The Gospel and My Black Skin: Confronting the Past, Reclaiming the Future

Is Christianity really a white man's religion? Is it any good for Black people? Can a faith once used to enslave also empower Black lives?

In The Gospel and My Black Skin, Dr. JP Foster boldly tackles the complex, often unspoken questions many Black people are asking today. As Christian nationalism gains momentum, revisionist history distorts the past, and churches remain complicit--or silent--on matters of justice, a growing number of Black believers are questioning the faith they've inherited while others are walking away. Dr. Foster offers a timely and prophetic response.

With both historical insight and pastoral compassion, he uncovers Christianity's suppressed African roots, exposes how Scripture was gutted to keep Black people in chains, and reclaims the original Christian message as a source of liberation, justice, dignity, and oneness. He directly addresses today's most pressing realities: systemic racism, cultural erasure, and the erosion of truth by those seeking to sanitize the past.

This is not just a critique--it is a spiritual and historical reclamation. Dr. Foster calls on Black Christians to confront painful truths, peel back layers of distortion, recover the essence of Christianity, and reclaim a faith that has long been their own.

This book is both a challenge and a call to confront painful truths, grieve and heal from generational trauma, and boldly walk into a renewed faith that honors God and Black identity.

Whether you are questioning your place in the church, wrestling with religious disillusionment, or seeking a more thorough understanding of Christianity that empowers your faith, The Gospel and My Black Skin is a journey worth taking.

Dr. John-Paul C. Foster is the Senior Pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church, one of Southern California’s most influential congregations. A respected biblical scholar and dynamic communicator, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Biola University and a Master of Theology from Talbot Theological Seminary, where he also earned his Doctorate. Dr. Foster has also completed advanced studies at Oxford University, The King’s University, and Moody Bible Institute. Additionally, he serves as a Ministry Affiliate Faculty member at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology, where he teaches Biblical Interpretation, and Spiritual Formation.

Beyond the pulpit and classroom, Dr. Foster is a trusted voice at the intersection of faith and culture. He consults on major faith-based film and television projects, including serving as a biblical consultant for Amazon Prime’s House of David. He is the author of Finding Freedom in Jesus and The Gospel and My Black Skin, works that reflect his commitment to theological clarity, cultural engagement, and spiritual formation.

Dr. Foster’s ministry extends globally through educational and humanitarian initiatives in Africa, including scholarship development, clean water projects, and school partnerships in Kenya and Eswatini. He also leads transformative educational tours to Ghana, helping participants explore the history of the African diaspora and the rich African roots of the Christian faith. Above all, he remains devoted to his family. Dr. Foster has been married for nearly two decades and is the proud parent of two beautiful children, faithfully balancing scholarship, pastoral leadership, and global impact.

For anyone who has ever felt like they had to leave their culture at the door to follow Jesus, The Gospel and My Black Skin is the wake-up call we've been waiting for. Dr. JP Foster gets real about the Slave Bible, a version of faith that was literally cut to pieces to hide the God of the Exodus and keep our ancestors in chains. But this isn't just a history lesson; it's a reclamation project that proves our African ancestors were leading the church long before a slave ship ever sailed. I love that this book doesn't offer cheap answers, but instead gives us the receipts to dismantle the lie that Christianity is just a white man's religion. If you're ready to stop surviving in spaces that don't see you and start thriving in a faith that finally feels like home, you need to read this book. -- Kareem Grimes, Actor, All American

For the first time in American history, the younger generation of blacks are leaving the church en masse; it's what sociologists refer to as the 'black exodus'. Unable to disentangle the faith of 'Big Mama,' from that of our enslavers, many have thrown the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. So what are we to do? I'd start by reading my friend, Dr. JP Foster's honest, healing and hope-filled book, The Gospel and My Black Skin. When you finish, you will be inspired, as the old folks used to sing in the black church, to 'Hold to his hand, God's unchanging hand.' -- Dr. Bryan Loritts, author of Grace to Overcome: 31 Devotions on God's Work through Black History

Foster speaks frankly, passionately, and faithfully. Let those of us who want to reclaim the legacy of the abolitionists, of the Civil Rights Movement, and others who have stood for justice, listen well, to the heart even beyond the powerful and eloquent words. To Black Christians hurt by the churches: God can use you to make the church better. Rejected by the religious and political establishment of his day, the Jesus who rose from the dead can empower you to restore new life. White Christians, too, need to hear the history, the pain, and the fallout, so we can support our Black fellow members in Christ's body and to weep with those who weep. It's too easy to say, like those Jesus criticized, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors ...' -- Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies

It is rare to find the pastor-scholar who when striking the iron transforms the anvil itself with force under heat. Dr. JP Foster combines a blazing intellect with a pastoral heart producing a timely, relevant, and robust curriculum for those of us with big questions about race and the gospel. Reading this work won't require you to sacrifice your ethnicity for right convictions about the Gospel, neither will it compromise conviction for tribe. We need that. I wish every young person I know had this for required reading. -- Rev. Dr. Charlie Dates, Senior Pastor at Salem Baptist Church and Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, author, What Hath Justice to do with Righteousness

One of my biggest areas of grief as a Pastor is that the Bible, the book of truth, throughout history has been hijacked by so many lies. Contrary to what so many people believe, white missionaries didn't bring Christianity to Africa, and people of color have never been an afterthought in the heart of God. What we need now more than ever are the corrective lenses to see the Bible for the truth that it really is. The Gospel and My Black Skin provides those lenses. This book is so timely and so needed. Read it and be healed. -- Dr. Van Moody, pastor of The Worship Center Christian Church and author of The People Factor: How Building Great Relationships and Ending Bad Ones Unlocks Your God-Given Purpose

Rev Dr JP Foster doesn't pull any punches here. This book strikes a devastating blow to the insidious forms of white supremacy that have flourished under the church's protection. His goal is to help Black readers understand the pain and disappointment they have expe