This landmark study explores the deep roots of racial and social hierarchies within Church history.

This pioneering historical-theological study examines the origins of racialist discourse within Christianity and connects historical doctrines to contemporary violence and control of non-white bodies. 

Guzman investigates the creation of the ideal Christian self by tracing its origins from the early Church, where "the Other" was defined as Jewish or pagan. They then detail how this framework was fundamentally reshaped during the early modern/colonial period, as missionary ideologies and racist discourse became instrumental to Christendom's expansion—particularly in the expulsion of Muslims from Europe and the colonization of the Americas. The book shows how this tainted history continues to haunt Christianity, especially in narratives of purity and mastery.

One of the first works of Church history to engage with decolonial, Black, and Latinx cultural theory, Guzman's study is a wide-ranging analysis of Christianity and the creation of “Otherness,” arguing that hybridity and indeterminacy can disrupt existing systems, fostering a truly decolonial, embodied, and relational ecclesiology.