If you've read the author's first book Trouble I've Seen or you are already engaged and/or interested in justice issues, then this book is a must-read. It's full of ways the Church and Christians can participate in social issues while retaining their faith background. It's challenging in that it will ask you to rethink what you've been taught (or not taught) about the Church's role in upholding racism. The chapter on Barrabas alone is worth the price of the book. I appreciate being retaught some foundational truths about the way of Jesus. This book not only led me more toward justice but more toward Jesus.

If you haven't read Hart's first book or are just stepping into the justice waters, start with Trouble I've Seen and read this one next.

I read an advanced e-copy while waiting for my paperback to arrive. Review reflects my honest opinion.

This book is for anyone who wants to engage with the "what now?" questions that arise as we face injustice and hypocrisy within the Western church, and our own complicity in those systems.

The author unblinkingly names and addresses the N. American church and its habits/legacy of oppression, its racial supremacy, and its desire to be a part of the dominant culture rather than practice a "Jesus-shaped witness" in the world. The book takes readers through some of the early church history, comparing and contrasting its witness to the surrounding culture with the Western church's witness today.

My favorite chapters of the book were Liberating Barabbas (a discussion of the various theological interpretations of the Barrabas story and how it relates to our own calling to resist a violent empire), and the chapter addressing jubilee economics (Economic Injustice and the Church). All in all, a very timely read for Christians in North America today.

Thanks so much to Menno Media and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

"I am committed to the church. Yet something is terribly amiss. I refuse to accept that what typically passes for Christianity in America is the actual embodiment of the faith...I'm not convinced that what we practice is what Jesus desired for us and passed on to the disciples and earliest Christians."

This book unabashedly presents the shortcomings of the Church, not just in 2020, but going allll the way back and showing how the American Church and white supremacy have always gone hand in hand. Despite the fact that some of these shortcomings seem new or recent, Hart shows how time and time again white Christianity failed to correct course, and now we're here.

Who Will Be A Witness is part history, part theology of justice, part reminder of God's calling for His people, and part challenge to live out that calling. It is not a book of theoretical or hypothetical ideas. Hart presents actionable steps to change the behavior not just of individuals (though the individuality focus of white American Christianity is a huge part of the problem), but the Church as a whole.

This book should be mandatory reading for all Christians, especially leading up to an election, and especially in this time where God's justice is needed on earth. Hart does not write with a political bent - he writes about Biblical truth, and our failure at sharing that truth with our neighbors.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, opinions are my own.