Who Will Be a Witness

“Drew Hart is an important rising voice in American Christianity.  His theology and ethics are rooted in a powerfully  productive combination of black prophetic Christianity and  Anabaptism. His new book, Who Will Be a Witness?, offers a searching critique of compromised American Christianity and a richly detailed proposal for a better way forward in theology, church life, and social justice practice. I strongly recommend this book!” 

—David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and  director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University, and former president of the American Academy of Religion and the Society 

of Christian Ethics

“Using powerful imagery and a historical framework, Drew  Hart challenges the church to roll up our sleeves. The church of today must reflect our roots and dive deep into responding to the injustice and oppression in our communities. It is time to answer our divine call.” 

—Glen Guyton, executive director of Mennonite Church USA

“Drew Hart’s Who Will Be a Witness? is a clarion and  prophetic call for the church to not remain satisfied with an impotent and disembodied theology of justice within our communities. Hart’s writing is sermonic as he masterfully enfolds justice and Scripture to point us toward the enfleshed, boundary-transgressing, and power-shifting life of Jesus as its center. This book is a must-read—offering a tangible and compelling way forward for everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus.” 

—Gail Song Bantum, lead pastor of Quest Church

“Drew Hart has written the most challenging and enriching  book that I have read in a very long time—a book brimming over with moral urgency, uncommon wisdom, and spiritual insight. At its core, it summons the church to do what the American church has seldom done—to discern and then burst the bonds of nationalism, capitalism, American exceptionalism, and white supremacy, and to embrace instead the revolutionary vocation of Jesus on behalf of marginalized people. But it goes beyond that summons to give us the tools we need to accomplish that task—a richer understanding of Jesus and the entire biblical text, penetrating insights into both Euro-American history and popular culture, and practical strategies the church can use if it hopes to serve as a liberating, redemptive force in our world.” 

—Richard T. Hughes, author of Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories That Give Us Meaning 

“Drew Hart has done it again! Trouble I’ve Seen compellingly  and revealingly challenged Christian churches to confront and address their own complicity and participation in racist systems and structures. In Who Will Be a Witness?, Hart courageously, compassionately, and prophetically urges Christians to follow Jesus faithfully by living fully into the radical implications of his teaching, rather than attempting ‘to go halfsies on very serious social concerns’ in the misguided effort to claim that ‘truth always lies somewhere in the middle.’ An excellent, accessible introduction to Christian activism—and, indeed, its necessity—this book is thoroughly biblical, theologically rich, engagingly practical, and tremendously urgent.” 

—Michael Barram, professor of theology and religious studies at Saint Mary’s College of California and author of Missional Economics