"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?"