human dignity of all persons in the body of Christ. This is a tolle lege call to any who have a heart that longs for the salvation of the spiritually lost within the African American community. It is a masterful work that lays bare the weaknesses of the Black religious identity cults for those tempted to find hope and power in their teachings.'

Eric C. Redmond

'Eric Mason and team have captured, in one sitting, the rumblings of the cultural winds that threaten to knock down the pillars of our truth that are lost in retweets and likes and memes. Mason's pen is a testament that orthodoxy and swag can coexist like Christ and the most current colloquialisms. This book shouts loud to our times! Jesus is real! No cap.'

award-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin

'The saying goes, 'When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' For far too long apologetics has been a hammer that attempted to strike every false teaching and cultic movement the same way in every community. Urban Apologetics is a much-needed, multifaceted tool kit that offers an interdisciplinary approach to promoting biblical faithfulness and gospel fluency. You will find that it utilizes history, sociology, theology, philosophy, and ethics, giving us the screwdrivers, scissors, pliers, wrenches, and hammers needed to repair broken faith in urban communities. As an urban apologist in New York City, the birthplace of many of the ideologies covered in this seminal work, I plan on carrying this tool kit with me wherever I am called to give an answer for the faith within me, and I encourage you to do the same.'

Pastor Rasool Berry