Brain Drain---when the best and brightest move up and out of the community of need.
Brain Retain---when the best and brightest move down and in, stay in poor and oppressed communities.
Humanly speaking, it is easy to understand why people choose to leave a socioeconomic hell and move on to greener pastures. Would it be possible for a Christian university to have a high brain retain rate among its graduates?
Paul Farmer writes in Haiti: After the Earthquake, the following:
....even before the 2010 earthquake, the majority if Haiti's physicians and nurses had left the country. . . . The dean of Haiti's oldest and largest medical school said publicly that 80 percent of medically trained Haitians now reside outside the country.
Instead of an 80 percent brain drain, could a Christian university achieve an 80 percent brain retain rate? If so, what would it take to do so?
Haiti Christian Community Development is in the brainstorming stage about the possibility of starting a Christian university in rural Fond-des-Blanc, Haiti. Most Christian education in the States is geared toward individual progress, personal success. When I taught at a Christian college, I estimated that only about 10 percent of our graduates caught the vision of a kingdom centered life and ministry career. We were more successful in preparing students to pursue the American Dream.
What would it take for the University of Fond-des-Blanc to achieve an 80 percent brain retain rate?
1. A kingdom of God, Jubilee justice oriented theology; Christ/kingdom; church/community
2. A community progress oriented curriculum, personal success comes second.
3. Every year require a community building internship of all students; possibly an internship each semester or a two month summer internship each year.
4. Women as community leaders, servant leaders, program; Didi Farmer, consultant
5.
6.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Shalom, part II
A major feature of the chapter on the prophets is a detailed discussion of wealth economics, an economy that benefited the elite of society, versus the economics of shalom based on equal access and justice. For me, this was the most valuable part of the book. These two types of economic systems are evaluated and compared on the basis of: Ownership of subsistence resources, access to resources, consumption, distribution mechanism, basic outlook, basic value, disposition of surplus, goal and results. "Shalom makers must oppose all states who protect and maintain such stratification and concentration of resources."
Chapter eight closes with a discussion of the OT prophets and their messianic prophecies which had a strong justice/shalom emphasis. At some point in history, God would act; he would send a Messiah who would set up a kingdom characterized by righteousness, justice and shalom.
Chapter nine: "Jesus: the messiah of God."
Though this book is primarily an OT theology, chapter nine moves into a NT application. Yoder shows how justice and shalom characterized the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ as he introduced the kingdom of God. Again Yoder shows the economic relevance of the kingdom of God by discussing the economics of wealth which was strongly denounced by Jesus, and the economics of shalom as taught by Jesus in the gospels.
Book summary. Yoder excels in demonstrating the holistic nature of the gospel by showing the continuity between the OT and the NT. The kingdom of God is the key biblical concept that fulfills the Messianic passages which promise justice and shalom. I believe that my paraphrase of Romans 14;17 captures Yoder;s holistic emphasis: "The kingdom of God is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit."
According to the book Divided by Faith, which is based on extensive research among evangelicals conducted in the late 1990s, the average U.S. evangelical's faith and practice is overly individualized or privatized; it is also overly spiritual; thus it does not have an adequate gospel for social problems such as ethnocentrism and economic oppression. In terms of social issues, evangelicals are more often a part of the problem than they are a part of the solution, but they do not realize this. Instead, they tend to think that if others were like them, social problems would decline.
Evangelical theology does not understand the kingdom of God as present and social, as against ethnocentrism and oppression, as for justice and shalom. Lacking a strong biblical social ethic, they easily fall prey to the American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism. At the same time that they profess deliverance from personal sin, they end up tolerating or even participating in social evil.
So evangelicals badly need to read a book such as Shalom so they will preach and practice a more comprehensive biblical gospel. American white evangelicals are making the same mistake the Puritans made; out of their religiously based ethnocentrism, they oppressed the Indians. And white Southerners claimed to follow an inerrant Bible, yet they participated in slavery and then the neoslavery of segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynchings. Some of the lynchings took place in churchyards as a quasi-religious celebration.
Only a holistic gospel can deal with both personal sin and social evil. We need to add Jubilee justice to our gospel of justification by faith. We must move from half a gospel to the whole gospel (Acts 8:12; 28:23; 28:31.) We must add the kingdom of God as justice to the cross and resurrection, as Billy Graham recently stated.
Ray Bakke, evangelical expert on the city, tells this true story (Christianity Today, March 3, 1997):
A suburban Christian said to me: 'When you talk about urban evangelism, I get very excited. But when you talk about social action, I get very nervous. Isn't this the social [liberal] gospel?
So I asked him where he lives, and he told me---one of the finest suburbs west of Chicago. I said, "Why do you live there?' He said, 'Good schools for my children. It's safe, quiet, clean. Good housing value. I travel a lot. I need a place where my family can be secure when I'm gone.'
I stopped him and said, 'Every reason you've given me for living where you do is a social reason. If anyone believes in the social gospel, it's you. You've committed your whole life to it. How can you tell those who don't have the [social] systems you have to just preach the [evangelistic] gospel?' And this man, bless his heart, said, 'I never thought of that!'
The hospital in my [urban] community is sicker than the patients. How can it be wrong for us to build a better hospital, school or police department? . . . . I tell pastors, 'You have not preached tithing until you have preached the tithing of your people, of 10 percent going into urban neighborhoods where the church is. . . . Tithe your people and use your assets to buy property next to every playground and grammar school in the community so you can stash your people there to create positive webs of influence in the community.'
Some concluding comments by Lowell Noble: "Nightmares and Dreams."
I am haunted by a continuing nightmare, but I am inspired by a beautiful dream. At this point in history, my mind and spirit are dominated by the nightmare of oppression. I see multiplied millions being crushed, humiliated and animalized by Euro ethnocentrism here in these United but cruel States, and by political and economic oppression in much of the Third World. The oppressed cry out, "Who will deliver us?" The answer that echoes back is thundering silence.
By faith, I see the answer in my dreams. The kingdom of God is hovering on the horizon waiting for the people of God to see it and bring it nigh to the oppressed.. The incarnated kingdom of God could lift up the crushed, give dignity to the humiliated, humanize the animalized, liberate the enslaved and stop the killing of the innocent.
The answer is at hand. Why is it delayed? Is it because the church has not rejusticized the NT gospel?
I highly recommend that after you have read Shalom that you read Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God. The following is an excerpt about the biblical story of the rich young ruler:
It probably has not occurred to the rich man that, while he has never mugged anyone on the street and taken their money, he has used the [financial/economic] system to rob the poor blind. He could not achieve his prominence and wealth except at the expense of others, but he does not see this as stealing. It is called getting ahead and climbing the ladder of power and prestige.
Quite clearly, the rich man has a robust conscience bolstered by his reading of the Torah and support by his daily effort to root out impurity. . . . This is why Jesus must restate the import of the Decalogue in a startling way. All ten commandments can be viewed as an expression of the debt system. [Debt slavery had replaced Jubilee justice]. But the rich ruler has read them through the demand for purity [holiness, not justice], and as a result he can no longer perceive the great injustice. . . . No sooner has he declared his full compliance than Jesus stops him dead in his tracks---"Just one thing you lack. . . .go, sell, give, follow." The four commandments: go, sell (dispossess), give (distribute), and follow me, . . . Jesus reads the Torah as a demand for justice. . . . The Torah is about the distributive [Jubilee] justice of God, who gave the land as a gift to be received and shared, not hoarded at the expense of ruining others.
I just learned that there is a second edition of Shalom.
Chapter eight closes with a discussion of the OT prophets and their messianic prophecies which had a strong justice/shalom emphasis. At some point in history, God would act; he would send a Messiah who would set up a kingdom characterized by righteousness, justice and shalom.
Chapter nine: "Jesus: the messiah of God."
Though this book is primarily an OT theology, chapter nine moves into a NT application. Yoder shows how justice and shalom characterized the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ as he introduced the kingdom of God. Again Yoder shows the economic relevance of the kingdom of God by discussing the economics of wealth which was strongly denounced by Jesus, and the economics of shalom as taught by Jesus in the gospels.
Book summary. Yoder excels in demonstrating the holistic nature of the gospel by showing the continuity between the OT and the NT. The kingdom of God is the key biblical concept that fulfills the Messianic passages which promise justice and shalom. I believe that my paraphrase of Romans 14;17 captures Yoder;s holistic emphasis: "The kingdom of God is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit."
According to the book Divided by Faith, which is based on extensive research among evangelicals conducted in the late 1990s, the average U.S. evangelical's faith and practice is overly individualized or privatized; it is also overly spiritual; thus it does not have an adequate gospel for social problems such as ethnocentrism and economic oppression. In terms of social issues, evangelicals are more often a part of the problem than they are a part of the solution, but they do not realize this. Instead, they tend to think that if others were like them, social problems would decline.
Evangelical theology does not understand the kingdom of God as present and social, as against ethnocentrism and oppression, as for justice and shalom. Lacking a strong biblical social ethic, they easily fall prey to the American trinity of individualism, materialism and ethnocentrism. At the same time that they profess deliverance from personal sin, they end up tolerating or even participating in social evil.
So evangelicals badly need to read a book such as Shalom so they will preach and practice a more comprehensive biblical gospel. American white evangelicals are making the same mistake the Puritans made; out of their religiously based ethnocentrism, they oppressed the Indians. And white Southerners claimed to follow an inerrant Bible, yet they participated in slavery and then the neoslavery of segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynchings. Some of the lynchings took place in churchyards as a quasi-religious celebration.
Only a holistic gospel can deal with both personal sin and social evil. We need to add Jubilee justice to our gospel of justification by faith. We must move from half a gospel to the whole gospel (Acts 8:12; 28:23; 28:31.) We must add the kingdom of God as justice to the cross and resurrection, as Billy Graham recently stated.
Ray Bakke, evangelical expert on the city, tells this true story (Christianity Today, March 3, 1997):
A suburban Christian said to me: 'When you talk about urban evangelism, I get very excited. But when you talk about social action, I get very nervous. Isn't this the social [liberal] gospel?
So I asked him where he lives, and he told me---one of the finest suburbs west of Chicago. I said, "Why do you live there?' He said, 'Good schools for my children. It's safe, quiet, clean. Good housing value. I travel a lot. I need a place where my family can be secure when I'm gone.'
I stopped him and said, 'Every reason you've given me for living where you do is a social reason. If anyone believes in the social gospel, it's you. You've committed your whole life to it. How can you tell those who don't have the [social] systems you have to just preach the [evangelistic] gospel?' And this man, bless his heart, said, 'I never thought of that!'
The hospital in my [urban] community is sicker than the patients. How can it be wrong for us to build a better hospital, school or police department? . . . . I tell pastors, 'You have not preached tithing until you have preached the tithing of your people, of 10 percent going into urban neighborhoods where the church is. . . . Tithe your people and use your assets to buy property next to every playground and grammar school in the community so you can stash your people there to create positive webs of influence in the community.'
Some concluding comments by Lowell Noble: "Nightmares and Dreams."
I am haunted by a continuing nightmare, but I am inspired by a beautiful dream. At this point in history, my mind and spirit are dominated by the nightmare of oppression. I see multiplied millions being crushed, humiliated and animalized by Euro ethnocentrism here in these United but cruel States, and by political and economic oppression in much of the Third World. The oppressed cry out, "Who will deliver us?" The answer that echoes back is thundering silence.
By faith, I see the answer in my dreams. The kingdom of God is hovering on the horizon waiting for the people of God to see it and bring it nigh to the oppressed.. The incarnated kingdom of God could lift up the crushed, give dignity to the humiliated, humanize the animalized, liberate the enslaved and stop the killing of the innocent.
The answer is at hand. Why is it delayed? Is it because the church has not rejusticized the NT gospel?
I highly recommend that after you have read Shalom that you read Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God. The following is an excerpt about the biblical story of the rich young ruler:
It probably has not occurred to the rich man that, while he has never mugged anyone on the street and taken their money, he has used the [financial/economic] system to rob the poor blind. He could not achieve his prominence and wealth except at the expense of others, but he does not see this as stealing. It is called getting ahead and climbing the ladder of power and prestige.
Quite clearly, the rich man has a robust conscience bolstered by his reading of the Torah and support by his daily effort to root out impurity. . . . This is why Jesus must restate the import of the Decalogue in a startling way. All ten commandments can be viewed as an expression of the debt system. [Debt slavery had replaced Jubilee justice]. But the rich ruler has read them through the demand for purity [holiness, not justice], and as a result he can no longer perceive the great injustice. . . . No sooner has he declared his full compliance than Jesus stops him dead in his tracks---"Just one thing you lack. . . .go, sell, give, follow." The four commandments: go, sell (dispossess), give (distribute), and follow me, . . . Jesus reads the Torah as a demand for justice. . . . The Torah is about the distributive [Jubilee] justice of God, who gave the land as a gift to be received and shared, not hoarded at the expense of ruining others.
I just learned that there is a second edition of Shalom.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Perry Yoder's book Shalom
Shalom: The Bible's Word for Salvation, Justice and Peace, a book that American Christians need to read, was published in 1987. Most theology throughout the history of the church has been written by middle or upper class Christians. Not many people, until modern times, had the income to be able to study Hebrew and Greek and related subjects. So there were few theologians from among the poor and oppressed. More than we realize our ideas, even our questions are powerfully shaped by culture and class.
Perry Yoder had earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and literature and had become an OT scholar. He wrote a first draft of Shalom; then he went to the Philippines and lived among the oppressed poor. Yoder states:
I wanted to dialogue about peace in a third-world context of poverty, oppression, and their struggle for change. . . . My experiences were shattering and shaping. . . . As a result, the original draft was greatly revised.
The basic issues of life looked different when seen through the eyes of the oppressed poor. The questions for theology to answer were different. Very few white American theologians wrestle with the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and then apply it to the American context. When Yoder saw oppression in action and witnessed it devastating impact on the lives of the poor, he had to rewrite his theology of the OT. But even Yoder fails to do a thorough biblical study of oppression. He does an in depth biblical analysis of justice and shalom, but he does not do so with oppression though he uses the concept widely in his discussion.
So before I do my review of Shalom, I will do a brief review of the biblical teaching on oppression by the Hebrew scholar, Thomas Hanks. Hanks is one of a very few scholars who has analyzed oppression in the OT. See his fine book God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression. Originally written in Spanish, it was published in English in 1983.
Oppression is a major OT concept; oppression and its synonyms are found 555 times in the Hebrew OT; about 125 times in the English NIV OT. Judgment fell upon the nation of Israel because of idolatry and oppression. In Hank's analysis of the Hebrew roots commonly translated oppression, he found the following meanings: crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill. One could define oppression as follows: Oppression occurs when people in power and authority, usually through social institutions, misuse that power and authority cruelly and unjustly to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave or kill persons created in the image of God.
Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice; oppression is a horrible word, shalom is a beautiful word. If a person does not have a profound understanding of the horror of oppression, she/he is unlikely to develop a passionate concern for social justice---Jubilee justice, kingdom of God justice.
Oppression crushes people; justice repairs the crushed. Oppression humiliates persons; justice affirms persons. Oppression animalizes people; justice humanizes people. Oppression impoverishes people; justice prospers (necessities of life) people. Oppression enslaves people; justice liberates persons. Oppression kills people; only justice beyond this life can provide shalom for these persons. Justice stops oppression and creates the conditions for shalom.
If I were to recommend one book to help a person develop a theology of society, my first choice would be Perry Yoder's Shalom. To create a theology of society, to understand the kingdom of God, a person must have a comprehensive grasp of Hebrew ideas and concepts of community and society before one can understand the social side of the NT concept of the kingdom of God. Other key books that I would recommend are: A Kingdom Manifesto, An Eye for an Eye, and The Upside-Down Kingdom.
Whether they realize it or not, most middle and upper class Christians benefit from the status quo in society. Generally speaking, society has been good to them. So they find it hard to believe that the same political and economic system can be oppressing the poor. Poverty and oppression then are not a central concern of the church nor of theologians. So Yoder's book is quite unique because it addresses these ideas and issues in depth.
Yoder begins with a chapter describing and analyzing shalom---God's ideal for society. Shalom has three emphases:
1. "Shalom as material well-being and prosperity." Strangely, this is the primary meaning of shalom, according to Yoder. Hebrews blended spirituality and earthly life. Shalom is applied to every area of life. If prosperity preachers want to proof text shalom, they can have a field day 'proving' that God wants us all to prosper. One caution: biblical prosperity cannot come at the expense of others, paying low wages to increase profits. The rich who prosper by oppressing the poor are violating biblical shalom. Yoder declares:
Not all prosperity is a sign of shalom. . . . Only the prosperity which comes from moral integrity and involves the well-being of all is shalom prosperity. . . . justice---not prosperity by itself---becomes the true measuring stick for whether or not there is shalom.
2. "The second major realm to which shalom is linked is that of social relationships." Or kingdom justice, Jubilee justice. Social relationships, community and social structures must be regulated by justice. Justice stops oppression and creates the conditions for shalom. False prophets declared "Shalom, shalom," at a time when an elite were prospering in the midst of idolatry and oppression. The phrase "No justice, no peace," accurately reflects the close tie between justice and shalom. Oppression---------justice--------shalom.
3. "Shalom as straightforwardness." Shalom does have a personal ethical thrust---personal righteousness. In this sense, shalom is the opposite of deceit. Judges are to be honest, persons of character. Then they will render just decisions.
To summarize, shalom is not just a personal relationship with God. Shalom is also a community word; it is more than personal peace or personal prosperity. Shalom is concerned with social harmony, with wholeness in every area of life. A community divided by a large gap between the rich and poor is not just; therefore, shalom is not present, no matter how many false prophets say so.
Yoder claims that the NT Greek word eirene, usually translated peace, is roughly equivalent in meaning to shalom. On this basis, I paraphrase Romans 14:17 as "The kingdom of God is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit." Justice and shalom communicate the social dimension of the kingdom of God much better than do the words righteousness and peace which most English readers interpret on an individual basis.
Yoder concludes this chapter with a question:
If the coming of shalom demands [social] transformation, should not the church be leading the way in dismantling the structures of oppression and death wherever they are found so that shalom, God's will, may be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Chapter three is entitled "Justice is Basic."
Justice is basic to God's character and his rule---the kingdom of God. God is justice as well as love. God loves justice. "God's rule is shown through a liberating justice." In Exodus, God acted to free the oppressed Hebrews. Justice is aggressive---see Job 29:7-17. Justice is especially concerned for the powerless, the poor, the oppressed:
only a justice which is based on need will really serve the interest of the underclass and transform their situation from one of need and oppression to one of sufficiency and freedom.
Chapter four is titled "Salvation: shalom justice in action."
"God's salvation of Israel from slavery is an expression of God's justice; it helped those in need, corrected injustice and thus brought shalom." Salvation and shalom in the OT are holistic including the material and the social as well as the spiritual; they include the liberation of the oppressed. Surprisingly to some, salvation in the NT also includes the physical and social as well as the spiritual. But many American Christians have overly spiritualized and dejusticized the NT. Sin is both personal and social---embedded in cultural values and social institutions; therefore, salvation must also be both personal and social; see Ephesian two for both the personal and social gospel.
Chapter five is titled "The atonement: an act of God's justice."
Yoder discusses various theories of the atonement. Then he adds what he calls what he calls the "messianic view of the atonement." Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. The Messiah is concerned about justice and shalom. See the Messianic passages from Isaiah: 9:7, 11, 16, 28, 42, 61. All these passages mention justice.
Chapter six: "Law: instrument for shalom justice."
What kind of a society should a liberated people build? God gave Israel the law to create a just society. Without the principles of justice built into society "yesterday's oppressed may become tomorrow's oppressors." Yoder strongly argues that there is a needed link between liberation and the law. "The doing of the law is a fitting response to God's acts of grace." "Liberation is liberation from oppression not from the law. . . . biblical law was to be an instrument of shalom justice."
Practically, biblical law addressed the need for charity for widows and children, access to resources for the able-bodied such as gleaning, and justice laws to provide equal access to capital resources such as land so that persons and families can be self-sufficient.
Chapter seven: "The state, shalom, and justice."
For several centuries Israel lived under a king. Some kings oppressed the people as God said they would. Other kings stood for justice. Yoder discusses the rise of the state in some detail.
Chapter eight: "The prophets, the state, and shalom."
Too often the functioning of the state led to the "concentration of wealth" and "oppression against the underclass." As this happened, God sent prophet after prophet calling kings, princes, priests and prophets to do justice/righteousness. Oppressors who passed unjust laws were denounced; also the military leaders who misused their power.
To be continued in Yoder's book Shalom, part II
Perry Yoder had earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and literature and had become an OT scholar. He wrote a first draft of Shalom; then he went to the Philippines and lived among the oppressed poor. Yoder states:
I wanted to dialogue about peace in a third-world context of poverty, oppression, and their struggle for change. . . . My experiences were shattering and shaping. . . . As a result, the original draft was greatly revised.
The basic issues of life looked different when seen through the eyes of the oppressed poor. The questions for theology to answer were different. Very few white American theologians wrestle with the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and then apply it to the American context. When Yoder saw oppression in action and witnessed it devastating impact on the lives of the poor, he had to rewrite his theology of the OT. But even Yoder fails to do a thorough biblical study of oppression. He does an in depth biblical analysis of justice and shalom, but he does not do so with oppression though he uses the concept widely in his discussion.
So before I do my review of Shalom, I will do a brief review of the biblical teaching on oppression by the Hebrew scholar, Thomas Hanks. Hanks is one of a very few scholars who has analyzed oppression in the OT. See his fine book God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression. Originally written in Spanish, it was published in English in 1983.
Oppression is a major OT concept; oppression and its synonyms are found 555 times in the Hebrew OT; about 125 times in the English NIV OT. Judgment fell upon the nation of Israel because of idolatry and oppression. In Hank's analysis of the Hebrew roots commonly translated oppression, he found the following meanings: crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill. One could define oppression as follows: Oppression occurs when people in power and authority, usually through social institutions, misuse that power and authority cruelly and unjustly to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave or kill persons created in the image of God.
Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice; oppression is a horrible word, shalom is a beautiful word. If a person does not have a profound understanding of the horror of oppression, she/he is unlikely to develop a passionate concern for social justice---Jubilee justice, kingdom of God justice.
Oppression crushes people; justice repairs the crushed. Oppression humiliates persons; justice affirms persons. Oppression animalizes people; justice humanizes people. Oppression impoverishes people; justice prospers (necessities of life) people. Oppression enslaves people; justice liberates persons. Oppression kills people; only justice beyond this life can provide shalom for these persons. Justice stops oppression and creates the conditions for shalom.
If I were to recommend one book to help a person develop a theology of society, my first choice would be Perry Yoder's Shalom. To create a theology of society, to understand the kingdom of God, a person must have a comprehensive grasp of Hebrew ideas and concepts of community and society before one can understand the social side of the NT concept of the kingdom of God. Other key books that I would recommend are: A Kingdom Manifesto, An Eye for an Eye, and The Upside-Down Kingdom.
Whether they realize it or not, most middle and upper class Christians benefit from the status quo in society. Generally speaking, society has been good to them. So they find it hard to believe that the same political and economic system can be oppressing the poor. Poverty and oppression then are not a central concern of the church nor of theologians. So Yoder's book is quite unique because it addresses these ideas and issues in depth.
Yoder begins with a chapter describing and analyzing shalom---God's ideal for society. Shalom has three emphases:
1. "Shalom as material well-being and prosperity." Strangely, this is the primary meaning of shalom, according to Yoder. Hebrews blended spirituality and earthly life. Shalom is applied to every area of life. If prosperity preachers want to proof text shalom, they can have a field day 'proving' that God wants us all to prosper. One caution: biblical prosperity cannot come at the expense of others, paying low wages to increase profits. The rich who prosper by oppressing the poor are violating biblical shalom. Yoder declares:
Not all prosperity is a sign of shalom. . . . Only the prosperity which comes from moral integrity and involves the well-being of all is shalom prosperity. . . . justice---not prosperity by itself---becomes the true measuring stick for whether or not there is shalom.
2. "The second major realm to which shalom is linked is that of social relationships." Or kingdom justice, Jubilee justice. Social relationships, community and social structures must be regulated by justice. Justice stops oppression and creates the conditions for shalom. False prophets declared "Shalom, shalom," at a time when an elite were prospering in the midst of idolatry and oppression. The phrase "No justice, no peace," accurately reflects the close tie between justice and shalom. Oppression---------justice--------shalom.
3. "Shalom as straightforwardness." Shalom does have a personal ethical thrust---personal righteousness. In this sense, shalom is the opposite of deceit. Judges are to be honest, persons of character. Then they will render just decisions.
To summarize, shalom is not just a personal relationship with God. Shalom is also a community word; it is more than personal peace or personal prosperity. Shalom is concerned with social harmony, with wholeness in every area of life. A community divided by a large gap between the rich and poor is not just; therefore, shalom is not present, no matter how many false prophets say so.
Yoder claims that the NT Greek word eirene, usually translated peace, is roughly equivalent in meaning to shalom. On this basis, I paraphrase Romans 14:17 as "The kingdom of God is justice, shalom and joy in the Holy Spirit." Justice and shalom communicate the social dimension of the kingdom of God much better than do the words righteousness and peace which most English readers interpret on an individual basis.
Yoder concludes this chapter with a question:
If the coming of shalom demands [social] transformation, should not the church be leading the way in dismantling the structures of oppression and death wherever they are found so that shalom, God's will, may be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Chapter three is entitled "Justice is Basic."
Justice is basic to God's character and his rule---the kingdom of God. God is justice as well as love. God loves justice. "God's rule is shown through a liberating justice." In Exodus, God acted to free the oppressed Hebrews. Justice is aggressive---see Job 29:7-17. Justice is especially concerned for the powerless, the poor, the oppressed:
only a justice which is based on need will really serve the interest of the underclass and transform their situation from one of need and oppression to one of sufficiency and freedom.
Chapter four is titled "Salvation: shalom justice in action."
"God's salvation of Israel from slavery is an expression of God's justice; it helped those in need, corrected injustice and thus brought shalom." Salvation and shalom in the OT are holistic including the material and the social as well as the spiritual; they include the liberation of the oppressed. Surprisingly to some, salvation in the NT also includes the physical and social as well as the spiritual. But many American Christians have overly spiritualized and dejusticized the NT. Sin is both personal and social---embedded in cultural values and social institutions; therefore, salvation must also be both personal and social; see Ephesian two for both the personal and social gospel.
Chapter five is titled "The atonement: an act of God's justice."
Yoder discusses various theories of the atonement. Then he adds what he calls what he calls the "messianic view of the atonement." Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. The Messiah is concerned about justice and shalom. See the Messianic passages from Isaiah: 9:7, 11, 16, 28, 42, 61. All these passages mention justice.
Chapter six: "Law: instrument for shalom justice."
What kind of a society should a liberated people build? God gave Israel the law to create a just society. Without the principles of justice built into society "yesterday's oppressed may become tomorrow's oppressors." Yoder strongly argues that there is a needed link between liberation and the law. "The doing of the law is a fitting response to God's acts of grace." "Liberation is liberation from oppression not from the law. . . . biblical law was to be an instrument of shalom justice."
Practically, biblical law addressed the need for charity for widows and children, access to resources for the able-bodied such as gleaning, and justice laws to provide equal access to capital resources such as land so that persons and families can be self-sufficient.
Chapter seven: "The state, shalom, and justice."
For several centuries Israel lived under a king. Some kings oppressed the people as God said they would. Other kings stood for justice. Yoder discusses the rise of the state in some detail.
Chapter eight: "The prophets, the state, and shalom."
Too often the functioning of the state led to the "concentration of wealth" and "oppression against the underclass." As this happened, God sent prophet after prophet calling kings, princes, priests and prophets to do justice/righteousness. Oppressors who passed unjust laws were denounced; also the military leaders who misused their power.
To be continued in Yoder's book Shalom, part II
Friday, April 22, 2016
15 best books I have read
15 best books
1. A Quiet Revolution by John Perkins. Perkins was born and raised a poor black in Mississippi in 1930; a third grade dropout, he created Christian Community Development, a strategy to rebuild oppressed poor communities. He wrote 15 books and earned 12 honorary doctorates.
2. At Home with the Poor by Jean Thomas. Thomas is an Haitian disciple of John Perkins and has been doing CCD in Fond-des-Blancs Haiti for 30 plus years.
3. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. A black civil rights lawyer, Alexander shows how the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males, has become a new system of oppression akin to slavery and then segregation.
4. Dear White Christians by Jennifer Harvey. Harvey is one of the few white Christians who really gets it on white racism. My expanded title: Dear Self-Deceived, Unrepentant White Christians, full of Ethnocentrism and Oppression, Neglecters of Justice and the Love of God---REPENT and REPAIR. The New Jim Crow and Dear White Christians complement each other beautifully.
5. Martin and Malcolm in America by James Cone. An historical examination of the unique and important contributions of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X by America's top black theologian. From Cone, I learned that after King's "I have a Dream" speech, King later gave what I have dubbed his "I live a Nightmare" speech.
6. The Wars of America: Christian Views edited by Ronald Wells. 8 professional Christian historians examine and evaluate 8 wars that America fought. These 8 wars are not just wars as most Americans think, including the American Revolution; British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution.
7. Myths America Lives By by Christian historian, Richard Hughes. He destroys many commonly believed myths with the help of some black scholars.
8. A Different Mirror by ethnic historian, Ronald Takaki. American history and the contributions by many different ethnic groups; unique insights into American history.
9. The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. A Christian Jew biblically and brilliantly evaluates both 9/11 and the 2008 Recession as divine judgments on America.. American leaders, Democrats and Republicans, defiantly and arrogantly failed to repent. But Cahn strangely fails to see the extreme social evils of our founding fathers---slave trade, slavery, Indian genocide and Indian Removal.
10. God So Loved the Third World; The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression by Thomas Hanks. Hanks, a Hebrew scholar, finds 555 references to oppression in the OT. Strangely, biblical oppression is a rare topic in American theology.
11. Inheriting the [Slave] Trade by Thomas DeWolf. DeWolf discovered that he was a descendant of the most successful New England slave trading family. An honest look at a tragic period in American history too often sanctified by Americanized Christianity.
12. Shalom by Perry Yoder, a Mennonite theologian. Before finishing he manuscript, Yoder visited and listening carefully to the poor and oppressed in the Philippines; their insights forced Yoder to make major revision in his book. Would that more American theologians would do the same.
13. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. A biography about Paul Farmer, medical doctor and also a doctorate in anthropology, serving the poor in Haiti. Literally lives Mt. 25, the Inasmuch passage.
14. The Scandalous Message of James by Elsa Tamez. Brings her deep OT understanding of oppression to create a fresh and insightful interpretation to the book of James.
15. Faith Rooted Organizing by Peter Heltzel. Want CCD to be rooted in the church.
1. A Quiet Revolution by John Perkins. Perkins was born and raised a poor black in Mississippi in 1930; a third grade dropout, he created Christian Community Development, a strategy to rebuild oppressed poor communities. He wrote 15 books and earned 12 honorary doctorates.
2. At Home with the Poor by Jean Thomas. Thomas is an Haitian disciple of John Perkins and has been doing CCD in Fond-des-Blancs Haiti for 30 plus years.
3. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. A black civil rights lawyer, Alexander shows how the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Hispanic males, has become a new system of oppression akin to slavery and then segregation.
4. Dear White Christians by Jennifer Harvey. Harvey is one of the few white Christians who really gets it on white racism. My expanded title: Dear Self-Deceived, Unrepentant White Christians, full of Ethnocentrism and Oppression, Neglecters of Justice and the Love of God---REPENT and REPAIR. The New Jim Crow and Dear White Christians complement each other beautifully.
5. Martin and Malcolm in America by James Cone. An historical examination of the unique and important contributions of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X by America's top black theologian. From Cone, I learned that after King's "I have a Dream" speech, King later gave what I have dubbed his "I live a Nightmare" speech.
6. The Wars of America: Christian Views edited by Ronald Wells. 8 professional Christian historians examine and evaluate 8 wars that America fought. These 8 wars are not just wars as most Americans think, including the American Revolution; British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution.
7. Myths America Lives By by Christian historian, Richard Hughes. He destroys many commonly believed myths with the help of some black scholars.
8. A Different Mirror by ethnic historian, Ronald Takaki. American history and the contributions by many different ethnic groups; unique insights into American history.
9. The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. A Christian Jew biblically and brilliantly evaluates both 9/11 and the 2008 Recession as divine judgments on America.. American leaders, Democrats and Republicans, defiantly and arrogantly failed to repent. But Cahn strangely fails to see the extreme social evils of our founding fathers---slave trade, slavery, Indian genocide and Indian Removal.
10. God So Loved the Third World; The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression by Thomas Hanks. Hanks, a Hebrew scholar, finds 555 references to oppression in the OT. Strangely, biblical oppression is a rare topic in American theology.
11. Inheriting the [Slave] Trade by Thomas DeWolf. DeWolf discovered that he was a descendant of the most successful New England slave trading family. An honest look at a tragic period in American history too often sanctified by Americanized Christianity.
12. Shalom by Perry Yoder, a Mennonite theologian. Before finishing he manuscript, Yoder visited and listening carefully to the poor and oppressed in the Philippines; their insights forced Yoder to make major revision in his book. Would that more American theologians would do the same.
13. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. A biography about Paul Farmer, medical doctor and also a doctorate in anthropology, serving the poor in Haiti. Literally lives Mt. 25, the Inasmuch passage.
14. The Scandalous Message of James by Elsa Tamez. Brings her deep OT understanding of oppression to create a fresh and insightful interpretation to the book of James.
15. Faith Rooted Organizing by Peter Heltzel. Want CCD to be rooted in the church.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Chapter 15 From Economic Oppression to Economic Justice
From Economic Oppression to Economic Justice. This is my third suggested chapter addition to the 12 chapters in the book God of Justice.
The NT kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the poor and oppressed makes little sense unless one understand the OT Sabbath Year and Jubilee Year economics. Slave were to be freed every seven years; debts cancelled every seven years and land restored to the original family owner every 50 years. These divine rules and regulations would prevent systems of oppression from becoming deeply entrenched.
Nehemiah 5
To end systems of oppression, repentance and restitution are required.
Luke 3
To fulfill the demands of repentance, John the Baptist pointed to three economic sins.
Luke 4:18
When there are oppressed poor in a society, there are also rich oppressors. In Luke, most of the rich oppressors came from the religious rich. See Luke 1:53; 3:10-14; 8:14; 12:13-14; 6:24; 11:39-42; 16:13-14; 18:22-24; 19:8; 19:45-46. When Jesus said "Woe to the rich" he had the religious rich in mind. When Jesus called the temple "a den of robbers" he had religious robbers in mind.
Acts 4:32-35
With the above strong words about rich religious oppressors in mind, Acts 4:32-35 makes more sense. Some of these religious rich repented and engaged in restitution by selling surplus houses and land so that the poor could have food to eat. Most of the Palestine population was dirt poor, poor or working poor.
Luke 4:18-19
Back to Luke 4. The Message says: "This is God's [Jubilee] year to act." On behalf of the many oppressed poor, now is the time for the church to implement the Jubilee. The kingdom is to be implemented now, not some time in the distant future.
Luke 4:18-19 is a bold call for a kingdom of God revolution. Only a revolutionary kingdom of God message of Jubilee justice could "set the burdened and battered free." When Jesus finished reading from the Isaiah 61 scroll, he explained, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
American church, now is the time for you to join the revolution. Leave far behind your long established ethnocentrism and economic oppression, your endless neglect of justice. Engage in justice, reconcile with your ethnic neighbors. Your guide can be John M. Perkins, the black third grade dropout from Mississippi.
John Perkins was born dirt poor in segregated Mississippi in 1930. A person John's age would have lived under severe segregation, only a few notches above slavery. So he knew from bitter personal experience what ethnocentrism, oppression and poverty were all about.
At that time in Mississippi, most blacks and whites went to church every Sunday. But Mississippi Christianity did little to end poverty and oppression. Poverty, oppression and churchianity coexisted comfortably. Perkins rejected both black and white Christianity as meaningless as a young person.
But around age 25, John Perkins was soundly converted. By 1960, he was preaching the full biblical gospel with the zeal of an apostle Paul to his own people in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Though limited in formal education, John was brilliant and energetic; he was soon doing three fulltime jobs--evangelist/pastor, community developer and civil rights leader.
He preached both John 3:16 and Luke 4:18-19. He lived among and ministered to the poor for the next 50 years. He reconciled black and white and he rebuilt poor communities. In addition, he authored, co-authored or edited 15 books and received 12 honorary doctorates. He understood and practiced the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice as few Americans have. I recommend that you sit at his feet and become his disciple. CCDA, an organization that he founded, could be of enormous assistance to you and your church.
The NT kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the poor and oppressed makes little sense unless one understand the OT Sabbath Year and Jubilee Year economics. Slave were to be freed every seven years; debts cancelled every seven years and land restored to the original family owner every 50 years. These divine rules and regulations would prevent systems of oppression from becoming deeply entrenched.
Nehemiah 5
To end systems of oppression, repentance and restitution are required.
Luke 3
To fulfill the demands of repentance, John the Baptist pointed to three economic sins.
Luke 4:18
When there are oppressed poor in a society, there are also rich oppressors. In Luke, most of the rich oppressors came from the religious rich. See Luke 1:53; 3:10-14; 8:14; 12:13-14; 6:24; 11:39-42; 16:13-14; 18:22-24; 19:8; 19:45-46. When Jesus said "Woe to the rich" he had the religious rich in mind. When Jesus called the temple "a den of robbers" he had religious robbers in mind.
Acts 4:32-35
With the above strong words about rich religious oppressors in mind, Acts 4:32-35 makes more sense. Some of these religious rich repented and engaged in restitution by selling surplus houses and land so that the poor could have food to eat. Most of the Palestine population was dirt poor, poor or working poor.
Luke 4:18-19
Back to Luke 4. The Message says: "This is God's [Jubilee] year to act." On behalf of the many oppressed poor, now is the time for the church to implement the Jubilee. The kingdom is to be implemented now, not some time in the distant future.
Luke 4:18-19 is a bold call for a kingdom of God revolution. Only a revolutionary kingdom of God message of Jubilee justice could "set the burdened and battered free." When Jesus finished reading from the Isaiah 61 scroll, he explained, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
American church, now is the time for you to join the revolution. Leave far behind your long established ethnocentrism and economic oppression, your endless neglect of justice. Engage in justice, reconcile with your ethnic neighbors. Your guide can be John M. Perkins, the black third grade dropout from Mississippi.
John Perkins was born dirt poor in segregated Mississippi in 1930. A person John's age would have lived under severe segregation, only a few notches above slavery. So he knew from bitter personal experience what ethnocentrism, oppression and poverty were all about.
At that time in Mississippi, most blacks and whites went to church every Sunday. But Mississippi Christianity did little to end poverty and oppression. Poverty, oppression and churchianity coexisted comfortably. Perkins rejected both black and white Christianity as meaningless as a young person.
But around age 25, John Perkins was soundly converted. By 1960, he was preaching the full biblical gospel with the zeal of an apostle Paul to his own people in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Though limited in formal education, John was brilliant and energetic; he was soon doing three fulltime jobs--evangelist/pastor, community developer and civil rights leader.
He preached both John 3:16 and Luke 4:18-19. He lived among and ministered to the poor for the next 50 years. He reconciled black and white and he rebuilt poor communities. In addition, he authored, co-authored or edited 15 books and received 12 honorary doctorates. He understood and practiced the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice as few Americans have. I recommend that you sit at his feet and become his disciple. CCDA, an organization that he founded, could be of enormous assistance to you and your church.
Chapter 14 From Ethnocentrism to Reconciliation
From Ethnocentrism to Reconciliation
Luke 4:25-30
Jesus gives a fresh and different interpretation to two familiar OT stories---Elijah feeding a starving widow and Elisha healing a leper. Elijah walked right by starving Hebrew widows and then ministered to a starving Gentile widow. Elisha walked right by Hebrew lepers on his way to heal a Gentile leper.
At this time, Jews had moved from being a servant chosen people to being a superior chosen people---a touch arrogant and self-righteous. They were ethnocentric in their attitudes and action toward the despised and unclean Gentiles. So when Jesus told these stories in a way that showed God loved the Gentiles equally, the ethnocentric Nazareth Jews were enraged and tried to kill Jesus on the spot. The Jews had turned God into their own private God.
These Nazareth Jews were "church going folk" who read the divine Scriptures every Sunday. In this incident, they not only had divine revelation but also divine interpretation in the person of Jesus. They rejected both; they preferred their own heresy instead.
Most whites in America have also rejected part of the divine revelation. Instead, they believe that are God's chosen people---chosen to set up a Christian nation; thereby all non-whites are Canaanites, and they can be destroyed if they stand in the way of setting up a Christian nation. This distorted and demonic logic is totally false, but if followed to its logical conclusion, we end up with this---white oppressors are the good guys and the evil and dysfunctional oppressed are the bad guys. White superiority and privilege becomes good, normal, not sinful, evil.
Luke 9:51-56
Again, the religious folk blew it and blew it badly. At the beginning of chapter nine, Jesus gave his disciples his power and authority to preach the kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons. Pretty impressive! But before the chapter was over, his ethnocentric disciples almost committed mass murder in God's name. They wanted to misuse God's power to maintain their superiority and punish the inferior Samaritans. Could it be that misguided theists are more dangerous than atheists?
On his way from Galilee to Judea, Jesus and his disciples had to cross Samaria. This meant they had to stay overnight in a Samaritan village. This village didn't want any Jews so they refused. This incensed Jesus' disciples so they asked Jesus permission to call fire down from heaven to destroy the village, men, women and children. Jesus not only refused, he rebuked his disciples for making this evil ethnocentric request. A few verses earlier, Jesus had rebuked an evil spirit. The disciples' ethnocentric spirit was as bad as an evil spirit.
But a master teacher never ends with a rebuke. So in the next chapter, we find the remarkable story of the Good Samaritan. Parable or true story, I am not sure, but it sure has the ring of a true story. One of those supposedly evil Samaritans becomes the good guy. He compassionately tends the wounds of a beaten and battered Jew. A Samaritan who loves neighbor, his enemy.
Acts 1:8
The Spirit-filled church is ordered to cross religious, social and cultural barriers to carry the good news of the kingdom. Samaritans and Gentiles are included. For several years, the church of Acts refused to obey this divine order. Finally, it took a persecution to drive Philip into Samaria to preach the good news of the kingdom and of Jesus, the Christ. It took a dramatic conversion to turn the rabid Jew Saul into a missionary to the Gentiles. And it took a vision to demolish Peter's ethnocentrism and turn him into a missionary to the Gentiles.
But even so ethnocentrism often reared its ugly head in the NT church.
Ephesians chapter 2
Paul, in blunt terms, states that the cross is the basis for both personal and social reconciliation, that Jesus died to break down the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, that both were to be integrated in the church. The American church has excelled in preaching personal reconciliation, but it has largely failed to preach and practice social reconciliation. Far too often evil ethnocentrism has prevailed. Who will rebuke the American church and show it the more excellent way?
Luke 4:25-30
Jesus gives a fresh and different interpretation to two familiar OT stories---Elijah feeding a starving widow and Elisha healing a leper. Elijah walked right by starving Hebrew widows and then ministered to a starving Gentile widow. Elisha walked right by Hebrew lepers on his way to heal a Gentile leper.
At this time, Jews had moved from being a servant chosen people to being a superior chosen people---a touch arrogant and self-righteous. They were ethnocentric in their attitudes and action toward the despised and unclean Gentiles. So when Jesus told these stories in a way that showed God loved the Gentiles equally, the ethnocentric Nazareth Jews were enraged and tried to kill Jesus on the spot. The Jews had turned God into their own private God.
These Nazareth Jews were "church going folk" who read the divine Scriptures every Sunday. In this incident, they not only had divine revelation but also divine interpretation in the person of Jesus. They rejected both; they preferred their own heresy instead.
Most whites in America have also rejected part of the divine revelation. Instead, they believe that are God's chosen people---chosen to set up a Christian nation; thereby all non-whites are Canaanites, and they can be destroyed if they stand in the way of setting up a Christian nation. This distorted and demonic logic is totally false, but if followed to its logical conclusion, we end up with this---white oppressors are the good guys and the evil and dysfunctional oppressed are the bad guys. White superiority and privilege becomes good, normal, not sinful, evil.
Luke 9:51-56
Again, the religious folk blew it and blew it badly. At the beginning of chapter nine, Jesus gave his disciples his power and authority to preach the kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons. Pretty impressive! But before the chapter was over, his ethnocentric disciples almost committed mass murder in God's name. They wanted to misuse God's power to maintain their superiority and punish the inferior Samaritans. Could it be that misguided theists are more dangerous than atheists?
On his way from Galilee to Judea, Jesus and his disciples had to cross Samaria. This meant they had to stay overnight in a Samaritan village. This village didn't want any Jews so they refused. This incensed Jesus' disciples so they asked Jesus permission to call fire down from heaven to destroy the village, men, women and children. Jesus not only refused, he rebuked his disciples for making this evil ethnocentric request. A few verses earlier, Jesus had rebuked an evil spirit. The disciples' ethnocentric spirit was as bad as an evil spirit.
But a master teacher never ends with a rebuke. So in the next chapter, we find the remarkable story of the Good Samaritan. Parable or true story, I am not sure, but it sure has the ring of a true story. One of those supposedly evil Samaritans becomes the good guy. He compassionately tends the wounds of a beaten and battered Jew. A Samaritan who loves neighbor, his enemy.
Acts 1:8
The Spirit-filled church is ordered to cross religious, social and cultural barriers to carry the good news of the kingdom. Samaritans and Gentiles are included. For several years, the church of Acts refused to obey this divine order. Finally, it took a persecution to drive Philip into Samaria to preach the good news of the kingdom and of Jesus, the Christ. It took a dramatic conversion to turn the rabid Jew Saul into a missionary to the Gentiles. And it took a vision to demolish Peter's ethnocentrism and turn him into a missionary to the Gentiles.
But even so ethnocentrism often reared its ugly head in the NT church.
Ephesians chapter 2
Paul, in blunt terms, states that the cross is the basis for both personal and social reconciliation, that Jesus died to break down the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, that both were to be integrated in the church. The American church has excelled in preaching personal reconciliation, but it has largely failed to preach and practice social reconciliation. Far too often evil ethnocentrism has prevailed. Who will rebuke the American church and show it the more excellent way?
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
God of Justice needs Three More Chapters
Assuming that you are using the fine book God of Justice in a study group. I would like to add three more chapters to the twelve in the book. God of Justice is strong on the OT but only fair on justice in the NT. As Wolterstorff asserts, all English translations have been dejusticized; in the KJV, there is not a single reference to justice in the NT. The NIV has only 16 references whereas Spanish, French, Portugese, Italian, Latin translations of the NT have around 100 references to justice. German translations though not as good as Romance language translations are far superior to English translations.
Also American theology is weak on the biblical teaching on oppression and the kingdom of God. So I will try to fill in the gaps with my three additional chapters.
Chapter 13 A Two-pronged, Holistic Gospel
Before you read to your group Acts 8:12; 28:23, 28:31, before you make any comments whatsoever to bias the definitions, ask each student to write down a one sentence definition of the kingdom of God. Without comment, ask participant to read her or his definition out loud; it is important for each member of the class to hear other definitions.
I have done this exercise with hundreds of persons over the years from many different denominations, with blacks and whites, young and old, with the same results. Nine out of ten create shallow, superficial, imprecise definitions of one of the most important concepts in the NT; most definitions are spiritual and future oriented; seldom have a strong present and social emphasis.
Next step. Hand out a copy of the Messianic passages---9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
Then ask each participant to rewrite their definition of the kingdom of God based solely on these passages. Again have the definitions read aloud to the class. Compare and discuss the definitions. Then compare the first and second definitions.
Back to the Scriptures from Acts 8:12; 28:23; 28:31 where Philip summarizes the gospel he was preaching to the Samaritans, Paul was summarizing the gospel he was preaching to the Jews in Rome; and then the gospel he preached to the Gentiles. Most American churches do quite well on the Jesus Christ half of the gospel---the cross and resurrection, justification by grace and faith. But these same churches are weak in the kingdom of God gospel; seldom do they preach and practice the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Next some comments based on my short review of the book The Soul of Hip Hop by Hodge. The best of Hip Hop music---there is the best and the worst---is a scream about oppression and an intense desire for justice. Oppression hurts deeply so it is only human to cry out. In Exodus, we hear the Hebrew slaves crying out to God for deliverance from their endless and ruthless oppression.
Hip Hop is sometimes a vulgar scream. White evangelicals too often hear the vulgar part, but seem to miss the oppression part of the scream. Black urban youth scream about their oppression; white evangelicals are silent about urban oppression. Is it because of ignorance, of guilt, of neglect of justice and the love of God?
Are evangelicals spiritually deaf? Do they deliberately close their ears to the scream? Do they misinterpret the scream because they are biblically illiterate about oppression and justice? Are they a part of the system of oppression? Does biblical illiteracy lead to social illiteracy? Is the evangelical silence and inaction on urban oppression more obscene than the vulgar urban scream?
Craig Detweiler says: "Daniel White Hodge engages in deep listening, hearing the authentic cry for justice inherent in Hip Hop?"
It is somewhat understandable why remote suburban white evangelicals might misinterpret the scream and call it evil, but it also seems that much of the institutional black church, even many located in the ghetto, also miss the authentic cry for justice. Does all of American Christianity have some fundamental biblical flaws?
Michelle Alexander in her 2010 book, The New Jim Crow, states that civil rights organizations are missing the boat; they are engaging is trickle-down justice. They have not yet understood the magnitude of the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Latino males. They recognize the continuing racial bias in the criminal justice system, but not that it is a new racial caste system, a new system of oppression akin to slavery and segregation.
Few people in America are listening deeply, it seems. Most religious folk talk before they listen; they offer solutions before they understand the problem. Do our seminaries teach people how to listen to God, but not how to listen for the cries of the oppressed? If whites talk before they listen, whites will usually blame the oppressed victim, not focus on releasing the oppressed. Whites are quick to blame, slow to understand, slow to release.
Another true story. My wife and I lived in West Jackson for 15 years. In West Jackson, now almost entirely black, was a roughly 12 square block area bounded by Robinson, Rose, the Parkway and Prentiss. Sometimes I would conduct a tour of this area in silence. I would ask each person to observe; then report their observations at the end of the tour.
This was a deteriorating area with some shotgun houses (poor shacks) dominated by three black churches in good condition. No one got the point---the hallowed halls were well maintained but they were surrounded by mostly poor housing.
Just to the east of Rose was a solution---Habitat for Humanity; twelve houses built for the poor. None of the three churches copied this nearby model.
None of the persons on the various tours I conducted including a Perkins Center board member, Perkins Center staff, visitors from out-of-town, understood what was going on. A John 3:16 gospel was divorced from a Luke 4:18-19 gospel, a Kingdom gospel.
Chapter 14---From Ethnocentrism to Reconciliation---coming next.
Also American theology is weak on the biblical teaching on oppression and the kingdom of God. So I will try to fill in the gaps with my three additional chapters.
Chapter 13 A Two-pronged, Holistic Gospel
Before you read to your group Acts 8:12; 28:23, 28:31, before you make any comments whatsoever to bias the definitions, ask each student to write down a one sentence definition of the kingdom of God. Without comment, ask participant to read her or his definition out loud; it is important for each member of the class to hear other definitions.
I have done this exercise with hundreds of persons over the years from many different denominations, with blacks and whites, young and old, with the same results. Nine out of ten create shallow, superficial, imprecise definitions of one of the most important concepts in the NT; most definitions are spiritual and future oriented; seldom have a strong present and social emphasis.
Next step. Hand out a copy of the Messianic passages---9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.
Then ask each participant to rewrite their definition of the kingdom of God based solely on these passages. Again have the definitions read aloud to the class. Compare and discuss the definitions. Then compare the first and second definitions.
Back to the Scriptures from Acts 8:12; 28:23; 28:31 where Philip summarizes the gospel he was preaching to the Samaritans, Paul was summarizing the gospel he was preaching to the Jews in Rome; and then the gospel he preached to the Gentiles. Most American churches do quite well on the Jesus Christ half of the gospel---the cross and resurrection, justification by grace and faith. But these same churches are weak in the kingdom of God gospel; seldom do they preach and practice the kingdom of God as Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor.
Next some comments based on my short review of the book The Soul of Hip Hop by Hodge. The best of Hip Hop music---there is the best and the worst---is a scream about oppression and an intense desire for justice. Oppression hurts deeply so it is only human to cry out. In Exodus, we hear the Hebrew slaves crying out to God for deliverance from their endless and ruthless oppression.
Hip Hop is sometimes a vulgar scream. White evangelicals too often hear the vulgar part, but seem to miss the oppression part of the scream. Black urban youth scream about their oppression; white evangelicals are silent about urban oppression. Is it because of ignorance, of guilt, of neglect of justice and the love of God?
Are evangelicals spiritually deaf? Do they deliberately close their ears to the scream? Do they misinterpret the scream because they are biblically illiterate about oppression and justice? Are they a part of the system of oppression? Does biblical illiteracy lead to social illiteracy? Is the evangelical silence and inaction on urban oppression more obscene than the vulgar urban scream?
Craig Detweiler says: "Daniel White Hodge engages in deep listening, hearing the authentic cry for justice inherent in Hip Hop?"
It is somewhat understandable why remote suburban white evangelicals might misinterpret the scream and call it evil, but it also seems that much of the institutional black church, even many located in the ghetto, also miss the authentic cry for justice. Does all of American Christianity have some fundamental biblical flaws?
Michelle Alexander in her 2010 book, The New Jim Crow, states that civil rights organizations are missing the boat; they are engaging is trickle-down justice. They have not yet understood the magnitude of the unjust mass incarceration of young black and Latino males. They recognize the continuing racial bias in the criminal justice system, but not that it is a new racial caste system, a new system of oppression akin to slavery and segregation.
Few people in America are listening deeply, it seems. Most religious folk talk before they listen; they offer solutions before they understand the problem. Do our seminaries teach people how to listen to God, but not how to listen for the cries of the oppressed? If whites talk before they listen, whites will usually blame the oppressed victim, not focus on releasing the oppressed. Whites are quick to blame, slow to understand, slow to release.
Another true story. My wife and I lived in West Jackson for 15 years. In West Jackson, now almost entirely black, was a roughly 12 square block area bounded by Robinson, Rose, the Parkway and Prentiss. Sometimes I would conduct a tour of this area in silence. I would ask each person to observe; then report their observations at the end of the tour.
This was a deteriorating area with some shotgun houses (poor shacks) dominated by three black churches in good condition. No one got the point---the hallowed halls were well maintained but they were surrounded by mostly poor housing.
Just to the east of Rose was a solution---Habitat for Humanity; twelve houses built for the poor. None of the three churches copied this nearby model.
None of the persons on the various tours I conducted including a Perkins Center board member, Perkins Center staff, visitors from out-of-town, understood what was going on. A John 3:16 gospel was divorced from a Luke 4:18-19 gospel, a Kingdom gospel.
Chapter 14---From Ethnocentrism to Reconciliation---coming next.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Black Lives Matter demands justice
Black Lives Matter wants respect and justice; the white church generally neglects biblical justice and thereby the love of God. I recommend that my fellow white Christians read two books on biblical justice. A new 2016 book titled The Justice Calling by two women who practice what they preach. Also an older 1974 book titled Marx and the Bible by a Spanish speaking Catholic priest; this book should have been more accurately titled Justice and Injustice in the Bible.
This review will focus on the book by Jose Miranda. Writing from a Latin American perspective, Miranda notes that Latin Christianity is "an effective ally of so many structures of economic, social, and political oppression." Blacks and Native Americans would say much the same about American Christianity. Miranda adds: "The philosophy of oppression, perfected and refined through civilization as a true culture of injustice, does not achieve its greatest triumph when its propagandists knowingly inculcate it; rather the triumph is achieved when this philosophy has become so deeply rooted in the spirits of the oppressors themselves and their ideologies that they are not even aware of their guilt." In other words, their systems of oppression seem natural, normal, even right; this is true of most white Americans.
Miranda writes about the biblical limits of private land ownership. "The right of all men to USE the goods of the earth for their sustenance [comes] prior to the right of ownership." He refers to the church father Jerome who said, "for all riches come from injustice." Luke 6:24 and 16:9 go together: "Woe to the rich. . . . and the money of injustice."
Miranda's book Marx and the Bible was originally written in Spanish and then translated into English. Therefore, as one reads Romans you find many more references to justice and injustice: Roman 1:18ff "the injustices of men who by their injustice are suppressing the truth." In a typical English translation of the Bible, one might find justice 125-135 times whereas in a Spanish or Latin translation around 400 times.
Miranda comments: "But frankly I do not see how there can be an authentic compassion for the oppressed without there being at the same time indignation against the oppressor." "A God who is accessible only in the act of justice." "First justice, then worship."
From I John: "Everyone who does justice is born of him." 2:29. "Everyone who loves is born of God." 4:7.
Miranda: "One of the most disastrous errors in the history of Christianity is to have tried---under the influence of Greek definitions---to differentiate between love and justice. Love is not love without a passion for justice." "Love without justice is only charity and often paternalism."
Miranda prefers that dikaiosyne be translated as justice, not righteousness. A justice that gives priority to the oppressed, the poor, the widow, the orphan.
The action of fair and just judgments produce justice for the oppressed poor--the result. Or justice actions save from oppression. What is judgment? "to save the world from the oppression of the unjust."
"The New Testament understands the entire Law and the Prophets as pure and implacable; love your neighbor automatically includes justice."
I have only scratched the surface of a treasure trove of the biblical teaching on justice. Please read Miranda.
This review will focus on the book by Jose Miranda. Writing from a Latin American perspective, Miranda notes that Latin Christianity is "an effective ally of so many structures of economic, social, and political oppression." Blacks and Native Americans would say much the same about American Christianity. Miranda adds: "The philosophy of oppression, perfected and refined through civilization as a true culture of injustice, does not achieve its greatest triumph when its propagandists knowingly inculcate it; rather the triumph is achieved when this philosophy has become so deeply rooted in the spirits of the oppressors themselves and their ideologies that they are not even aware of their guilt." In other words, their systems of oppression seem natural, normal, even right; this is true of most white Americans.
Miranda writes about the biblical limits of private land ownership. "The right of all men to USE the goods of the earth for their sustenance [comes] prior to the right of ownership." He refers to the church father Jerome who said, "for all riches come from injustice." Luke 6:24 and 16:9 go together: "Woe to the rich. . . . and the money of injustice."
Miranda's book Marx and the Bible was originally written in Spanish and then translated into English. Therefore, as one reads Romans you find many more references to justice and injustice: Roman 1:18ff "the injustices of men who by their injustice are suppressing the truth." In a typical English translation of the Bible, one might find justice 125-135 times whereas in a Spanish or Latin translation around 400 times.
Miranda comments: "But frankly I do not see how there can be an authentic compassion for the oppressed without there being at the same time indignation against the oppressor." "A God who is accessible only in the act of justice." "First justice, then worship."
From I John: "Everyone who does justice is born of him." 2:29. "Everyone who loves is born of God." 4:7.
Miranda: "One of the most disastrous errors in the history of Christianity is to have tried---under the influence of Greek definitions---to differentiate between love and justice. Love is not love without a passion for justice." "Love without justice is only charity and often paternalism."
Miranda prefers that dikaiosyne be translated as justice, not righteousness. A justice that gives priority to the oppressed, the poor, the widow, the orphan.
The action of fair and just judgments produce justice for the oppressed poor--the result. Or justice actions save from oppression. What is judgment? "to save the world from the oppression of the unjust."
"The New Testament understands the entire Law and the Prophets as pure and implacable; love your neighbor automatically includes justice."
I have only scratched the surface of a treasure trove of the biblical teaching on justice. Please read Miranda.
Black Lives will matter only if Whites Repent
Black Lives will matter only if white Christians/churches do three things:
1. confess our national social evils such as ethnocentrism and oppression; see Daniel 9 for a model prayer.
2. engage in a large-scale, Nineveh-like repentance; see Jonah 2 for a model repentance.
3. engage in a large-scale, Nehemiah-like restitution: see Nehemiah 5 for a model restitution.
The chances of this happening are small. The historical record of 400 years is one of unending ethnocentrism and oppression. At times, during the abolitionist and civil rights movements, it seemed like fundamental change had occurred. But history shows us that systems of oppression were not really ended, only redesigned. As a nation, we have moved from slavery to segregation/sharecropping/prison gangs/lynching; then to mass incarceration and the racial wealth gap which prevail today.
Assyria/Nineveh was an exceedingly evil and violent nation, imperialistic and cruel. Nineveh repented from top to bottom, from the inside out. America has also been and exceedingly violent, evil and imperialistic nation for 400 years. The primary targets have been and still are Native Americans and Afro Americans.
9/11 was an opportune time for national repentance over our financial and military imperialism; instead we defiantly and arrogantly sang God Bless America on the Capitol steps. The 2008 Recession was another time of judgment, another opportune time for national repentance.; instead the Federal Reserve System became our financial god.
The BLM protests are necessary to expose our social evils; but only white repentance and restitution will bring about respect and justice for blacks. But most self-righteous whites do not repent. Instead white oppressors put the focus on the flaws, the dysfunction of blacks. They blame the victims of oppression---they are inferior, the dysfunctional ones.
And most whites, even Christian ones. believe their distorted ideology. Whites are the good guys, the righteous and godly people. A clever cover for continuing white superiority and privilege.
1. confess our national social evils such as ethnocentrism and oppression; see Daniel 9 for a model prayer.
2. engage in a large-scale, Nineveh-like repentance; see Jonah 2 for a model repentance.
3. engage in a large-scale, Nehemiah-like restitution: see Nehemiah 5 for a model restitution.
The chances of this happening are small. The historical record of 400 years is one of unending ethnocentrism and oppression. At times, during the abolitionist and civil rights movements, it seemed like fundamental change had occurred. But history shows us that systems of oppression were not really ended, only redesigned. As a nation, we have moved from slavery to segregation/sharecropping/prison gangs/lynching; then to mass incarceration and the racial wealth gap which prevail today.
Assyria/Nineveh was an exceedingly evil and violent nation, imperialistic and cruel. Nineveh repented from top to bottom, from the inside out. America has also been and exceedingly violent, evil and imperialistic nation for 400 years. The primary targets have been and still are Native Americans and Afro Americans.
9/11 was an opportune time for national repentance over our financial and military imperialism; instead we defiantly and arrogantly sang God Bless America on the Capitol steps. The 2008 Recession was another time of judgment, another opportune time for national repentance.; instead the Federal Reserve System became our financial god.
The BLM protests are necessary to expose our social evils; but only white repentance and restitution will bring about respect and justice for blacks. But most self-righteous whites do not repent. Instead white oppressors put the focus on the flaws, the dysfunction of blacks. They blame the victims of oppression---they are inferior, the dysfunctional ones.
And most whites, even Christian ones. believe their distorted ideology. Whites are the good guys, the righteous and godly people. A clever cover for continuing white superiority and privilege.
Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter
To counter the Black Lives Matter movement, some clever white person created the slogan "All Lives Matter." At one level, this statement is true---all of us, black or white, were/are created in the image of God. But given the American historical record, "All Lives Matter" is at best a pious platitude and at worst a "deceitful slogan." (Jeremiah 7, CJB).
In reality, black lives have never mattered in all of American history. Blacks have routinely been crushed, humiliated, animalized, impoverished, enslaved and killed, even though they are created in the image of God. The BLM movement demands full respect and comprehensive justice, something neither the abolitionist movement nor the civil rights movement fully achieved, despite intense efforts.
Do all lives really matter? When people of privilege parrot "All Lives Matter," do they really mean it? Are they busy at doing Jubilee justice? Are they busy at repairing the world? Are the stopping systems of oppression? Are they releasing the oppressed? If not, they should keep their big mouths shut.
In reality, black lives have never mattered in all of American history. Blacks have routinely been crushed, humiliated, animalized, impoverished, enslaved and killed, even though they are created in the image of God. The BLM movement demands full respect and comprehensive justice, something neither the abolitionist movement nor the civil rights movement fully achieved, despite intense efforts.
Do all lives really matter? When people of privilege parrot "All Lives Matter," do they really mean it? Are they busy at doing Jubilee justice? Are they busy at repairing the world? Are the stopping systems of oppression? Are they releasing the oppressed? If not, they should keep their big mouths shut.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
"What Do They Want?" or "Why Did We Fail?"
Do Black Lives Matter in white America? Hell, No! Never have, don't now, never will. Unless the white church leads a massive national repentance that includes restitution and repair. BLM wants respect and justice; most white Christians put their superiority and privilege over respect and justice. So the chances are small that black lives will really matter in white America.
Brian Bantum, black theology professor at SPU, in his brief essay on the BLM movement in the March, 2016, Christian Century, discussed the 2015 BLM protest at a Bernie Sanders rally. Bantum says that his white Christian colleagues asked him this question: "What do they want?"
The "What do they want?" question might have been legitimate coming from an uninformed, ahistorical white college freshman. But coming from brilliant white Christian college professors---50 years after the civil rights movement? The more relevant question would have been: "Why, how did we fail?" 50 years after the civil rights movement the hundreds of Christian colleges and seminaries should have already created a widespread movement grounded in respect and justice for all. The BLM movement should not have been needed, but we failed miserably.
What should white Christian professors do now? Initiate an immediate, massive and unprecedented theological rewrite to make American theology and practice much more biblical. A few suggestions:
1. Rejusticize the English NT. Wolterstorff declares that English translators and theologians have dejusticized the NT. The NEB started the ball rolling by tying the kingdom and justice together in Mt. 6:33 and Rom. 14:17. Now the beautitudes need to be rejusticized: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice." The poor will be blessed only if the church is doing justice. In a society where there is more justice, less charity will be needed.
2. Wesleyans need to complete the Methodist revolution by adding justice to love.
3. Add an indepth biblical analysis of ethnocentrism and oppression in both the Old and New Testaments so we will no longer ask stupid questions such "What do they want?"
4. Remarry the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God; understand that the heart of the kingdom is Jubilee justice for the oppressed. Graham Cray: "The agenda of the kingdom of God is justice; the dynamic of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit."
5. Tie the four ministries of the Holy Spirit together: the Spirit of truth; the kingdom and the Spirit; the fruit of the Spirit (character); the gifts of the Spirit.
If we don't do the above, 50 years from now, we will still be asking the same stupid question: "What do they want?"
Brian Bantum, black theology professor at SPU, in his brief essay on the BLM movement in the March, 2016, Christian Century, discussed the 2015 BLM protest at a Bernie Sanders rally. Bantum says that his white Christian colleagues asked him this question: "What do they want?"
The "What do they want?" question might have been legitimate coming from an uninformed, ahistorical white college freshman. But coming from brilliant white Christian college professors---50 years after the civil rights movement? The more relevant question would have been: "Why, how did we fail?" 50 years after the civil rights movement the hundreds of Christian colleges and seminaries should have already created a widespread movement grounded in respect and justice for all. The BLM movement should not have been needed, but we failed miserably.
What should white Christian professors do now? Initiate an immediate, massive and unprecedented theological rewrite to make American theology and practice much more biblical. A few suggestions:
1. Rejusticize the English NT. Wolterstorff declares that English translators and theologians have dejusticized the NT. The NEB started the ball rolling by tying the kingdom and justice together in Mt. 6:33 and Rom. 14:17. Now the beautitudes need to be rejusticized: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice." The poor will be blessed only if the church is doing justice. In a society where there is more justice, less charity will be needed.
2. Wesleyans need to complete the Methodist revolution by adding justice to love.
3. Add an indepth biblical analysis of ethnocentrism and oppression in both the Old and New Testaments so we will no longer ask stupid questions such "What do they want?"
4. Remarry the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God; understand that the heart of the kingdom is Jubilee justice for the oppressed. Graham Cray: "The agenda of the kingdom of God is justice; the dynamic of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit."
5. Tie the four ministries of the Holy Spirit together: the Spirit of truth; the kingdom and the Spirit; the fruit of the Spirit (character); the gifts of the Spirit.
If we don't do the above, 50 years from now, we will still be asking the same stupid question: "What do they want?"
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Creating Black Americans, 1619-2006
Nell Painter, author of the encyclopedic Creating Black Americans, is a retired (73) Afro American historian. She has a doctorate from Harvard and taught at Princeton. Painter is not only a good scholar, she is a wise scholar of great breadth and brilliance. She has also written the classic book on The History of White People.
A few excerpts from Creating Black Americans:
Chapter 1 Africa and Black Americans
"African cultures may not have survived whole in the New World, but they have left a deep imprint, . . . Confronting racial oppression has been as much [or more] a part of African American experience as the legacy of an African past." There is the hope that "a proud past might offset a humiliating present," but only in part, I am afraid.
Chapter 2 Captives Transported
"Over more than 200 years, the Atlantic slave trade brought more people to the Americas than immigration from Europe and Asia." "Over the course of the 17th century, racial slavery took shape in laws and judicial decisions that by 1680 were defining enslavement in Virginia." A staggering number of slaves were transported---at least 10 million.
Chapter 3 A Diasporic People
"a people scattered far from home and settled among strangers" who oppressed them, stole their lives and labor. "terrors of being oppressed." By 1800, "religion became a crucial fact of African American identity." Christianity offered an alternative to hopelessness. John Wesley in Georgia: the first two persons he baptized were slave women.
Chapter 4 Those Who Were Free
"But the democratic and scientific ideals of the Enlightenment fostered both helpful egalitarianism and the hurtful science (scientific racism) that decreed races as inherently superior and inferior."
"The United States Constitution approached the institution of slavery indirectly by avoiding the words 'slave' or 'slavery' or any racial terminology. The issue was so divisive that dealing with it explicitly risked dooming the union to failure." But the slavery sand in the foundations of America soon led to a destructive Civil War that came close to destroying the nation. Better to have faced the issue at our founding. Most free blacks lived in the North, largely in segregated conditions. In many ways the North was a racist as the South.
Chapter 5 Those Who Were Enslaved
"American slavery was a truly American institution, for the enslaved worked from Maine to Texas."
"Slave supplied the foundation of the American economy in three ways: as a basic commodity in the New-England-West Indies trade, as the workers producing agricultural commodities for the market, and as property. The Atlantic slave trade made many an American fortune."
"Harriet Jacobs, herself the sexual prey of her middle-aged master when she was less than fourteen, summed up slavery's costs to white families: 'I was twenty-one years in that cage of obscene birds. I can testify, from my own experience and observation, that slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks. It makes the white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and licentious; it contaminates the daughters, and makes the wives wretched. And as for the colored race, it needs an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation"
Makes me think I could never trust any ethical statement an American white person would make unless there is whole-hearted repentance; I have seen little of that.
"Yet slaves were so fundamental a part of the American economy, especially the Southern economy, that it took armed conflict to set them legally free."
Chapter 6 Civil War and Emancipation
"The Civil War began with a limited objective: to restore the Union. That war could not be won. Only after the United States, . . . attacked slavery and allowed African Americans into the fight did the United States prevail. Only then did slavery end. But black Americans had to struggle to join the war." But as freed blacks walked off the plantation, they immediately were homeless, foodless and landless; freedom, but no justice.
Chapter 7 The Larger Reconstruction
"Black achievement in the South during the era of Reconstruction was enormous. But every success occurred against a backdrop of intimidation and actual bloodshed. . . . For black people, democracy proved limited and fleeting." "After Reconstruction, the Southern states ran according to the mandates of the elite and championed white supremacy as an excellent means of keeping the poor divided along racial lines."
Epilogue A Snapshot of African Americans in the Early Twenty-First Century
"The clearest gauge of overall well-being is socioeconomic status, although cultural life remains extremely important. The 1990s hear much of the emergence of a black middle class. . . . While more black people than ever before are in the middle class according to income, their family wealth is extremely. The relative lack of family wealth means that African American's middle class stats remains tenuous."
Noble's 2016 update
How precarious that middle class status was was made clear in the 2008 Recession when predatory mortgages hit the black community with devastating impact pushing large numbers into the lower class again. When whites are experiencing a normal economy, the black community experiences a recession due to systems of oppression. When the white community is in a recession, the black community experiences a depression.
A few excerpts from Creating Black Americans:
Chapter 1 Africa and Black Americans
"African cultures may not have survived whole in the New World, but they have left a deep imprint, . . . Confronting racial oppression has been as much [or more] a part of African American experience as the legacy of an African past." There is the hope that "a proud past might offset a humiliating present," but only in part, I am afraid.
Chapter 2 Captives Transported
"Over more than 200 years, the Atlantic slave trade brought more people to the Americas than immigration from Europe and Asia." "Over the course of the 17th century, racial slavery took shape in laws and judicial decisions that by 1680 were defining enslavement in Virginia." A staggering number of slaves were transported---at least 10 million.
Chapter 3 A Diasporic People
"a people scattered far from home and settled among strangers" who oppressed them, stole their lives and labor. "terrors of being oppressed." By 1800, "religion became a crucial fact of African American identity." Christianity offered an alternative to hopelessness. John Wesley in Georgia: the first two persons he baptized were slave women.
Chapter 4 Those Who Were Free
"But the democratic and scientific ideals of the Enlightenment fostered both helpful egalitarianism and the hurtful science (scientific racism) that decreed races as inherently superior and inferior."
"The United States Constitution approached the institution of slavery indirectly by avoiding the words 'slave' or 'slavery' or any racial terminology. The issue was so divisive that dealing with it explicitly risked dooming the union to failure." But the slavery sand in the foundations of America soon led to a destructive Civil War that came close to destroying the nation. Better to have faced the issue at our founding. Most free blacks lived in the North, largely in segregated conditions. In many ways the North was a racist as the South.
Chapter 5 Those Who Were Enslaved
"American slavery was a truly American institution, for the enslaved worked from Maine to Texas."
"Slave supplied the foundation of the American economy in three ways: as a basic commodity in the New-England-West Indies trade, as the workers producing agricultural commodities for the market, and as property. The Atlantic slave trade made many an American fortune."
"Harriet Jacobs, herself the sexual prey of her middle-aged master when she was less than fourteen, summed up slavery's costs to white families: 'I was twenty-one years in that cage of obscene birds. I can testify, from my own experience and observation, that slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks. It makes the white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and licentious; it contaminates the daughters, and makes the wives wretched. And as for the colored race, it needs an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation"
Makes me think I could never trust any ethical statement an American white person would make unless there is whole-hearted repentance; I have seen little of that.
"Yet slaves were so fundamental a part of the American economy, especially the Southern economy, that it took armed conflict to set them legally free."
Chapter 6 Civil War and Emancipation
"The Civil War began with a limited objective: to restore the Union. That war could not be won. Only after the United States, . . . attacked slavery and allowed African Americans into the fight did the United States prevail. Only then did slavery end. But black Americans had to struggle to join the war." But as freed blacks walked off the plantation, they immediately were homeless, foodless and landless; freedom, but no justice.
Chapter 7 The Larger Reconstruction
"Black achievement in the South during the era of Reconstruction was enormous. But every success occurred against a backdrop of intimidation and actual bloodshed. . . . For black people, democracy proved limited and fleeting." "After Reconstruction, the Southern states ran according to the mandates of the elite and championed white supremacy as an excellent means of keeping the poor divided along racial lines."
Epilogue A Snapshot of African Americans in the Early Twenty-First Century
"The clearest gauge of overall well-being is socioeconomic status, although cultural life remains extremely important. The 1990s hear much of the emergence of a black middle class. . . . While more black people than ever before are in the middle class according to income, their family wealth is extremely. The relative lack of family wealth means that African American's middle class stats remains tenuous."
Noble's 2016 update
How precarious that middle class status was was made clear in the 2008 Recession when predatory mortgages hit the black community with devastating impact pushing large numbers into the lower class again. When whites are experiencing a normal economy, the black community experiences a recession due to systems of oppression. When the white community is in a recession, the black community experiences a depression.
The History of White People by Nell Painter
Nell Painter, an Afro American historian, has written another comprehensive masterpiece, The History of White People (2010). Previously (2006) she wrote another masterpiece, Creating Black Americans.
Her thesis is simple: "race is an [false] idea, not a fact." Race is an ideological myth created to legitimate and justify white oppression of blacks---and all non-whites.
Some excerpts from the flyleaf:
"Our story begins in Greek and Roman antiquity, where the concept of race did not exist." For 2000 years, Painter searched the historical record and the concept of race, of white people was not to be found.
"Not until the eighteenth century [late 1700s] did an obsession with whiteness flourish" among the Anglo-Saxons. "Here was a worldview congenial to northern Europeans bent on empire [colonial imperialism]. There followed an explosion of theories of race, now focusing on racial temperament as well as skin color." "So white race was not merely a skin color but also a signal of power, prestige, and beauty to be withheld and granted selectively."
The false concept of race and the tragically real practice of racism has been, in American history, destructive, dangerous, deadly, oppressive and demonic; but whites see themselves as superior; whiteness is next to godliness. (See Edward Blum's review of The History of White People).
Neither the Bible nor history nor biology nor anthropology validate the concept of race. The totally erroneous concept of separate and distinct, superior and inferior races, is a demonic ideology, some would argue a form of idolatry, created to legitimate greedy white oppression. This lie has been repeated again and again so that most whites regard it as gospel truth; it is the new normal, the way things are and are supposed to be.
Ethnicity, separate and distinct cultural groups, is valid---biblically, historically and anthropologically. But ethnocentrism, supposed cultural, national or religious superiority of one group over another, is an evil distortion of an valid concept. Ethnocentrism, widespread historically and cross-culturally, can be every bit as deadly and demonic as white racism. For example, the British ethnocentrism against the Irish (both from the same 'racial' group), led to the mass slaughter and near slavery of the Irish.
The British brought Anglo-Saxon ethnocentrism here to America, but not the concept of race. Race was erroneously invented in the late 1700s; it was added to ethnocentrism creating an extremely perverted and demonic, idolatrous mix. Most white Americans have yet to repent for this sin; they prefer to enjoy white supremacy and white privilege. This is true for most white Christians.
Happy reading; there will be a chance to repent on almost every one of the 496 pages.
Can something be tragically true and hilariously funny at the same time? Try this cartoon from the March 9, 2016 Des Moines Register:
Donald Trump is holding a stone tablet that looks like the Ten Commandments; but the ten commandments title is crossed out and replaced with a To-Do-List. On the to-do-list are idolatry, graven images, false witness, adultery, covet, covet, covet; all are checked off as done. Standing to the side are two white evangelicals; one says "Well . . . At least it shows some familiarity with the concepts."
Her thesis is simple: "race is an [false] idea, not a fact." Race is an ideological myth created to legitimate and justify white oppression of blacks---and all non-whites.
Some excerpts from the flyleaf:
"Our story begins in Greek and Roman antiquity, where the concept of race did not exist." For 2000 years, Painter searched the historical record and the concept of race, of white people was not to be found.
"Not until the eighteenth century [late 1700s] did an obsession with whiteness flourish" among the Anglo-Saxons. "Here was a worldview congenial to northern Europeans bent on empire [colonial imperialism]. There followed an explosion of theories of race, now focusing on racial temperament as well as skin color." "So white race was not merely a skin color but also a signal of power, prestige, and beauty to be withheld and granted selectively."
The false concept of race and the tragically real practice of racism has been, in American history, destructive, dangerous, deadly, oppressive and demonic; but whites see themselves as superior; whiteness is next to godliness. (See Edward Blum's review of The History of White People).
Neither the Bible nor history nor biology nor anthropology validate the concept of race. The totally erroneous concept of separate and distinct, superior and inferior races, is a demonic ideology, some would argue a form of idolatry, created to legitimate greedy white oppression. This lie has been repeated again and again so that most whites regard it as gospel truth; it is the new normal, the way things are and are supposed to be.
Ethnicity, separate and distinct cultural groups, is valid---biblically, historically and anthropologically. But ethnocentrism, supposed cultural, national or religious superiority of one group over another, is an evil distortion of an valid concept. Ethnocentrism, widespread historically and cross-culturally, can be every bit as deadly and demonic as white racism. For example, the British ethnocentrism against the Irish (both from the same 'racial' group), led to the mass slaughter and near slavery of the Irish.
The British brought Anglo-Saxon ethnocentrism here to America, but not the concept of race. Race was erroneously invented in the late 1700s; it was added to ethnocentrism creating an extremely perverted and demonic, idolatrous mix. Most white Americans have yet to repent for this sin; they prefer to enjoy white supremacy and white privilege. This is true for most white Christians.
Happy reading; there will be a chance to repent on almost every one of the 496 pages.
Can something be tragically true and hilariously funny at the same time? Try this cartoon from the March 9, 2016 Des Moines Register:
Donald Trump is holding a stone tablet that looks like the Ten Commandments; but the ten commandments title is crossed out and replaced with a To-Do-List. On the to-do-list are idolatry, graven images, false witness, adultery, covet, covet, covet; all are checked off as done. Standing to the side are two white evangelicals; one says "Well . . . At least it shows some familiarity with the concepts."
Black Lives Matter; excerpts from March, Christian Century
Seven scholars, five black and two white, in seven short essays, comment on the Black Lives Matter movement; see the March 2016, Christian Century, for the full essays from the seven scholars.
1. Reggie L. Williams
"Whether the phrase was 'freedom now,' "black is beautiful,' 'black power,' or "black lives matter,' historically they've referred to the same goal of liberation [from oppression]. The slogans are permutations of the enduring struggle against white supremacy. That struggle is not against the police, but it does address a racist, classist legal system."
"Black humanity has remained suspect in the imagination in the imagination of a 'world that looks on with amused contempt and pity' (Du Bois). . . . Race logic made a profit-based distinction between black flesh and white humanity."
2. Anthea D. Butler
BLM "is a marked improvement over the 'racial reconciliation' movements of the 1990s which did not push forward the conversation on race or act significantly to eradicate racism. . . . Putting up [BLM] signs is good. Talking to one another about racism is better. [Implementing Jubilee justice is best---Noble]."
3. Brian Bantum
"In the summer of 2015 [in Seattle], two Black Lives Matter activists disrupted a Bernie Sanders rally. The largely white crowd began to boo, hurling racial epithets. . . . My colleagues, especially white [Christian professor] colleagues, expressed bewilderment about the event. 'What do they want?' was the question I found myself repeatedly answering in the days after."
"BLM is an ethic, a way of being that displays its humanity and demands that that humanity be recognized. This means transformation of laws, policing, economics, and social policies. But it also means an unwavering refusal to allow white supremacy to dictate the terms of what is good for us."
4. Brittney Cooper
"One of the striking things for me on a bus ride to Ferguson with young [BLM] activists was the number of people who were not only Christians but ministers with theological training and significant backgrounds in ministry. Many of these activists also identified as queer. In that moment, I was forced to rethink my ideas about who and what the church is, and about the variety of creative ways that God might show up in the movement." Supposedly numbers of the leaders of BLM movement are gay, secular and black.
"Meanwhile, the movement has issued a clarion call to the church, the black church in particular, to affirm a theology of resistance rather than a theology of respectability."
"Young activists frequently say, 'The whole damn system is guilty as hell!' The church is part of that system. The church---and we are the church---must stand up and proclaim without equivocation, "Black Lives Matter!"
5. Jennifer Harvey
BLM ritual chant: "It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win!" "Atrocities in U.S. criminal justice systems are a major focus. . . . Ultimately, every aspect of U.S. social life (education, economics, unemployment) is a viable target for this movement because the goal is black freedom, everywhere." "In unapologetically rooting itself in black love for black life and black commitment to black freedom, the movement has thrown down a gauntlet to white Americans. This gauntlet lies particularly close to the feet of white Christians who would claim to believe that we're called to follow Jesus and that Jesus' ministry had something to do with announcing 'good news to the poor and setting free the oppressed.'" (Luke 4:18).
6. Gary Dorrien
"black lives have never mattered in much of white America. . . . has put church leaders on the defensive. Black Lives Matter is harshly critical of everything smacking of respectability politics. . . . The new black freedom movement has created a new generation of defiant activist leaders bent on breaking white supremacy. . . . . " There is also a surge in interfaith organizing. PICO is surging. IAF remains the leading force in interfaith organizing. Gamaliel is strong here and there. DART is training community organizers. Interfaith Worker Justice has made the transition to its second generation.
A comment by Noble: No one has tied BLM to MLK's speech that I have dubbed his "I Live A Nightmare" speech, one of his last speeches. See Martin and Malcolm in America by James Cone.
The next blog on BLM is entitled "What do they want?" or "Why did we fail?"
1. Reggie L. Williams
"Whether the phrase was 'freedom now,' "black is beautiful,' 'black power,' or "black lives matter,' historically they've referred to the same goal of liberation [from oppression]. The slogans are permutations of the enduring struggle against white supremacy. That struggle is not against the police, but it does address a racist, classist legal system."
"Black humanity has remained suspect in the imagination in the imagination of a 'world that looks on with amused contempt and pity' (Du Bois). . . . Race logic made a profit-based distinction between black flesh and white humanity."
2. Anthea D. Butler
BLM "is a marked improvement over the 'racial reconciliation' movements of the 1990s which did not push forward the conversation on race or act significantly to eradicate racism. . . . Putting up [BLM] signs is good. Talking to one another about racism is better. [Implementing Jubilee justice is best---Noble]."
3. Brian Bantum
"In the summer of 2015 [in Seattle], two Black Lives Matter activists disrupted a Bernie Sanders rally. The largely white crowd began to boo, hurling racial epithets. . . . My colleagues, especially white [Christian professor] colleagues, expressed bewilderment about the event. 'What do they want?' was the question I found myself repeatedly answering in the days after."
"BLM is an ethic, a way of being that displays its humanity and demands that that humanity be recognized. This means transformation of laws, policing, economics, and social policies. But it also means an unwavering refusal to allow white supremacy to dictate the terms of what is good for us."
4. Brittney Cooper
"One of the striking things for me on a bus ride to Ferguson with young [BLM] activists was the number of people who were not only Christians but ministers with theological training and significant backgrounds in ministry. Many of these activists also identified as queer. In that moment, I was forced to rethink my ideas about who and what the church is, and about the variety of creative ways that God might show up in the movement." Supposedly numbers of the leaders of BLM movement are gay, secular and black.
"Meanwhile, the movement has issued a clarion call to the church, the black church in particular, to affirm a theology of resistance rather than a theology of respectability."
"Young activists frequently say, 'The whole damn system is guilty as hell!' The church is part of that system. The church---and we are the church---must stand up and proclaim without equivocation, "Black Lives Matter!"
5. Jennifer Harvey
BLM ritual chant: "It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win!" "Atrocities in U.S. criminal justice systems are a major focus. . . . Ultimately, every aspect of U.S. social life (education, economics, unemployment) is a viable target for this movement because the goal is black freedom, everywhere." "In unapologetically rooting itself in black love for black life and black commitment to black freedom, the movement has thrown down a gauntlet to white Americans. This gauntlet lies particularly close to the feet of white Christians who would claim to believe that we're called to follow Jesus and that Jesus' ministry had something to do with announcing 'good news to the poor and setting free the oppressed.'" (Luke 4:18).
6. Gary Dorrien
"black lives have never mattered in much of white America. . . . has put church leaders on the defensive. Black Lives Matter is harshly critical of everything smacking of respectability politics. . . . The new black freedom movement has created a new generation of defiant activist leaders bent on breaking white supremacy. . . . . " There is also a surge in interfaith organizing. PICO is surging. IAF remains the leading force in interfaith organizing. Gamaliel is strong here and there. DART is training community organizers. Interfaith Worker Justice has made the transition to its second generation.
A comment by Noble: No one has tied BLM to MLK's speech that I have dubbed his "I Live A Nightmare" speech, one of his last speeches. See Martin and Malcolm in America by James Cone.
The next blog on BLM is entitled "What do they want?" or "Why did we fail?"
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