“To those who need profound succor and strength to enable them to live in the present with dignity and creativity, Christianity often has been sterile and of little avail.”

Thurman believes that contemporary Protestantism, and much of Christianity throughout history, has provided little of use for the disinherited. One of his central questions is whether this is a problem inherent in the Bible and Christ’s teachings, or if it is a product of the church’s misinterpretation or perversion of Jesus. Thurman argues for the latter, but it is important that he establish his disagreement with this strain of Christian ethical practice.

“This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples.”

Thurman points out the irony of Christian churches that do not deal seriously with poverty and oppression. Jesus was a persecuted Jew, crucified by the Romans for his beliefs and preaching. Christianity should be the religion of equality and political revolution, but it has overwhelmingly been the religion of persecution throughout history.

“The men who bought the slaves were Christians. Christian ministers, quoting the Christian apostle Paul, gave the sanction of religion to the system of slavery.”

In the first chapter, Thurman establishes the gravity of his central question with an anecdote about a conversation with a lawyer in Sri Lanka. This quote is attributed to the lawyer, who tries to understand how a Black man can be a Christian when Christianity has always been the religion of the oppressor. Thurman cares deeply about establishing the stakes of his argument because he believes the future of Black Christianity depends on it.