Extremists for Love

Book excerpt: The histories of race and religion in America are inextricably intertwined. From the antebellum South to the civil rights era and the modern #BlackLivesMatter movement, Christianity has played a key role. It may be tempting to believe—in light of the way far-right politics has hijacked Christian language and ideas in recent decades—that religion was used exclusively as an oppressive tool; but the ways in which Christianity played a key role in active resistance to white supremacy from its earliest days cannot be overlooked. Extremists for Love gives readers a critical overview of twenty central figures from the history of the black liberation struggle in the United States, exposing the theological trappings of their work and what they mean for the church today. Accessible in style and academic in quality, this volume examines civil rights activists, scholars, theologians, pop culture icons, and collectives who (either implicitly or explicitly) deployed Christian ideas in their work for black liberation.