If you were to glance at a book entitled Defending Black Faith, you might come to all sorts of false conclusion of what such a book is about; as I did. However, lest one misunderstands the title of this book, the context of it should first be mentioned. Defending Black Faith, by Craig S. Keener and Glenn Usry, is the sequel to a previous collaboration between these two entitled Black Man's Religion. In the first book they set out to disprove the notion that Christianity is a "white man's" religion. The authors strongly argued that the Christian faith is a faith that transcends cultural boundaries and is embraced by blacks, whites, and all who come to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Scriptures. In their first book, Keener and Usry argued for the legitimacy of blacks embracing Christianity, while in Defending Black Faith they answer specific apologetic questions such as "Is Christianity pro-slavery? How do we answer the Nation of Islam? Are the Gospels really true?" While many Afrocentric religious advocates try to refute the legitimacy of blacks in Christianity, - claiming that it is a religion started by whites and meant only for whites only, - Keener and Usry have done a great job in putting such claims up against biblical and historical evidence and proving that being black and Christian are not antithetical.Keener and Usry spend much of their time responding to the fallacious claims posed against Christianity by the Islamic community. However, while they do answer many of the objections raised by orthodox Islam, the bulk of their attention is given to issues raised by the highly visible sect of Islam prominent in the African-American community known as the Nation of Islam. This is because much of the modern criticism leveled against blacks in Christianity has come from members of the Nation of Islam. For example, Keener and Usry quote the late Elijah Muhammed, founder of the Nation of Islam, saying, "The White races false religion called Christianitygives you no desire or power to resist them." According to Elijah Muhammad, Christianity is a "White Man's Religion" and Blacks have no business being in a religion where they are deliberately set apart as inferior people. Elijah Muhammad is further quoted as saying "The only way and place to solve this problem is in the Religion of Islam." If Mr. Muhammad's claims were correct, then we would expect to see blacks involved in Christianity only after white influence. Particularly, we would expect to see Christianity in Africa only after European missionaries came. However, as Keener and Usry carefully demonstrate, "Christianity in Africa is so old that it can rightly be described as an indigenous, traditional and African religion." The authors go on to prove that while European missionaries "stirred up the gospel anew in Africa, it was not because no African Christians existed before their arrival." Many of the early church Fathers were from North Africa, including but not limited to Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius and Augustine. Most likely, such men were of a darker complexion. As the authors note, perhaps "no one would even think of calling Christianity a 'white religion' today if more Egyptian, Ethiopian and Nubian Christians had spread the gospel to the rest of Africa. Still, history testifies to the ancient churches of Africa and shows that Christianity was never solely a "white religion." Perhaps the most compelling chapter in the entire book is the chapter responding to the claim that Christians, historically, were pro-slavery. Unfortunately, this was the attitude of many White Christians and subsequently has been fuel for those Afrocentric religious groups who attack black Americans for their acceptance of Christianity. Again, Elijah Muhammad is quoted as saying, "Christianity was a religion organized and backed by the devils for the purpose of making slaves of black mankind." Conversely, Muhammad is quoted as saying Islam, on the other hand, "is a religion of peace, freedom, justice and equality." However, Keener and Usry convincingly demonstrate that such claims are far from the truth. They assert "apart from the Western slavery with which African-Americans are familiar firsthand, the largest enslavement of Africans in history involved the Arabs." This is a fact not only absent in the minds of most Black Christians, but most Americans in general. In fact, as Keener and Usry go on to argue, "it was the Arab's slave trade that paved the way for Western slavery of Africans." Interestingly, of those regions that still practice forms of slavery today, most are countries influenced by Islam. Consequently, the authors are correct when they conclude, that this "does not mean that slavery is inherent in Islam, it does, however, undercut some Muslim's claim that Christianity is pro-slavery whereas Islam is not." Though Keener and Usry go on to defend Christianity against many other false claims (i.e. Egytology, Document Hypothesis, Reliability of the Gospels, et al.), And though most of the authors' attention is devoted to responding to claims made by Muslims, anyone desiring to familiarize themselves with basic apologetics on essential truths of the Christian faith, will find the book helpful. Should an interest be stirred in purchasing a copy, I would recommend the first book of this series Black Man's Religion as a helpful prerequisite. I was a little disappointed that the authors did not compare and contrast the vast array of Afrocentric religions in America today and how they differ from historic Christianity. Nevertheless, Keener and Usry have given black Christians solid evidence for their faith and have given all Christians what has always been encouraging to have. reasons to believe.