Thurman’s preface to Jesus and the Disinherited outlines the book’s central question and stakes. He asks what Christianity has to offer “people who stand with their backs against the wall” (7). For Thurman, the question is “both personal and professional,” (7) as well as a central question for the futures of both Christianity and oppressed peoples and minorities, referred to most often through the book as “the disinherited.” Thurman argues for the critical importance of this area of study and concludes the preface with a brief outline of the book’s genesis as a series of essays and presentations.

Like the book’s other four chapters, “Jesus—An Interpretation” begins with the rhetorical argument that Thurman will eventually argue against or attempt to provide a solution for. Thus, he lays out a series of problems he sees within the history of Christianity and the contemporary Christian church. To those who are impoverished and struggling, Christianity has often been “sterile and of little avail” (11). While originally started by a persecuted people, throughout the ages, Christianity has often been the religion of the persecutors. Furthermore, it is used specifically as a tool of persecution, through what Thurman believes to be a perversion of the missionary objective.