Are you and your church prophetic? Are you stopping oppression and doing justice?
See the January 2018 Sojourners magazine for an article titled, "relentless hope: prophetic imagination in a time of despair." by Kenyatta Gilbert. This article is about Walter Brueggemann's 40 year old book titled The Prophetic Imagination. Kwok Pui-lan asserts "Rarely would you find a classic that speaks so poignantly to today's political situation as it was published 40 years ago."
Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School writes:
"Languishing in a forlorn inner-city parish, in despair at the lack of movement [progress], God gave me Walt's book. I read it cover to cover at one sitting. When I finished, I was born again [a second conversion].
Walt showed me that what my church needed was not my carping criticism, but God's gift of prophetic imagination. This book gave me the guts to work with God in raising the dead through nothing but [prophetic] words. Compromised, too-eager-to-please me, got to be Jeremiah."
From the pen of Gilbert:
"In the Bible, this consciousness echoes through the despair-penetrating hope that Jeremiah and Isaiah offered to exile-weary Israelites. Today, this consciousness reverberates through people such as William Barber II [and John Perkins] who speak out against white nationalism, police violence, and corporate greed to remind us another way is possible.
"The ideological opposite of the prophetic tradition is imperialism. . . . "
Today, we need a church that preaches a 'justice-to-hope' message and practices a 'release the oppressed' gospel.
Pope Francis was speaking prophetically to the Catholic Church when he exhorted it to "leave the security of the sanctuary and enter into the suffering of the streets." I would paraphrase Pope Francis with the following amplification:
"After worship, take the spirituality of the sanctuary with you as you enter into the suffering on the streets where the church becomes flesh---an incarnation of kingdom justice that releases the oppressed and then rebuilds their communities."
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
How British White Supremacy Became American White Supremacy
The following ideas have been gleaned from George M. Fredrickson's White Supremacy: A Comparative Study in American and South African History, 1981. Fredrickson asserts that :
"white supremacy refers to the attitudes, ideologies, and policies associated with the rise of blatant forms of white or European dominance over 'nonwhite' populations. . . . It suggests systematic and self conscious efforts to make race or color a qualification for membership in the civil community."
The concept of savagery developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and "constituted a distorting lens through which the early colonists assessed the potential and predicted the fate of non-European peoples they encountered." English plans for colonization were first practiced and perfected against the Irish and later applied across the Atlantic. In 1565, the British officially announced their goal to conquer and colonize Ireland:
"Between 1565 and 1576 a serious of colonization enterprises were organized and promoted, involving many of the same West Country gentlemen who were to be leading figures in the earliest projects for English settlements in North America."
"The rationale for expropriating their land and removing them from it was that the Celtic Irish were savages, so wild and rebellious that they could only be controlled by a constant and ruthless exercise of force."
The Christianity of the Irish was weak and superficial and could not control their savage impulses. So the consciences of the British did not bother them as they implemented
"virtually every kind of atrocity that would ever be perpetrated against American Indians---women and children were massacred, and whole communities were uprooted and consigned to special reservations."
Once ethnic cleansing had occurred four-fifths of Northern Ireland was set aside for British and Scottish settlers. Fredrickson states that the Puritans who settled New England were an "intensely ethnocentric English community." So it is not surprising that the British settlers soon labeled Native Americans savages and started oppressing them.
It is not surprising that the French treated Haitians as savages for 200 years and that Americans have also treated Haitian as inferior, second-class citizens for 200 years.
"white supremacy refers to the attitudes, ideologies, and policies associated with the rise of blatant forms of white or European dominance over 'nonwhite' populations. . . . It suggests systematic and self conscious efforts to make race or color a qualification for membership in the civil community."
The concept of savagery developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and "constituted a distorting lens through which the early colonists assessed the potential and predicted the fate of non-European peoples they encountered." English plans for colonization were first practiced and perfected against the Irish and later applied across the Atlantic. In 1565, the British officially announced their goal to conquer and colonize Ireland:
"Between 1565 and 1576 a serious of colonization enterprises were organized and promoted, involving many of the same West Country gentlemen who were to be leading figures in the earliest projects for English settlements in North America."
"The rationale for expropriating their land and removing them from it was that the Celtic Irish were savages, so wild and rebellious that they could only be controlled by a constant and ruthless exercise of force."
The Christianity of the Irish was weak and superficial and could not control their savage impulses. So the consciences of the British did not bother them as they implemented
"virtually every kind of atrocity that would ever be perpetrated against American Indians---women and children were massacred, and whole communities were uprooted and consigned to special reservations."
Once ethnic cleansing had occurred four-fifths of Northern Ireland was set aside for British and Scottish settlers. Fredrickson states that the Puritans who settled New England were an "intensely ethnocentric English community." So it is not surprising that the British settlers soon labeled Native Americans savages and started oppressing them.
It is not surprising that the French treated Haitians as savages for 200 years and that Americans have also treated Haitian as inferior, second-class citizens for 200 years.
Monday, December 18, 2017
What Putin Fears
There is an excellent article in Jan/Feb 2018 The Atlantic by Julia Ioffe titled, "What Putin Really Wants." But as I read further into this article, I concluded that it was primarily about Putin's deep-seated fears of 1) a coming Russian collapse which, of course, would take him down, or 2) a U.S. sponsored regime change which would depose him. One of the reasons he hacked into the U.S. elections was to try to defeat Clinton who he thought would try to depose him.
The following are quotations from the Atlantic article:
"But most Russians don't recognize the Russia portrayed in this [American]story: powerful, organized, and led by an omniscient, omnipotent leader who is able to both formulate and execute a complex and highly detailed plot."
"A businessman who is high up in Putin's United Russia party said, "everything in Russia works poorly. . . . Rosneft --- the state-owned oil giant---doesn't work well. Our health-care system doesn't work well. Our education system doesn't work well. . . . "
And it [hacking of America] is classically Putin, and classically Russian: using daring aggression to mask weakness, to avenge deep resentments, and, at all costs, to survive."
Putin believes: "Under the guise of promoting democracy and human rights, Washington had returned to its Cold War---era policy of deposing and installing foreign leaders. Even the open use of military force was now fair game."
"You toppled the most successful government in North Africa [Libya]. . . . In the end, we got a ruined government. a brutally murdered American ambassador, chaos, and Islamic radicals."
"Putin had always been suspicious of democracy promotion, but two moments convinced him that America was coming for him under its guise." The two recent historical incidents were Libya and the Ukraine. In 2013, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president was overthrown and a pro-Western government installed. "To Putin, it was clear what had happened: American had toppled his closest ally, in a country he regarded as an extension of Russia itself."
"Putin loathes revolutions. . . . Putin governs with the twin collapses of 1917 and 1991 at the forefront of his mind. He fears for himself when another collapse comes. . . . He is constantly trying to avoid it." The weak economy and widespread corruption is leading to an imminent collapse, it is widely believed.
"Meanwhile, the already sluggish Russian economy has lost cheap Western financing, following the imposition of American and European sanctions. Putin's response to those sanctions---banning food imports from the United States and the EU---made food prices climb by double-digit percentages. The economy sank into a recession."
"Ironically, Putin has laid the groundwork for exactly the kind of chaotic collapse that he has spent his political life trying to avoid, the kind of collapse that gave rise to his reign."
The following are quotations from the Atlantic article:
"But most Russians don't recognize the Russia portrayed in this [American]story: powerful, organized, and led by an omniscient, omnipotent leader who is able to both formulate and execute a complex and highly detailed plot."
"A businessman who is high up in Putin's United Russia party said, "everything in Russia works poorly. . . . Rosneft --- the state-owned oil giant---doesn't work well. Our health-care system doesn't work well. Our education system doesn't work well. . . . "
And it [hacking of America] is classically Putin, and classically Russian: using daring aggression to mask weakness, to avenge deep resentments, and, at all costs, to survive."
Putin believes: "Under the guise of promoting democracy and human rights, Washington had returned to its Cold War---era policy of deposing and installing foreign leaders. Even the open use of military force was now fair game."
"You toppled the most successful government in North Africa [Libya]. . . . In the end, we got a ruined government. a brutally murdered American ambassador, chaos, and Islamic radicals."
"Putin had always been suspicious of democracy promotion, but two moments convinced him that America was coming for him under its guise." The two recent historical incidents were Libya and the Ukraine. In 2013, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president was overthrown and a pro-Western government installed. "To Putin, it was clear what had happened: American had toppled his closest ally, in a country he regarded as an extension of Russia itself."
"Putin loathes revolutions. . . . Putin governs with the twin collapses of 1917 and 1991 at the forefront of his mind. He fears for himself when another collapse comes. . . . He is constantly trying to avoid it." The weak economy and widespread corruption is leading to an imminent collapse, it is widely believed.
"Meanwhile, the already sluggish Russian economy has lost cheap Western financing, following the imposition of American and European sanctions. Putin's response to those sanctions---banning food imports from the United States and the EU---made food prices climb by double-digit percentages. The economy sank into a recession."
"Ironically, Putin has laid the groundwork for exactly the kind of chaotic collapse that he has spent his political life trying to avoid, the kind of collapse that gave rise to his reign."
Monday, December 11, 2017
Wanted: Biblical Social Surgeons
Wanted: Thousands of Biblical Social Surgeons
Both my wife and I have had surgery recently; she for a herniated disc; me, hernia surgery. Thanks to skilled surgeons, our surgeries were a success. Correction: thanks to skilled surgical teams---surgeon, anathesiologist, and nurses, our surgeries were successful. Every one on the team had to function at at high level.
But my wife early on was misdiagnosed with a sciatic nerve problem. For two months she suffered from deep pain. While medical diagnosis and surgery is highly skilled and continually improving, social diagnosis of social evils and social surgery is, by comparison, full of erroneous diagnoses and poor quality solutions.
Early on in his ministry (Luke 4:18-30), Jesus precisely identified the two major social evils plaguing Jewish society---internal economic oppression (Luke 4:18) and internal religiously based ethnocentrism (4:25-30). By sharp contrast, in modern America, white evangelical theologians have largely ignored or downplayed white American ethnocentrism and oppression. This theological omission has allowed ethnocentrism and oppression to run rampant, unchecked and unchallenged throughout 400 years of American history. Even today, with some exceptions, the American church is doing little to end enormous economic inequality nor discrimination against all non-white ethnics.
Christian colleges, universities and seminaries need to give high priority to training teams of experts in social diagnosis and social solutions: prophets skilled in analysis/diagnosis; sociologists/social workers to assist in diagnosis and solutions; business persons who create just economic systems. To my knowledge, there is not a single theologian skilled in oppression analysis. We may need to create a new discipline---sociotheology---whose primary assignment would be to understand the biblical teaching on oppression and how to apply these insights to American society.
Without these biblical teams, false prophets will rule the day claiming that there is shalom, shalom while in reality idolatry and oppression are running rampant. American false prophets are claiming freedom, freedom in the absence of justice. Or exceptionalism, exceptionalism without justice.
Without full recognition and rejection of the past and present American ethnocentrism and oppression, without repentance and restitution by the white American church, the evils of the past will continue into the present and also cloud the future. Systems of oppression will, when under pressure, simply be redesigned and renamed. In reality, the oppressed will not be released nor will justice be done on their behalf.
Both my wife and I have had surgery recently; she for a herniated disc; me, hernia surgery. Thanks to skilled surgeons, our surgeries were a success. Correction: thanks to skilled surgical teams---surgeon, anathesiologist, and nurses, our surgeries were successful. Every one on the team had to function at at high level.
But my wife early on was misdiagnosed with a sciatic nerve problem. For two months she suffered from deep pain. While medical diagnosis and surgery is highly skilled and continually improving, social diagnosis of social evils and social surgery is, by comparison, full of erroneous diagnoses and poor quality solutions.
Early on in his ministry (Luke 4:18-30), Jesus precisely identified the two major social evils plaguing Jewish society---internal economic oppression (Luke 4:18) and internal religiously based ethnocentrism (4:25-30). By sharp contrast, in modern America, white evangelical theologians have largely ignored or downplayed white American ethnocentrism and oppression. This theological omission has allowed ethnocentrism and oppression to run rampant, unchecked and unchallenged throughout 400 years of American history. Even today, with some exceptions, the American church is doing little to end enormous economic inequality nor discrimination against all non-white ethnics.
Christian colleges, universities and seminaries need to give high priority to training teams of experts in social diagnosis and social solutions: prophets skilled in analysis/diagnosis; sociologists/social workers to assist in diagnosis and solutions; business persons who create just economic systems. To my knowledge, there is not a single theologian skilled in oppression analysis. We may need to create a new discipline---sociotheology---whose primary assignment would be to understand the biblical teaching on oppression and how to apply these insights to American society.
Without these biblical teams, false prophets will rule the day claiming that there is shalom, shalom while in reality idolatry and oppression are running rampant. American false prophets are claiming freedom, freedom in the absence of justice. Or exceptionalism, exceptionalism without justice.
Without full recognition and rejection of the past and present American ethnocentrism and oppression, without repentance and restitution by the white American church, the evils of the past will continue into the present and also cloud the future. Systems of oppression will, when under pressure, simply be redesigned and renamed. In reality, the oppressed will not be released nor will justice be done on their behalf.
Saturday, December 9, 2017
The Declaration and the Constitution are in Conflict
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are in serious conflict.
The Declaration was a statement to explain and legitimize the American colonial rebellion against the British. The British were tyrants who oppressed the colonialists, denying them freedom and equality. The bedrock principle of the Declaration: "all men are created equal."
The Declaration was a statement of purpose and principle; the Constitution was a governing statement---how this new nation would govern itself. Surprise of surprises! A statement of tyranny, a denial of equality was included in the Constitution. Black slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person.
Oppression was built into the Constitution. The founding fathers themselves became tyrants. The oppressed became oppressors. The founding father elite replaced the British elite. The founding fathers failed to practice the principle of the Declaration.
As a result, all through American history the supposed inferiority/inequality of others dominated the supposed equality of all. All non-whites were oppressed. The principle of equality became only a pious platitude.
Bedrock principle or pious platitude or deceptive lie to cover demonic acts. "Liberty and justice for all" or ethnocentrism and oppression for all ethnics. A "government of the people, by the people and for the people" or a government of rich, white males, by rich, white males, and for rich males? A government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite?
Result: Indian genocide, African enslavement, Mexican land theft, etc., etc., became part and parcel of an American tyranny far worse than the British tyranny against the colonies.
The American church needs to lead a national repentance from ethnocentrism and oppression and then initiate a movement of the kingdom of God---a justice that release the oppressed. After that, that rebuilds their damaged communities.
Read Jeremiah 7 for an eerily similar pattern of religious lies and oppression. Read Nehemiah 5 for a model solution.
The Declaration was a statement to explain and legitimize the American colonial rebellion against the British. The British were tyrants who oppressed the colonialists, denying them freedom and equality. The bedrock principle of the Declaration: "all men are created equal."
The Declaration was a statement of purpose and principle; the Constitution was a governing statement---how this new nation would govern itself. Surprise of surprises! A statement of tyranny, a denial of equality was included in the Constitution. Black slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person.
Oppression was built into the Constitution. The founding fathers themselves became tyrants. The oppressed became oppressors. The founding father elite replaced the British elite. The founding fathers failed to practice the principle of the Declaration.
As a result, all through American history the supposed inferiority/inequality of others dominated the supposed equality of all. All non-whites were oppressed. The principle of equality became only a pious platitude.
Bedrock principle or pious platitude or deceptive lie to cover demonic acts. "Liberty and justice for all" or ethnocentrism and oppression for all ethnics. A "government of the people, by the people and for the people" or a government of rich, white males, by rich, white males, and for rich males? A government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite?
Result: Indian genocide, African enslavement, Mexican land theft, etc., etc., became part and parcel of an American tyranny far worse than the British tyranny against the colonies.
The American church needs to lead a national repentance from ethnocentrism and oppression and then initiate a movement of the kingdom of God---a justice that release the oppressed. After that, that rebuilds their damaged communities.
Read Jeremiah 7 for an eerily similar pattern of religious lies and oppression. Read Nehemiah 5 for a model solution.
Friday, December 8, 2017
The Second Civil War: 1870-72
General Grant won the first Civil War- 1861-65; President Grant won the second Civil War--1870-72.
I discovered the second Civil War as I read Ron Chernow's excellent biography about Grant. Fearing their loss of control over blacks and facing domination by blacks as they gained the right to vote, in an extreme panic reaction to the Reconstruction, the Klan through terror, violence and murder replaced the normal political and criminal justice system operations in the South. Here is Chernow's description:
"The important story of Grant's presidency was his campaign to crush the Ku Klux Klan. Through the Klan, white supremacists tried to overturn the civil war's outcome and restore the [racist] status quo. No southern sheriff would arrest the hooded night riders who terrorized [and frequently murdered] black citizens and no southern jury would convict them. Grant had to cope with a complete collapse of evenhanded law enforcement in the Confederate states. In 1870 he oversaw creation of the Justice Department, its first duty to bring thousands of anti-Klan indictments. By 1872 the monster had been slain, although its spirit resurfaced as the nation retreated from Reconstruction's lofty aims. Grant presided over the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave blacks the right to vote, and landmark civil-rights legislation, including the 1875 act outlawing racial discrimination in public places."
Hooray for Grant! But before the century was out, the South, which had lost the War had won the peace as it redesigned a new system of oppression to replace slavery---segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynchings.
Lincoln and Grant were great presidents in some ways. Yet their pursuit of justice for blacks ultimately failed in large measure. Why? American whites never rejected the false claims of American exceptionalism nor did they ever repent of white ethnocentrism and oppression. The power of the presidency is more limited than most Americans realize.
Next a broader look at American history that will help explain the power and pervasiveness of white ethnocentrism and oppression.
Shortly before the British colonists invaded America, the British perfected their ethnocentrism and oppression in a brutal conquest of nearby Ireland. Then they brought their religiously legitimated ethnocentrism and oppression (think Puritan) to America. This now American ethnocentrism and oppression has permeated all of American history from the early 1600s down to the present.
From time to time, heroic efforts by Lincoln and King have slowed down or temporarily reversed the American steamroller of ethnocentrism and oppression which has crushed every ethnic group in its path from Indian to Filipino. A severe white backlash usually reverses some of the progress and a new system of oppression is created. In the 1860s and 70s, Lincoln and Grant made valiant to achieve a measure of justice. A major reason for their limited success was the ongoing and deep racism of the North which by the way conducted and profited from control of most of the slave trade; the North also profited from the sale of slave produced cotton to Britain.
The American church is primarily to blame. It never developed a biblical theology about ethnocentrism and oppression nor a good NT theology of justice to replace it.
I discovered the second Civil War as I read Ron Chernow's excellent biography about Grant. Fearing their loss of control over blacks and facing domination by blacks as they gained the right to vote, in an extreme panic reaction to the Reconstruction, the Klan through terror, violence and murder replaced the normal political and criminal justice system operations in the South. Here is Chernow's description:
"The important story of Grant's presidency was his campaign to crush the Ku Klux Klan. Through the Klan, white supremacists tried to overturn the civil war's outcome and restore the [racist] status quo. No southern sheriff would arrest the hooded night riders who terrorized [and frequently murdered] black citizens and no southern jury would convict them. Grant had to cope with a complete collapse of evenhanded law enforcement in the Confederate states. In 1870 he oversaw creation of the Justice Department, its first duty to bring thousands of anti-Klan indictments. By 1872 the monster had been slain, although its spirit resurfaced as the nation retreated from Reconstruction's lofty aims. Grant presided over the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave blacks the right to vote, and landmark civil-rights legislation, including the 1875 act outlawing racial discrimination in public places."
Hooray for Grant! But before the century was out, the South, which had lost the War had won the peace as it redesigned a new system of oppression to replace slavery---segregation, sharecropping, prison gangs and lynchings.
Lincoln and Grant were great presidents in some ways. Yet their pursuit of justice for blacks ultimately failed in large measure. Why? American whites never rejected the false claims of American exceptionalism nor did they ever repent of white ethnocentrism and oppression. The power of the presidency is more limited than most Americans realize.
Next a broader look at American history that will help explain the power and pervasiveness of white ethnocentrism and oppression.
Shortly before the British colonists invaded America, the British perfected their ethnocentrism and oppression in a brutal conquest of nearby Ireland. Then they brought their religiously legitimated ethnocentrism and oppression (think Puritan) to America. This now American ethnocentrism and oppression has permeated all of American history from the early 1600s down to the present.
From time to time, heroic efforts by Lincoln and King have slowed down or temporarily reversed the American steamroller of ethnocentrism and oppression which has crushed every ethnic group in its path from Indian to Filipino. A severe white backlash usually reverses some of the progress and a new system of oppression is created. In the 1860s and 70s, Lincoln and Grant made valiant to achieve a measure of justice. A major reason for their limited success was the ongoing and deep racism of the North which by the way conducted and profited from control of most of the slave trade; the North also profited from the sale of slave produced cotton to Britain.
The American church is primarily to blame. It never developed a biblical theology about ethnocentrism and oppression nor a good NT theology of justice to replace it.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Are Christian Colleges Fully Biblical?
Are Christian Colleges fully biblical?
Though every Christian college, university and seminary in the country will be insulted by my answer, all are biblical flawed, severely so. Here is my documentation.
As a student, I was educated in Christian colleges. As a teacher, I taught at Christian colleges. In my retirement (1994-2010), as a volunteer teacher, I taught at the Perkins Center located in West Jackson, Mississippi where I interacted with numerous mission teams from across the country, many from Christian colleges.
There are, of course, many good things about a Christian college education, but in this blog I will focus on some glaring and disturbing deficiencies.
1. While I was not a history major, I had a brother-in-law who was, the history I was taught was not distinctly Christian; it was essentially a secular history taught by Christians. Only later, through self-education, did I slowly develop a biblical perspective on American history. I will share one key book which revolutionized my thinking. The book: The Wars of America: Christian views.
Around 1980, eight professional Christian historians, each an expert on one of America's many wars, described each war, why we fought, what values drove us into war, why most of our wars were not just wars, why most wars were imperialistic and oppressive.
The American Revolution was analyzed by George Marsden. Marsden concluded that British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution. I agree. Here is my further interpretation and application.
The Declaration of Independence was written to justify a violent revolution---independence from British tyranny. But there was also a second unwritten declaration---freedom for the founding fathers to continue their American tyranny over Indians and slaves. This founding father tyranny was far worse than the British tyranny. This was so glaring that John Wesley saw it and therefore opposed the American Revolution. The demonic social evil of slavery was essentially sanctified by our founding fathers.
The Wars of America should be required reading for all Christian college students; I have seen little evidence that it has been widely read.
2. I taught sociology and slowly tried to develop a distinctively Christian sociology or a sociotheology. During the 1980s and early 90s, each June sociologists who taught at Christian colleges would gather to present papers and discuss ideas. I was the only sociologist who thought Christian sociologists could and should develop a distinctly biblical sociology. All others opposed the idea. For them, sociology was an empirical, a scientific, discipline where as theology was a value oriented discipline. The two could not be combined.
Essentially, all these Christian sociologists were teaching a secular discipline; in reality, they were more secular than biblical.
3. From 1994, I was a volunteer at the Perkins Center. Many mission teams from Christian colleges, churches, pastors, seminaries came to learn about Christian Community Development from John Perkins. I asked many of them to write down a one-sentence of the kingdom of God. In my opinion almost all definitions were shallow and superficial; seldom were they present and social definitions. The teams represented the cream of the crop from the American church, but they were biblically ignorant about the essence and purpose of the kingdom of God here on earth.
My definition: The kingdom of God is all about justice, a justice that releases the oppressed (Matthew 6:33 and Luke 4:18-19).
I found the same biblical shallowness about oppression. One spring three mission teams from three different Christian colleges visited the Perkins Center. None of the 40 students had been taught about oppression---the 555 OT references to oppression, that oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit.
The same could be said about justice.
These Christian colleges are biblically shallow on social problems.
Though every Christian college, university and seminary in the country will be insulted by my answer, all are biblical flawed, severely so. Here is my documentation.
As a student, I was educated in Christian colleges. As a teacher, I taught at Christian colleges. In my retirement (1994-2010), as a volunteer teacher, I taught at the Perkins Center located in West Jackson, Mississippi where I interacted with numerous mission teams from across the country, many from Christian colleges.
There are, of course, many good things about a Christian college education, but in this blog I will focus on some glaring and disturbing deficiencies.
1. While I was not a history major, I had a brother-in-law who was, the history I was taught was not distinctly Christian; it was essentially a secular history taught by Christians. Only later, through self-education, did I slowly develop a biblical perspective on American history. I will share one key book which revolutionized my thinking. The book: The Wars of America: Christian views.
Around 1980, eight professional Christian historians, each an expert on one of America's many wars, described each war, why we fought, what values drove us into war, why most of our wars were not just wars, why most wars were imperialistic and oppressive.
The American Revolution was analyzed by George Marsden. Marsden concluded that British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution. I agree. Here is my further interpretation and application.
The Declaration of Independence was written to justify a violent revolution---independence from British tyranny. But there was also a second unwritten declaration---freedom for the founding fathers to continue their American tyranny over Indians and slaves. This founding father tyranny was far worse than the British tyranny. This was so glaring that John Wesley saw it and therefore opposed the American Revolution. The demonic social evil of slavery was essentially sanctified by our founding fathers.
The Wars of America should be required reading for all Christian college students; I have seen little evidence that it has been widely read.
2. I taught sociology and slowly tried to develop a distinctively Christian sociology or a sociotheology. During the 1980s and early 90s, each June sociologists who taught at Christian colleges would gather to present papers and discuss ideas. I was the only sociologist who thought Christian sociologists could and should develop a distinctly biblical sociology. All others opposed the idea. For them, sociology was an empirical, a scientific, discipline where as theology was a value oriented discipline. The two could not be combined.
Essentially, all these Christian sociologists were teaching a secular discipline; in reality, they were more secular than biblical.
3. From 1994, I was a volunteer at the Perkins Center. Many mission teams from Christian colleges, churches, pastors, seminaries came to learn about Christian Community Development from John Perkins. I asked many of them to write down a one-sentence of the kingdom of God. In my opinion almost all definitions were shallow and superficial; seldom were they present and social definitions. The teams represented the cream of the crop from the American church, but they were biblically ignorant about the essence and purpose of the kingdom of God here on earth.
My definition: The kingdom of God is all about justice, a justice that releases the oppressed (Matthew 6:33 and Luke 4:18-19).
I found the same biblical shallowness about oppression. One spring three mission teams from three different Christian colleges visited the Perkins Center. None of the 40 students had been taught about oppression---the 555 OT references to oppression, that oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit.
The same could be said about justice.
These Christian colleges are biblically shallow on social problems.
Oppressors, Oppressed, Systems of Oppression
RHD board:
More on oppression:
Old Testament
Oppressors: Pharaoh; Exodus, chapter 1
Rich, religious leaders; Jeremiah 6 and 7
Oppressed: Hebrew slaves; Exodus chapter 1
Poor masses; Jeremiah 6 and 7, Isaiah 61 (NSRV)
System of Oppression: slavery; Exodus 1
temple, "den of robbers" Jeremiah 7
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit." Thomas Hanks
Damage caused by Oppression: broken in spirit; individual, family,
community and cultural dysfunction
or mass PTSD; Exodus 6:9
Solution: Justice; Amos 5:24, Lev. 25, Deut. 15, Neh. 5, Isaiah's
Messianic passages: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17:
42:1-4; 61:1-4 (NRSV)
New Testament
Oppressors: rich, religious leaders; Woe to the rich because the rich
oppress the poor. Luke 6:24 and James 2:6.
Oppressed: the poor masses of Palestine, around 80 percent were
poor or near poor. Luke 4:18
System of Oppression: economic/landlords; James 5
temple, "den of robbers" Luke 19:46
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit."
Damage caused by Oppression: poor in spirit, spirit of despair, Mt. 5:3
Solution: Jubilee justice, Luke 4:19; kingdom justice, Mt. 6:33 (NEB)
United States
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Haiti
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Definitions of the kingdom of God
"Clear and compelling" or shallow and superficial? Most definitions of the kingdom of God have been shallow and superficial in that they have skirted the difficult issues of justice and oppression.
One theologian surveyed all the theological literature on the kingdom of God that had been written during the last century and he concluded that theology lacked a "clear and compelling" understanding of the biblical kingdom of God. I personally asked hundreds of persons who came to the Perkins Center in Mississippi from all over the United States---from Presbyterian to Pentecostal, from Mennonite to Methodist. No one, no group, including a group of Afro American pastors from New Jersey, provided a clear and compelling definition of the kingdom of God.
John Perkins commented that it often seemed like this was the first time that most of these people had given any serious thought to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God should be a top priority in any person's theology, not an after thought.
John Lewis, when a black teenager in Alabama, heard a radio sermon on "the beloved community" (King's term for the kingdom of God). ONE clear and compelling sermon on the kingdom gave Lewis his life's direction. A few years later, Rev. James Lawson trained Lewis and others how to implement the kingdom in the segregated South. Read The Children.
The following are a variety of definitions of the kingdom of God; you choose your favorite definition:
1. Jesus Christ: justice. "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." Mt. 6:33, NEB.
I believe this is Jesus' summary of Isaiah's
Messianic passages beginning with 9:7 and ending with 61:1-4
NRSV.
2. Billy Graham: justice for all. Add the kingdom of God as justice for all to the Cross and
Resurrection gospel.
3. Pledge of Allegiance: liberty and justice for all.
4. Sabbatical/ Jubilee laws: cancel debts, free slaves, restore land. These God-designed
for Hebrew society, Hebrew economics, addressed three keys
for any economic system---capital, labor and finance.
5. Isaiah: Jubilee justice that releases the oppressed poor. 61:1-4, NRSV.
6. Luke: Jubilee justice that releases the oppressed poor. Luke 4:18-19, NIV.
7. Isaiah: justice/shalom or justice/peace. 9:7, NIV
8. Paul: justice, shalom and joy (also power and wisdom) in the Holy Spirit. Rom. 14:17.
9. Noble: Jubilee justice releases the oppressed poor; then justice rebuilds, repairs
damaged oppressed communities. Implied: Christian Community Development
and long term partnerships.
10. Noble's second definition: When the Spirit, kingdom and justice are combined, then
the oppressed poor can be released.
Monday, December 4, 2017
White South African Evangelicals
Do white South Africans have the same weaknesses in their theology in the areas of oppression and justice as white American evangelicals do? Yes, but some are recognizing the problem and are beginning to seriously wrestle with the issue.
In July 1986, a group of South African evangelicals published "Evangelical Witness in South Africa," in which they critiqued their own theology and practice in regard to the apartheid racial crisis in South Africa. The full text of this highly important theological document was printed in the January/March 1987 issue of Transformation.
As these South African evangelicals faced their racial crisis, they realized that though they were born again believers, their "theology nevertheless was inadequate to address the crisis. . . . " Their past theology dealt with personal sin, but not with their social oppression. In their document the words oppressed, oppression and oppressors occur 39 times along with many other similar words such as exploitation, injustice and structural sin. By contrast, the positive words such as justice or just 16 times, kingdom of God 7 times, and radical (in the positive biblical sense) 25 times.
I have summarized the key points with the following comments:
1. "We wish to confess that to a large extent the evangelical community has chosen to avoid the socio-political crisis in this country. . . . We wish to confess that our evangelical family has a track record of supporting and legitimating oppressive regimes here and elsewhere. That this family has tended to assume conservative positions which tend to maintain the [oppressive] status quo."
2. Because conformity to secular social structures is often the norm among white evangelicals, they have to rationalize their rejection of the radical kingdom of God that Jesus taught. "In fact, evangelicals go to great lengths claiming Jesus did not teach what he clearly did. We have to, because to admit he taught what he did, would require us either to change (repent) or to criticize him. And neither of these is acceptable." For Jesus, the kingdom was about justice that releases the oppressed.
3. "The problem is that Jesus was a radical and we are moderates."
4. There is one type of oppression that evangelicals do recognize---the dangers of Communist oppression, because this is an oppression which would oppress them. The apartheid system does not oppress them; in fact, they benefit economically from this oppression.
5. Why this selective and limited recognition of social evil? No comprehensive biblical theology of ethnocentrism and oppression. They do not know about the biblical teaching that "oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit."
6. Why this blindness to the full message of the Bible by those who profess to believe every word and thought in the Bible? Cultural conformity? "We must therefore be conscious of how society around us influences and even distorts our thinking."
7. Is there any hope? Things are so bad I think we need a Second Reformation that combines justification and justice, the Holy Spirit and the kingdom as justice that releases the oppressed.
In July 1986, a group of South African evangelicals published "Evangelical Witness in South Africa," in which they critiqued their own theology and practice in regard to the apartheid racial crisis in South Africa. The full text of this highly important theological document was printed in the January/March 1987 issue of Transformation.
As these South African evangelicals faced their racial crisis, they realized that though they were born again believers, their "theology nevertheless was inadequate to address the crisis. . . . " Their past theology dealt with personal sin, but not with their social oppression. In their document the words oppressed, oppression and oppressors occur 39 times along with many other similar words such as exploitation, injustice and structural sin. By contrast, the positive words such as justice or just 16 times, kingdom of God 7 times, and radical (in the positive biblical sense) 25 times.
I have summarized the key points with the following comments:
1. "We wish to confess that to a large extent the evangelical community has chosen to avoid the socio-political crisis in this country. . . . We wish to confess that our evangelical family has a track record of supporting and legitimating oppressive regimes here and elsewhere. That this family has tended to assume conservative positions which tend to maintain the [oppressive] status quo."
2. Because conformity to secular social structures is often the norm among white evangelicals, they have to rationalize their rejection of the radical kingdom of God that Jesus taught. "In fact, evangelicals go to great lengths claiming Jesus did not teach what he clearly did. We have to, because to admit he taught what he did, would require us either to change (repent) or to criticize him. And neither of these is acceptable." For Jesus, the kingdom was about justice that releases the oppressed.
3. "The problem is that Jesus was a radical and we are moderates."
4. There is one type of oppression that evangelicals do recognize---the dangers of Communist oppression, because this is an oppression which would oppress them. The apartheid system does not oppress them; in fact, they benefit economically from this oppression.
5. Why this selective and limited recognition of social evil? No comprehensive biblical theology of ethnocentrism and oppression. They do not know about the biblical teaching that "oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit."
6. Why this blindness to the full message of the Bible by those who profess to believe every word and thought in the Bible? Cultural conformity? "We must therefore be conscious of how society around us influences and even distorts our thinking."
7. Is there any hope? Things are so bad I think we need a Second Reformation that combines justification and justice, the Holy Spirit and the kingdom as justice that releases the oppressed.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Send Lazarus; We Need Each Other
"There was a rich man . . . at his gate lay a poor man." (Luke 16:19).
Only after it was too late, did the rich man realize that he needed Lazarus; then he cried out in torment "Send Lazarus!"
During his lifetime, the rich man was self-sufficient; he didn't think he needed Lazarus. In fact, Lazarus was probably an embarrassment, sitting on his doorstep. Lazarus, to him, was a nameless nothing who had nothing to give the rich man.
In 1987, I wrote the following meditation on "Send Lazarus."
"Lazarus may have needed the crumbs leftover from the rich man's meal in order to survive, but certainly the rich man did not need Lazarus. The rich man was self-sufficient; he needed neither man nor God. So it seemed. His riches blinded him to truth, to humanity, to justice, and even to God.
"People who feel they are superior to others are half blind and don't know it. The whites of this world often think they are superior to blacks. American Christian whites need to cry out "Send me a black Lazarus to teach me."
"The males of this world often act as if they are superior to females; males, especially rich, white, males, need to cry out "Send me a female Lazarus."
"The masters of this world dominate their slaves. Masters need to cry out "Send me a Lazarus."
It will take teams of persons---males and females, slaves and masters, blacks and whites---to solve some of our deep-seated problems.
WE REALLY DO NEED EACH OTHER.
Only after it was too late, did the rich man realize that he needed Lazarus; then he cried out in torment "Send Lazarus!"
During his lifetime, the rich man was self-sufficient; he didn't think he needed Lazarus. In fact, Lazarus was probably an embarrassment, sitting on his doorstep. Lazarus, to him, was a nameless nothing who had nothing to give the rich man.
In 1987, I wrote the following meditation on "Send Lazarus."
"Lazarus may have needed the crumbs leftover from the rich man's meal in order to survive, but certainly the rich man did not need Lazarus. The rich man was self-sufficient; he needed neither man nor God. So it seemed. His riches blinded him to truth, to humanity, to justice, and even to God.
"People who feel they are superior to others are half blind and don't know it. The whites of this world often think they are superior to blacks. American Christian whites need to cry out "Send me a black Lazarus to teach me."
"The males of this world often act as if they are superior to females; males, especially rich, white, males, need to cry out "Send me a female Lazarus."
"The masters of this world dominate their slaves. Masters need to cry out "Send me a Lazarus."
It will take teams of persons---males and females, slaves and masters, blacks and whites---to solve some of our deep-seated problems.
WE REALLY DO NEED EACH OTHER.
Monday, November 27, 2017
Oppressors, Oppressed and System of Oppression
More on oppression:
Old Testament
Oppressors: Pharaoh; Exodus, chapter 1
Rich, religious leaders; Jeremiah 6 and 7
Oppressed: Hebrew slaves; Exodus chapter 1
Poor masses; Jeremiah 6 and 7, Isaiah 61 (NSRV)
System of Oppression: slavery; Exodus 1
temple, "den of robbers" Jeremiah 7
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit." Thomas Hanks
Damage caused by Oppression: broken in spirit; individual, family,
community and cultural dysfunction
or mass PTSD; Exodus 6:9
Solution: Justice; Amos 5:24, Lev. 25, Deut. 15, Neh. 5, Isaiah's
Messianic passages: 9:7; 11:1-4; 16:5; 28:16-17:
42:1-4; 61:1-4 (NRSV)
New Testament
Oppressors: rich, religious leaders; Woe to the rich because the rich
oppress the poor. Luke 6:24 and James 2:6.
Oppressed: the poor masses of Palestine, around 80 percent were
poor or near poor. Luke 4:18
System of Oppression: economic/landlords; James 5
temple, "den of robbers" Luke 19:46
Definition of Oppression: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes
the spirit."
Damage caused by Oppression: poor in spirit, spirit of despair, Mt. 5:3
Solution: Jubilee justice, Luke 4:19; kingdom justice, Mt. 6:33 (NEB)
United States
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Haiti
Oppressors:
Oppressed:
System of Oppression:
Definition of Oppression:
Damage caused by Oppression:
Solution:
Rich and White and Male
Persons who are rich and white and male often think they are God's blessing to the world, but not as the world's worst oppressors. Just as many whites are blind to their racism, so many males are blind to their sexism, and many rich are blind to their oppression to the poor. The Letter to the Editor column in the December Atlantic magazine known as "The Conversation: Responses and Reverberations," has a lengthy discussion of Ta-Nehisi Coates' provocative article "The First White President." Coates' article is summarized with this sentence: "In October, Ta-Nehisi Coates argued that Donald Trump's presidency is predicated nearly entirely on white supremacy and the negation of a black president." In other words, an anti-black, anti-Obama presidency.
James Bach wrote, I agree; now what should I do? My reply is: first fully repent, then fully restitute, then repair/rebuild oppressed communities for the rest of your life.
George Packer wrote: "When you construct an entire teleology on one cause---even a cause as powerful and abiding as white racism---you face the temptation to leave out anything that complicates the thesis. So Coates minimizes sexism. . . . "
Stuart Rojstaczer writes: "The Trump supporters I encountered [Stuart was canvassing for Clinton in Nevada] were not only white but financially secure. They were definitely going to vote, and their motivation was almost always a sense that American wasn't the same anymore---a ka it wasn't as white as it used to be. Coates doesn't discuss another major issue: While the rise of Trump was due to racism, the fall of Clinton was due to misogyny. Just like Trump is America's first white president, he's also America's first male president."
So also Trump is America's first rich president. The deadly and demonic trinity---rich and white and male.
James Bach wrote, I agree; now what should I do? My reply is: first fully repent, then fully restitute, then repair/rebuild oppressed communities for the rest of your life.
George Packer wrote: "When you construct an entire teleology on one cause---even a cause as powerful and abiding as white racism---you face the temptation to leave out anything that complicates the thesis. So Coates minimizes sexism. . . . "
Stuart Rojstaczer writes: "The Trump supporters I encountered [Stuart was canvassing for Clinton in Nevada] were not only white but financially secure. They were definitely going to vote, and their motivation was almost always a sense that American wasn't the same anymore---a ka it wasn't as white as it used to be. Coates doesn't discuss another major issue: While the rise of Trump was due to racism, the fall of Clinton was due to misogyny. Just like Trump is America's first white president, he's also America's first male president."
So also Trump is America's first rich president. The deadly and demonic trinity---rich and white and male.
Monday, November 20, 2017
Rich, White Males: Triple Oppressors?
The combination of rich and white and male equals power; immense power to oppress if they so choose.
On Sunday morning November 19, 2017, on ABC's This Week, I watched a morally passionate and quality discussion of the current sexual harassment/predator issue. This included more than a few bad apples now making the headlines; the discussion touched on a culture of male oppression.
Most rich, white males from the founding fathers down to 2017, see themselves as a blessing to the nation for they built this great nation. But many women, poor and racial/ethnic groups see rich, white males as a mixed blessing at best and as oppressors at worst. Gender, race and class/economic oppression are interwoven making it a case of triple oppression for poor, black women.
Can the oppressed force their oppressors to release the oppressed? Possibly a little bit, if they try real hard. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement valiantly tried to do so with marginal success; during the 1980s a strong backlash took away many of the hard won gains. Read The New Jim Crow for the tragic story of mass incarceration, a system of oppression that replaced Jim Crow segregation.
Because of their large numbers---50 percent of the population---women if they run many candidates and turn out in large numbers could vote rich, white males out of office.
White evangelicals because of their large numbers could also vote rich, white males out of office if they developed a strong biblical social ethic. But currently white evangelicals seem more like evangelical Pharisees who neglect justice and the love of God, who serve the American trinity more than the Christian trinity. Apart from repentance and a religio-social revival movement, most American white evangelicals will continue to side with rich, white male oppressors.
On Sunday morning November 19, 2017, on ABC's This Week, I watched a morally passionate and quality discussion of the current sexual harassment/predator issue. This included more than a few bad apples now making the headlines; the discussion touched on a culture of male oppression.
Most rich, white males from the founding fathers down to 2017, see themselves as a blessing to the nation for they built this great nation. But many women, poor and racial/ethnic groups see rich, white males as a mixed blessing at best and as oppressors at worst. Gender, race and class/economic oppression are interwoven making it a case of triple oppression for poor, black women.
Can the oppressed force their oppressors to release the oppressed? Possibly a little bit, if they try real hard. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement valiantly tried to do so with marginal success; during the 1980s a strong backlash took away many of the hard won gains. Read The New Jim Crow for the tragic story of mass incarceration, a system of oppression that replaced Jim Crow segregation.
Because of their large numbers---50 percent of the population---women if they run many candidates and turn out in large numbers could vote rich, white males out of office.
White evangelicals because of their large numbers could also vote rich, white males out of office if they developed a strong biblical social ethic. But currently white evangelicals seem more like evangelical Pharisees who neglect justice and the love of God, who serve the American trinity more than the Christian trinity. Apart from repentance and a religio-social revival movement, most American white evangelicals will continue to side with rich, white male oppressors.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Dangerous Religion
These thoughts were stimulated by reading the book titled Postville [Iowa] by
Bloom.
When a religion, whatever its name, neglects justice and the love of God, it becomes a dangerous deceit.
From The Message Bible paraphrased by Eugene Peterson: Introduction to the Book of Amos:
"More people are exploited and abused in the name of religion than in any other way. Sex, money, and power all take a back seat to religion as a source of evil."
An example: Jesus severely criticized the highly religious Pharisees for being "full of greed. . . . and neglecting justice and the love of God." Luke 11:39 and 42. If you and I are not doing justice and love that releases the oppressed, then we, like the Pharisees, are evil-doers.
The Message: "Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb. Amos towers as the defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use God's name to legitimate their sin."
As I read this description about the dedication of St. James Lutheran in Postville, it raised some red flags:
"The erection of this church, more than any other cause, has tended to raise the price of land around Postville. It has brought large numbers of wealthy Germans here, and they all want a house within reach of this elegant house of worship."
There was never any mention that this church has specialized in reaching out to the poor, that it is a beacon of justice and love. In fact, when Rev. Miller gently began to raise justice and love issues, he was not well received and soon left the church.
And the Hasidic Jews were also neglecting love and justice as they were making money hand over fist; instead of paying higher wages, they were remodeling their houses.
I am reminded of James two where James severely criticized the church for honoring the rich and dishonoring the poor. Chapter two condemns the for oppressing the poor.
Bloom.
When a religion, whatever its name, neglects justice and the love of God, it becomes a dangerous deceit.
From The Message Bible paraphrased by Eugene Peterson: Introduction to the Book of Amos:
"More people are exploited and abused in the name of religion than in any other way. Sex, money, and power all take a back seat to religion as a source of evil."
An example: Jesus severely criticized the highly religious Pharisees for being "full of greed. . . . and neglecting justice and the love of God." Luke 11:39 and 42. If you and I are not doing justice and love that releases the oppressed, then we, like the Pharisees, are evil-doers.
The Message: "Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb. Amos towers as the defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use God's name to legitimate their sin."
As I read this description about the dedication of St. James Lutheran in Postville, it raised some red flags:
"The erection of this church, more than any other cause, has tended to raise the price of land around Postville. It has brought large numbers of wealthy Germans here, and they all want a house within reach of this elegant house of worship."
There was never any mention that this church has specialized in reaching out to the poor, that it is a beacon of justice and love. In fact, when Rev. Miller gently began to raise justice and love issues, he was not well received and soon left the church.
And the Hasidic Jews were also neglecting love and justice as they were making money hand over fist; instead of paying higher wages, they were remodeling their houses.
I am reminded of James two where James severely criticized the church for honoring the rich and dishonoring the poor. Chapter two condemns the for oppressing the poor.
Building a People of Power
Building a People of Power: Equipping Churches to Transform Their Communities by Robert Linthicum, 2005.
The book answers the question: How do churches actually release the oppressed poor? Building a People of Power reflects an extraordinary combination of a lifetime of biblical study plus community development and community organizing (alliance of numerous community organizations) in urban settings in the U.S. as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America:
"Linthicum has been rebuilding poor urban communities since 1955. He has pastored churches in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit where he helped form nine community organizations, people-businesses, and housing efforts. From 1985 to 1995, Dr. Linthicum headed the urban work of World Vision where he guided third-world organizers who coordinated slum dwellers to build multiple organizations and businesses, and over 6,000 homes."
For Robert Linthicum, veteran Presbyterian pastor and community organizer, the shalom community is an equivalent to the kingdom of God here on earth. The shalom community, a rough equivalent to Martin Luther King's "beloved community", is characterized by preaching and practicing Jubilee justice so that "there will be no poor among you." Justice and shalom combined.
The church, the people of God, is called to be and to enlarge the shalom community here on earth. Here are some nuggets of truth from Linthicum's pen:
* Shalom is found 250 times in the Hebrew Bible.
* Shalom's NT equivalent eirene is found 89 times.
* Shalom and eirene focus on public/social justice.
* Shalom is a vision of society as God intended and wants it to be---just and equitable.
* Jesus spoke in Aramaic so he would have used the word shalem [shalom, Jerusalem]. When
the angels appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed "Peace on earth" or shalom on earth
combined with "Glory to God." These two powerful phrases go together, "Glory to God" and "shalom on earth." The church needs to find a balanced rhythm between these two magnificent biblical concepts.
* Romans 14:17: The kingdom of God is essentially about compassionate and just behavior
toward the poor in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit; produces authentic joy.
In addition to this solid biblical theology, a theology of society, there are chapters devoted to the principles and the detailed practice of community organization.
Linthicum's approach to community organization organization is built around the Iron Rule: "Never do for others what they can do for themselves." And its corollary, "When the people lack access to political and economic power, the power they have is each other." A third point could be added: "Your expertise and resources are badly needed; humbly but aggressively share them. Form lasting partnerships."
Iron Rule number one is true, but if not preceded by other Iron Rules, is CRUEL and MISLEADING.
My suggestion for other Iron Rules:
Iron Rule number two: "Never put the enormous burden of ending systems of oppression upon the
backs of the oppressed."
Iron Rule number three: "Before you even try to assist the poor, repent and restitute regarding
your part in their oppression."
Iron Rule number four: "Oppression is the evil opposite of shalom and must be addressed before the
church even mentions shalom."
Iron Rule number five: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit; therefore oppression
theology must precede shalom theology."
Iron Rule number six: "Long term partnerships that release the oppressed and then rebuild their
damaged communities are required."
Iron Rule number seven: "Read Lev. 25, Deut. 15, Neh. 5 for specifics on God's requirements to end
oppression, execute justice, and create conditions for shalom."
Iron Rule number one should really be number seven to avoid ignoring the prior role of oppression.
Here is one of Linthicum's most valuable insights; there are three responses of the church to the city:
The church IN the community; the church TO the community and the church WITH the community. The church in the community means physically the church is in, but socially it is not of the community. It is an island isolated from the needs of the community. Most churches fall into this category, sometimes for theological reasons, sometimes because the community around them has changed and they don't know how to relate.
Next, the church to the community. Much good can be done with this type of social outreach. But "the Achilles of this approach is the perception that the church knows what is best for the neighborhood. The church determines the needs and the best way to deliver those services. I have discovered in more than 50 years of ministry that this concept is the single most difficult insight for Christians to grasp and apply to their ministry." The paternalistic approach can do much damage as well as some good.
The third approach and the more excellent way is the church WITH the community; unfortunately this is quite rare. In this approach, "the church allows the people of the community to instruct it as it identifies with the people." The church assists the community in solving its problems. The church moves from paternalism to partnership. Partnership participates in the community's struggle to create justice and shalom.
Large partnerships and alliances are built. United Power for Action which began in 1997 in Chicago has 330 institutional members. ONE LA has 120 institutional members. These institutions have enough power so they can negotiate decisions for justice.
The following are Noble's concluding observations:
It does take God's power to release the oppressed. God acting through Moses used his power (the plagues) to force Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves.
In Luke 9:1-2, Jesus gave his disciples his power to heal the sick and to incarnate the kingdom of God which includes releasing the oppressed. Soon, however, these same disciples came close to misusing God's power to kill Samaritans---destroy a Samaritan village that rejected Jesus. Jewish ethnocentrism came perilously close to the tragic misuse of God's power. So Jesus had to rebuke his own disciples (Luke 9:51-55).
It takes God's power to implement God's kingdom. (Acts 1:1-8)
But God's power, necessary as it is, can be misused and abused. Derek Prince, a charismatic leader, said God warned him not to make the same mistake that Pentecostals often made: "squandering my power in spiritual self-indulgence." Some Pentecostals pursue the gifts for the primary purpose of being super spiritual, not the edification of others.
Power must be motivated by love and directed toward justice. Power, justice and love, these three are all absolutely necessary to do the hard work of the kingdom of God, but the greatest of these three is love, with justice a close second and power a close third.
The book answers the question: How do churches actually release the oppressed poor? Building a People of Power reflects an extraordinary combination of a lifetime of biblical study plus community development and community organizing (alliance of numerous community organizations) in urban settings in the U.S. as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America:
"Linthicum has been rebuilding poor urban communities since 1955. He has pastored churches in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit where he helped form nine community organizations, people-businesses, and housing efforts. From 1985 to 1995, Dr. Linthicum headed the urban work of World Vision where he guided third-world organizers who coordinated slum dwellers to build multiple organizations and businesses, and over 6,000 homes."
For Robert Linthicum, veteran Presbyterian pastor and community organizer, the shalom community is an equivalent to the kingdom of God here on earth. The shalom community, a rough equivalent to Martin Luther King's "beloved community", is characterized by preaching and practicing Jubilee justice so that "there will be no poor among you." Justice and shalom combined.
The church, the people of God, is called to be and to enlarge the shalom community here on earth. Here are some nuggets of truth from Linthicum's pen:
* Shalom is found 250 times in the Hebrew Bible.
* Shalom's NT equivalent eirene is found 89 times.
* Shalom and eirene focus on public/social justice.
* Shalom is a vision of society as God intended and wants it to be---just and equitable.
* Jesus spoke in Aramaic so he would have used the word shalem [shalom, Jerusalem]. When
the angels appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed "Peace on earth" or shalom on earth
combined with "Glory to God." These two powerful phrases go together, "Glory to God" and "shalom on earth." The church needs to find a balanced rhythm between these two magnificent biblical concepts.
* Romans 14:17: The kingdom of God is essentially about compassionate and just behavior
toward the poor in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit; produces authentic joy.
In addition to this solid biblical theology, a theology of society, there are chapters devoted to the principles and the detailed practice of community organization.
Linthicum's approach to community organization organization is built around the Iron Rule: "Never do for others what they can do for themselves." And its corollary, "When the people lack access to political and economic power, the power they have is each other." A third point could be added: "Your expertise and resources are badly needed; humbly but aggressively share them. Form lasting partnerships."
Iron Rule number one is true, but if not preceded by other Iron Rules, is CRUEL and MISLEADING.
My suggestion for other Iron Rules:
Iron Rule number two: "Never put the enormous burden of ending systems of oppression upon the
backs of the oppressed."
Iron Rule number three: "Before you even try to assist the poor, repent and restitute regarding
your part in their oppression."
Iron Rule number four: "Oppression is the evil opposite of shalom and must be addressed before the
church even mentions shalom."
Iron Rule number five: "Oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit; therefore oppression
theology must precede shalom theology."
Iron Rule number six: "Long term partnerships that release the oppressed and then rebuild their
damaged communities are required."
Iron Rule number seven: "Read Lev. 25, Deut. 15, Neh. 5 for specifics on God's requirements to end
oppression, execute justice, and create conditions for shalom."
Iron Rule number one should really be number seven to avoid ignoring the prior role of oppression.
Here is one of Linthicum's most valuable insights; there are three responses of the church to the city:
The church IN the community; the church TO the community and the church WITH the community. The church in the community means physically the church is in, but socially it is not of the community. It is an island isolated from the needs of the community. Most churches fall into this category, sometimes for theological reasons, sometimes because the community around them has changed and they don't know how to relate.
Next, the church to the community. Much good can be done with this type of social outreach. But "the Achilles of this approach is the perception that the church knows what is best for the neighborhood. The church determines the needs and the best way to deliver those services. I have discovered in more than 50 years of ministry that this concept is the single most difficult insight for Christians to grasp and apply to their ministry." The paternalistic approach can do much damage as well as some good.
The third approach and the more excellent way is the church WITH the community; unfortunately this is quite rare. In this approach, "the church allows the people of the community to instruct it as it identifies with the people." The church assists the community in solving its problems. The church moves from paternalism to partnership. Partnership participates in the community's struggle to create justice and shalom.
Large partnerships and alliances are built. United Power for Action which began in 1997 in Chicago has 330 institutional members. ONE LA has 120 institutional members. These institutions have enough power so they can negotiate decisions for justice.
The following are Noble's concluding observations:
It does take God's power to release the oppressed. God acting through Moses used his power (the plagues) to force Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves.
In Luke 9:1-2, Jesus gave his disciples his power to heal the sick and to incarnate the kingdom of God which includes releasing the oppressed. Soon, however, these same disciples came close to misusing God's power to kill Samaritans---destroy a Samaritan village that rejected Jesus. Jewish ethnocentrism came perilously close to the tragic misuse of God's power. So Jesus had to rebuke his own disciples (Luke 9:51-55).
It takes God's power to implement God's kingdom. (Acts 1:1-8)
But God's power, necessary as it is, can be misused and abused. Derek Prince, a charismatic leader, said God warned him not to make the same mistake that Pentecostals often made: "squandering my power in spiritual self-indulgence." Some Pentecostals pursue the gifts for the primary purpose of being super spiritual, not the edification of others.
Power must be motivated by love and directed toward justice. Power, justice and love, these three are all absolutely necessary to do the hard work of the kingdom of God, but the greatest of these three is love, with justice a close second and power a close third.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Why is James Fiercely Anti-Rich?
Why is the book of James so fiercely anti-rich?
From the Message, 1:9:
"When the down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer!"
According to Luke, Jesus himself was also fiercely anti-rich---"Woe to the rich!" (6:24). In today's language, we might paraphrase this verse as "the unrepentant rich be damned to hell!" Remember Jesus also called the sacred Temple, "a den of robbers."
James, the half brother of Jesus, agrees and he exposes the demonic activity of the rich in 5:1-6. James is anti-rich because they are usually greedy oppressors. Should the American church also be anti-rich?
At the end of chapter 1, James distinguishes between worthless, hot air religion and pure, real religion. Genuine biblical religion "visits the widows and orphans in their affliction/oppression." When combined with Luke 4:18, this becomes "release the oppressed poor." Then James (2:1-7) scorches the churches for acting like the godless world---favoring the rich. The church was showing favoritism, discriminating against the poor. It was honoring the rich and dishonoring the poor.
God, on the other hand, honors the poor; "He chose the world's down and out as the kingdom's first citizens. . . with full rights and privileges. . . . And here you are abusing these same citizens!"
How stupid can you be! Are you religious idiots? "Isn't it the rich who oppress you?"
Solution:
Love the oppressed poor by spending a generation in their midst.
Combine faith and works; combine God-talk and God-acts.
Do works of justice that release the oppressed poor.
From the Message, 1:9:
"When the down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer!"
According to Luke, Jesus himself was also fiercely anti-rich---"Woe to the rich!" (6:24). In today's language, we might paraphrase this verse as "the unrepentant rich be damned to hell!" Remember Jesus also called the sacred Temple, "a den of robbers."
James, the half brother of Jesus, agrees and he exposes the demonic activity of the rich in 5:1-6. James is anti-rich because they are usually greedy oppressors. Should the American church also be anti-rich?
At the end of chapter 1, James distinguishes between worthless, hot air religion and pure, real religion. Genuine biblical religion "visits the widows and orphans in their affliction/oppression." When combined with Luke 4:18, this becomes "release the oppressed poor." Then James (2:1-7) scorches the churches for acting like the godless world---favoring the rich. The church was showing favoritism, discriminating against the poor. It was honoring the rich and dishonoring the poor.
God, on the other hand, honors the poor; "He chose the world's down and out as the kingdom's first citizens. . . with full rights and privileges. . . . And here you are abusing these same citizens!"
How stupid can you be! Are you religious idiots? "Isn't it the rich who oppress you?"
Solution:
Love the oppressed poor by spending a generation in their midst.
Combine faith and works; combine God-talk and God-acts.
Do works of justice that release the oppressed poor.
Patriots and Profits: An Unbeatable Combination
Both American Gun Violence and American War Violence seem to be as American as apple pie. Both violences are legitimated as Constitutional. To fight and kill in war is an American patriotic duty.
American wars, American imperialism, American oppression began the moment British colonists invaded (colonized is the politically correct term) and began killing Indians and stealing their land.
Jefferson said America would not be like Europe---a land of "eternal wars," instead it would be a land of peace. But our bottomless greed led us to wars of conquest, expansionism, and imperialism.
American wars, even stupid ones, seem never to end; it appears mass gun violence will not end either. It is patriotic to own a gun; it is very profitable to make and sell guns. We are on an unstoppable merry-go-round of guns and violence. The Wild West is now the Wild U.S. America---the land of legal gunslingers. Duck!
Patriots and profits; guns and greed; ethnocentrism and expansionism; exceptionalism and evil; stupidity and arrogance. God bless America!
American wars, American imperialism, American oppression began the moment British colonists invaded (colonized is the politically correct term) and began killing Indians and stealing their land.
Jefferson said America would not be like Europe---a land of "eternal wars," instead it would be a land of peace. But our bottomless greed led us to wars of conquest, expansionism, and imperialism.
American wars, even stupid ones, seem never to end; it appears mass gun violence will not end either. It is patriotic to own a gun; it is very profitable to make and sell guns. We are on an unstoppable merry-go-round of guns and violence. The Wild West is now the Wild U.S. America---the land of legal gunslingers. Duck!
Patriots and profits; guns and greed; ethnocentrism and expansionism; exceptionalism and evil; stupidity and arrogance. God bless America!
Friday, November 10, 2017
The Longest Lasting Con Game in History
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution should be renamed the Declarations of Democratic Oppression. Ethnocentrism and oppression were legalized for rich, white, Anglo-Saxon males. Freed from British tyranny so American tyranny could run wild; women could not vote so they were second-class citizens; the poor could not vote because they had no property; and, of course, Indians and Blacks were hardly human.
Even today, though women can vote, they still are not treated as fully equal. In 2017, the poor are grudgingly given welfare and charity but seldom justice, regarded as defective, inferior. Blacks, Asians, Mexicans and Indians are second-class citizens, often despised.
Freedom to oppress is not consistent with all are created equal. The majority of white males do not see this deep contradiction or if they do, they do not care.
Without specific laws/amendments to protect the poor, women, all ethnic minorities, the Declaration and Constitution create the freedom to oppress.
Even today, though women can vote, they still are not treated as fully equal. In 2017, the poor are grudgingly given welfare and charity but seldom justice, regarded as defective, inferior. Blacks, Asians, Mexicans and Indians are second-class citizens, often despised.
Freedom to oppress is not consistent with all are created equal. The majority of white males do not see this deep contradiction or if they do, they do not care.
Without specific laws/amendments to protect the poor, women, all ethnic minorities, the Declaration and Constitution create the freedom to oppress.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Losing the Game of Life
In the game of life, there is a ferocious battle between two teams---Oppression and Justice. The Oppression team is playing with great passion; it wants the prize of gold badly. Oppression is outscoring Justice.
A strange thing is happening! The sidelines of the Justice team are crowded while their team on the field is outnumbered. Why? The Justice coach seems confused; he doesn't seem to know the playbook very well.
Silence gives consent to Oppression. Biblical justice requires release of the Oppressed. There is no neutral ground; one can't be uninvolved; either for or against.
From the pen of Ken Wystma:
"Justice is rooted in the character of God,
established in the creation of God,
mandated by the commands of God,
present in the kingdom of God,
motivated by the love of God,
affirmed in the teaching of Jesus,
reflected in the example of Jesus,
and carried on today by all who are moved and led by the Spirit."
From the pen of Lowell Noble:
"The kingdom of God is rooted in the Jubilee (Deut. 15, Lev. 25),
described in the Messianic passages (Isaiah),
described in the Sermon on the Mount (6:33),
anointed by the Spirit (Acts 1:1-8),
proclaimed and practiced by the church (Luke 4:18-19)."
A strange thing is happening! The sidelines of the Justice team are crowded while their team on the field is outnumbered. Why? The Justice coach seems confused; he doesn't seem to know the playbook very well.
Silence gives consent to Oppression. Biblical justice requires release of the Oppressed. There is no neutral ground; one can't be uninvolved; either for or against.
From the pen of Ken Wystma:
"Justice is rooted in the character of God,
established in the creation of God,
mandated by the commands of God,
present in the kingdom of God,
motivated by the love of God,
affirmed in the teaching of Jesus,
reflected in the example of Jesus,
and carried on today by all who are moved and led by the Spirit."
From the pen of Lowell Noble:
"The kingdom of God is rooted in the Jubilee (Deut. 15, Lev. 25),
described in the Messianic passages (Isaiah),
described in the Sermon on the Mount (6:33),
anointed by the Spirit (Acts 1:1-8),
proclaimed and practiced by the church (Luke 4:18-19)."
The dangers of loveless gifts of the Spirit
In the midst of this extensive discussion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12 and 14), Paul stresses the absolute necessity for love to control the desire for the gifts and the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit. Love surpasses all the gifts in importance. Love is permanent; the gifts will pass away. We must not be like children playing with toys as we exercise God's gifts, but we must maturely seek the edification of others as we exercise these powerful gifts.
Another way of making this point is to emphasize the priority of the fruit of the Spirit---love, joy, peace, etc. over the gifts of the Spirit. See Gal. 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit will give us the spiritual maturity and motivation to exercise the gifts to edify the church, to strengthen, encourage and build up the body of Christ.
Apparently, it is possible to become intoxicated with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. This spectacular supernatural power, which has its place, can get out of hand. Derek Prince, himself a charismatic leader, warns his fellow charismatics against the excesses of the movement. Prince was in Kenya participating in a service in which the supernatural blessing of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people. Prince comments:
"We had touched God, . . . His power was at our disposal. God spoke to my spirit, and said, "Do not let them make the same mistake that Pentecostals have so often made in the past, by squandering my power in spiritual self-indulgence. Instead, pray for the nation of Kenya."
Another way of making this point is to emphasize the priority of the fruit of the Spirit---love, joy, peace, etc. over the gifts of the Spirit. See Gal. 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit will give us the spiritual maturity and motivation to exercise the gifts to edify the church, to strengthen, encourage and build up the body of Christ.
Apparently, it is possible to become intoxicated with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. This spectacular supernatural power, which has its place, can get out of hand. Derek Prince, himself a charismatic leader, warns his fellow charismatics against the excesses of the movement. Prince was in Kenya participating in a service in which the supernatural blessing of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people. Prince comments:
"We had touched God, . . . His power was at our disposal. God spoke to my spirit, and said, "Do not let them make the same mistake that Pentecostals have so often made in the past, by squandering my power in spiritual self-indulgence. Instead, pray for the nation of Kenya."
The Freedom to Oppress
After my first reading of Samuel Wells, "The world's two stories," I was overjoyed that finally someone had destroyed the false American freedom fantasy---that a free people, free from tyranny, could and would solve their social problems.
But Wells' superficial solution---grace--- caused me to rethink the issue discussed. If biblical grace is combined with justice and love, as it should be, this is O.K. But in Christian America, grace is restricted to personal salvation; it does not include kingdom justice.
This is the false American freedom story, according to Wells: "Once upon a time we lived in a class-ridden, race-dominated, gender-constrained society." Slowly but surely this free people largely dismantled the demons of "power, privilege, and prejudice."
But this reading of history is not accurate. The founding fathers enshrined rich, white, male power, privilege, and prejudice in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Rich, white male power, privilege and prejudice from 1776 to 2017.
The Declaration of Independence from British tyranny unfortunately included the right for American tyrants to engage in Indian genocide and African enslavement, unchecked and unchallenged. Indian genocide and African enslavement was a form of tyranny far worse than British tyranny. Hypocrisy! "The neglect of justice and the love of God." (Luke 11:42).
The Declaration and Constitution did not enshrine the biblical principles of the OT Sabbatical/Jubilee laws: free slaves every seven years, cancel debts every seven years, and restore/return land every 50 years. Anything less than this permits systems of oppression to continue for generations; this is the freedom to oppress. This is the real and tragic story of American history.
The Declaration of Independence should be renamed the Declaration of Democratic Oppression. Ethnocentrism and oppression were legalized for rich, white, Anglo-Saxon males. Freed from British tyranny so America tyrants could run wild: women could not vote so they were treated as second-class citizens; the poor couldn't vote, they had no property. Of course, since Indians were savages, they were barely human. The same with black slaves who were inferior in the eyes of whites.
Even today, in 2017, though women can now vote, they still are not treated as fully equal.. In 2017, the poor are grudgingly given charity and welfare, seldom justice; they are regarded as defective, inferior.
Freedom to oppress is not consistent with all are created equal. The majority of rich, white, males don't see this deep contradiction, or they don't care.
Without specific laws/amendments to protect the poor, women, Asians, Mexicans, Blacks and Indians, the Declaration and the Constitution are only a license for the freedom to oppress. Freedom could be coupled with justice to release the oppressed. In America, the oppressed seldom get even fragments of justice.
The Declaration of Independence should be renamed the Declaration of Democratic Oppression. Ethnocentrism and oppression were legalized for rich, white, Anglo-Saxon males. Freed from British tyranny so America tyrants could run wild: women could not vote so they were treated as second-class citizens; the poor couldn't vote, they had no property. Of course, since Indians were savages, they were barely human. The same with black slaves who were inferior in the eyes of whites.
Even today, in 2017, though women can now vote, they still are not treated as fully equal.. In 2017, the poor are grudgingly given charity and welfare, seldom justice; they are regarded as defective, inferior.
Freedom to oppress is not consistent with all are created equal. The majority of rich, white, males don't see this deep contradiction, or they don't care.
Without specific laws/amendments to protect the poor, women, Asians, Mexicans, Blacks and Indians, the Declaration and the Constitution are only a license for the freedom to oppress. Freedom could be coupled with justice to release the oppressed. In America, the oppressed seldom get even fragments of justice.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Pope Francis "The Joy of the Gospel"
Pope Francis' exhortation/manifesto entitled The Joy of the Gospel is MUST reading. I would have subtitled his manifesto: Joy Requires Justice.
In my opinion, John Perkins and Pope Francis are biblical justice cousins. Pope Francis has his own version of John Perkins' three 'r's'.
Relocation: from the sanctuary to the streets.
Reconciliation: from exclusion to inclusion.
Redistribution: from economic inequality to justice.
I also see Pope Francis reflecting both Luke 4:18-19 and Luke 4:25-30. Luke 4:18 highlights the oppressed poor and Luke 4:25-30 grapples with religious ethnocentrism (exclusion).
Francis urges the church to move "from the security of the sanctuary to the suffering of the streets"; the church should be among "the bruised, hurting and dirty," among the marginalized, excluded and oppressed.
Pope Francis, almost thou hast persuadest me to be a Catholic, at least in terms of your profoundly biblical social teaching. I see you as a needed prophetic figure for today's times. Martin Luther King was a drum major for justice. I see you as a drum major for the poor and against systems of economic oppression run by the rich. Your exhortation is bold and clear.
King was beginning to become a biblical prophet against the rich and for the poor when he was assassinated. One pundit sees your recent prophetic teaching The Joy of the Gospel as the equivalent to King's "I Have a Dream" speech; it also echoes King's 'I Live a Nightmare' speech (my title) given in December 1967.
Matthew Fox, a radical priest who was defrocked because of his anti-rich and pro-poor stance, is glowing in his praise of The Joy of the Gospel. Fox declares:
"I think that he delivered a tremendous message yesterday with this document about justice in the world. I think it goes beyond church reform. . . . he is willing to really critique the economic system with strong language and connecting it to the biblical tradition of justice and the prophetic work on behalf of the poor . . . [who are] defenseless against the deified market."
Note some of the powerful phrases Pope Francis uses:
"unfettered capitalism, a new tyranny, idolatry of money, trickle-down economics, deified market, consumerism, covetous heart, feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, blunted conscience, where powerful feed upon the powerless, crude and naive trust in the prevailing economic system, the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root, evil crystallized in unjust social structures."
I also see that Francis, in his own way, critiques the American Trinity of hyperindividualism, hypermaterialism, and hyperethnocentrism.
In my opinion, John Perkins and Pope Francis are biblical justice cousins. Pope Francis has his own version of John Perkins' three 'r's'.
Relocation: from the sanctuary to the streets.
Reconciliation: from exclusion to inclusion.
Redistribution: from economic inequality to justice.
I also see Pope Francis reflecting both Luke 4:18-19 and Luke 4:25-30. Luke 4:18 highlights the oppressed poor and Luke 4:25-30 grapples with religious ethnocentrism (exclusion).
Francis urges the church to move "from the security of the sanctuary to the suffering of the streets"; the church should be among "the bruised, hurting and dirty," among the marginalized, excluded and oppressed.
Pope Francis, almost thou hast persuadest me to be a Catholic, at least in terms of your profoundly biblical social teaching. I see you as a needed prophetic figure for today's times. Martin Luther King was a drum major for justice. I see you as a drum major for the poor and against systems of economic oppression run by the rich. Your exhortation is bold and clear.
King was beginning to become a biblical prophet against the rich and for the poor when he was assassinated. One pundit sees your recent prophetic teaching The Joy of the Gospel as the equivalent to King's "I Have a Dream" speech; it also echoes King's 'I Live a Nightmare' speech (my title) given in December 1967.
Matthew Fox, a radical priest who was defrocked because of his anti-rich and pro-poor stance, is glowing in his praise of The Joy of the Gospel. Fox declares:
"I think that he delivered a tremendous message yesterday with this document about justice in the world. I think it goes beyond church reform. . . . he is willing to really critique the economic system with strong language and connecting it to the biblical tradition of justice and the prophetic work on behalf of the poor . . . [who are] defenseless against the deified market."
Note some of the powerful phrases Pope Francis uses:
"unfettered capitalism, a new tyranny, idolatry of money, trickle-down economics, deified market, consumerism, covetous heart, feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, blunted conscience, where powerful feed upon the powerless, crude and naive trust in the prevailing economic system, the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root, evil crystallized in unjust social structures."
I also see that Francis, in his own way, critiques the American Trinity of hyperindividualism, hypermaterialism, and hyperethnocentrism.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Are White Evangelicals Social Justice Pharisees?
In the Des Moines Register, an Afro American pastor, Rev. Bill McGill wrote an editorial titled, "Cynical about Christian Coalition's concerns." In this article, McGill stated, correctly in my opinion, "If they are authentically concerned they should stop preaching the lie that this country was founded on 'Christian' principles and values, and teach their children that only a godless people would be responsible for Indian genocide and African enslavement."
Even our founding fathers were involved in Indian genocide and African enslavement. In other words, they were tyrants.
John Perkins once wrote that Mississippi would have better off without the white evangelical church which neglected justice and the love of God.
Lee Harper, a Mississippian, expressed it this way: "For injustice ran deep and cloaked itself well among those things that appeared just."
In the 1980s, white evangelicals voted in large numbers for Ronald Reagan, a nominal Christian who was a racist. And 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, another racist president. Why do white evangelicals ignore the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice?
Even our founding fathers were involved in Indian genocide and African enslavement. In other words, they were tyrants.
John Perkins once wrote that Mississippi would have better off without the white evangelical church which neglected justice and the love of God.
Lee Harper, a Mississippian, expressed it this way: "For injustice ran deep and cloaked itself well among those things that appeared just."
In the 1980s, white evangelicals voted in large numbers for Ronald Reagan, a nominal Christian who was a racist. And 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, another racist president. Why do white evangelicals ignore the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice?
Friday, November 3, 2017
The Wars of America:Christian Views
This blog is about the book The Wars of America: Christian Views edited by Ronald Wells. Each war is analyzed by a professional historian, each an expert on a particular war.
In his Introduction, Wells makes the following observations:
"The way in which a nation wages war reveals a great deal about its basic values. . . . That war should be as common to American history as to the history of other nations was a condition that many of the founding fathers did not anticipate. It was their belief that the United States would be signally different from Europe in many ways, but especially in its elimination of war. . . . Jefferson wrote, "the nations of Europe . . .are nations of eternal war. . . . never had a people so favorable a chance of trying the opposite system, of peace and fraternity with mankind and the direction of all our means and faculties to the purpose of improvement instead of destruction."
Why did these United States also become a nation of 'eternal war'? In my opinion, this nation was driven by greed, by ethnocentrism and oppression, by the neglect of justice and the love of God to war after war after war.
George Marsden has a mind blowing chapter on The American Revolution. Marsden writes:
"Christians in such countries . . .have characteristically been in the forefront in turning 'just wars' into such crusades. These modern crusades, however, have not been ones in which the church dominates the world; rather the nation has set the agenda and the Christians have supplied the flags and crosses.."
"The American Revolution is a pivotal instance for understanding how modern nations have transformed supposed 'just wars' into secular crusades. It is pivotal for considering other wars of America, since the patterns of nationalism and civil religion established at the time of the Revolution became important elements in the mythology that determined American's behavior in subsequent wars." America's founding fathers claimed they were revolting against British tyrants; in reality, the founding fathers were already far worse tyrants---as slave holders and Indian killers---than the British tyrants ever were. John Wesley recognized this fact and opposed the American Revolution.
Some final thoughts from Marsden:
"Yet the American revolutionaries had taken a good cause, the virtues of which they overestimated because of their partisanship and their political preconceptions, and they had vastly inflated its importance by sanctifying it with biblical imagery. Thus the good cause, . . . became an idol."
"Perhaps the most important outcome of this process was that in it a new religion was born. This new religion is the now-famous American civil religion in which the state is an object of worship, but the imagery used to describe its sacredness is borrowed from Christianity. . . . Indeed it has been this close association of religion and politics that has been one of the greatest obstacles to a genuine Christian critique of the political order, specifically of its military ventures."
So in America, war is a national duty, a patriotic act; soldiers are our highest heroes, not community developers.
I highly recommend that you read this book two or three times; it is that important.
In his Introduction, Wells makes the following observations:
"The way in which a nation wages war reveals a great deal about its basic values. . . . That war should be as common to American history as to the history of other nations was a condition that many of the founding fathers did not anticipate. It was their belief that the United States would be signally different from Europe in many ways, but especially in its elimination of war. . . . Jefferson wrote, "the nations of Europe . . .are nations of eternal war. . . . never had a people so favorable a chance of trying the opposite system, of peace and fraternity with mankind and the direction of all our means and faculties to the purpose of improvement instead of destruction."
Why did these United States also become a nation of 'eternal war'? In my opinion, this nation was driven by greed, by ethnocentrism and oppression, by the neglect of justice and the love of God to war after war after war.
George Marsden has a mind blowing chapter on The American Revolution. Marsden writes:
"Christians in such countries . . .have characteristically been in the forefront in turning 'just wars' into such crusades. These modern crusades, however, have not been ones in which the church dominates the world; rather the nation has set the agenda and the Christians have supplied the flags and crosses.."
"The American Revolution is a pivotal instance for understanding how modern nations have transformed supposed 'just wars' into secular crusades. It is pivotal for considering other wars of America, since the patterns of nationalism and civil religion established at the time of the Revolution became important elements in the mythology that determined American's behavior in subsequent wars." America's founding fathers claimed they were revolting against British tyrants; in reality, the founding fathers were already far worse tyrants---as slave holders and Indian killers---than the British tyrants ever were. John Wesley recognized this fact and opposed the American Revolution.
Some final thoughts from Marsden:
"Yet the American revolutionaries had taken a good cause, the virtues of which they overestimated because of their partisanship and their political preconceptions, and they had vastly inflated its importance by sanctifying it with biblical imagery. Thus the good cause, . . . became an idol."
"Perhaps the most important outcome of this process was that in it a new religion was born. This new religion is the now-famous American civil religion in which the state is an object of worship, but the imagery used to describe its sacredness is borrowed from Christianity. . . . Indeed it has been this close association of religion and politics that has been one of the greatest obstacles to a genuine Christian critique of the political order, specifically of its military ventures."
So in America, war is a national duty, a patriotic act; soldiers are our highest heroes, not community developers.
I highly recommend that you read this book two or three times; it is that important.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
The Mystery of the Trinity
There is no perfect analogy to explain both the reality and mystery of the Christian Trinity. By the way, the term trinity is not found in the Bible.
The analogy of water helps make some key points. Water is a substance that has different forms and functions. As a substance, it is H2O in all three forms: gas, liquid and solid. Each form has specific functions. As a gas (vapor, clouds), water can be transported effortlessly by air currents for thousands of miles. As a liquid, water can be drunk by humans, nourish plants, transport goods on its surface. As a solid, water cools; again goods can be transported on its surface.
As substance, God is one God; this is a primary teaching of the OT. In the OT, there are hints of a trinitarian God, but only the NT contains a full teaching on the Son and Spirit.
To humans, as we perceive it, this one God (substance), takes on three persons, each with specific functions. God the Father remains in heaven, in overall charge of the creation. God the Son become human (Incarnation)---born, eats, sleeps, tires and dies as a human. God the Spirit guides, teaches truth, empowers humans. Though the issues of substance and form entertain and sometimes confuse the philosopher/theologian, the practical side of the Trinity for humans is function. There is a mystery in how the divine and human nature of the Son can coexist, the Scriptures do not speculate on how this happens. They state the fact but then quickly move on to function, the purpose of the Incarnation.
Another analogy is that of a single human person who plays three distinct roles: husband, father, son. He is husband to his wife, father to his son, and son to his mother. One person, three functions.
The analogy of water helps make some key points. Water is a substance that has different forms and functions. As a substance, it is H2O in all three forms: gas, liquid and solid. Each form has specific functions. As a gas (vapor, clouds), water can be transported effortlessly by air currents for thousands of miles. As a liquid, water can be drunk by humans, nourish plants, transport goods on its surface. As a solid, water cools; again goods can be transported on its surface.
As substance, God is one God; this is a primary teaching of the OT. In the OT, there are hints of a trinitarian God, but only the NT contains a full teaching on the Son and Spirit.
To humans, as we perceive it, this one God (substance), takes on three persons, each with specific functions. God the Father remains in heaven, in overall charge of the creation. God the Son become human (Incarnation)---born, eats, sleeps, tires and dies as a human. God the Spirit guides, teaches truth, empowers humans. Though the issues of substance and form entertain and sometimes confuse the philosopher/theologian, the practical side of the Trinity for humans is function. There is a mystery in how the divine and human nature of the Son can coexist, the Scriptures do not speculate on how this happens. They state the fact but then quickly move on to function, the purpose of the Incarnation.
Another analogy is that of a single human person who plays three distinct roles: husband, father, son. He is husband to his wife, father to his son, and son to his mother. One person, three functions.
America's Social Inequalities
Tying history and sociology together, this is my explanation of America's Social Inequalities.
First, the basic American values of exceptionalism, ethnocentrism and expansionism lead to the development of systems of oppression such as Indian genocide, African enslavement and the theft of one half of Mexico's land. These horrible systems of oppression lead to both physical and social death (social PTSD), to damaged cultures and dysfunctional social institutions. Result: broken marriages, families, schools and communities. Out of all the above, our society ends up with serious social problems such as poverty, unemployment, crime, drugs and abortions.
First, the basic American values of exceptionalism, ethnocentrism and expansionism lead to the development of systems of oppression such as Indian genocide, African enslavement and the theft of one half of Mexico's land. These horrible systems of oppression lead to both physical and social death (social PTSD), to damaged cultures and dysfunctional social institutions. Result: broken marriages, families, schools and communities. Out of all the above, our society ends up with serious social problems such as poverty, unemployment, crime, drugs and abortions.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Black Folk Here and There
St. Clair Drake, author of Black Folk Here and There (1987), was a professor at Stanford university where he taught anthropology and sociology and directed the African and Afro American studies program. Drake's book builds on Black Folk Then and Now: An Essay in the History and Sociology of the Negro Race (1941) by W. E. B. Du Bois.
In my review of Drake's book, I summarize: In the Christian church prior to the sixteenth century, there was a mixed message regarding blacks. There was some prejudice, but at the same time there were favorable stereotypes of Black people. There was no systematic, institutionalized racism against Blacks at this time. Soon the situation would change because "the sixteenth century was a watershed in race relations."
"The rise of the transatlantic trade in African men and women condemned to be enslaved on New World plantations meant that the system of multi-racial slavery, the norm in the Mediterranean, gave way to racial slavery in the Americas. A doctrine of White Racism was gradually elaborated to defend this practice as well as European colonial imperialism. This was a conscious and deliberate process of degrading Africans for economic and political ends."
Afro Americans have been degraded and dehumanized for so long in these United States that someone needed to set the record straight. Drake has done so with thorough and balanced scholarship.
However, his analysis needs to be put into a larger context. White racism against Blacks is historically a recent phenomenon. Ethnocentrism, a cousin to racism, is both an ancient and widespread phenomenon. Ethnocentrism is based on supposed cultural and/or national and/or religious superiority; often culture, nationality, and religion are mixed together as with the Christian Afrikaners in South Africa.
The ancient Greeks were highly ethnocentric; non-Greeks were regarded as barbarians. The ancient Chinese were also highly ethnocentric as are modern Americans and modern Japanese.
In my review of Drake's book, I summarize: In the Christian church prior to the sixteenth century, there was a mixed message regarding blacks. There was some prejudice, but at the same time there were favorable stereotypes of Black people. There was no systematic, institutionalized racism against Blacks at this time. Soon the situation would change because "the sixteenth century was a watershed in race relations."
"The rise of the transatlantic trade in African men and women condemned to be enslaved on New World plantations meant that the system of multi-racial slavery, the norm in the Mediterranean, gave way to racial slavery in the Americas. A doctrine of White Racism was gradually elaborated to defend this practice as well as European colonial imperialism. This was a conscious and deliberate process of degrading Africans for economic and political ends."
Afro Americans have been degraded and dehumanized for so long in these United States that someone needed to set the record straight. Drake has done so with thorough and balanced scholarship.
However, his analysis needs to be put into a larger context. White racism against Blacks is historically a recent phenomenon. Ethnocentrism, a cousin to racism, is both an ancient and widespread phenomenon. Ethnocentrism is based on supposed cultural and/or national and/or religious superiority; often culture, nationality, and religion are mixed together as with the Christian Afrikaners in South Africa.
The ancient Greeks were highly ethnocentric; non-Greeks were regarded as barbarians. The ancient Chinese were also highly ethnocentric as are modern Americans and modern Japanese.
Monday, October 30, 2017
Grace leads to generous giving
According to II Corinthians, chapters eight and nine, God's generous grace to use should lead to our generous giving to others. Grace occurs 6 times---8:1,6,7,9; 9:8,14. Generous 8 times---8:2; 9:5, 5, 6 , 6, 11,11, 13. Gift, gave 13 times---8:1, 7, 12, 20; 9:5, 5, 7, 7, 7, 9, 14, 15, 8:3, 5, 10.
There is a rhythm to grace and giving in these chapters. Chapter 8 begins with the grace of God. Chapter 9 ends with "the surpassing grace God has given you."
In between the beginning of chapter 8 and the end of chapter 9, we see the Macedonian churches engaging in an "act of grace," "rich generosity," and the "grace of giving." Out of their own joy and poverty, they gave liberally, showing their love in this service to the Jerusalem saints in need because of famine.
Our generous giving has its source in God.
Question: Is love an expression of grace or is grace an expression of love? How are the two related? "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. . . . " Does love initiate grace? Are love, grace and justice intertwined?
There is a rhythm to grace and giving in these chapters. Chapter 8 begins with the grace of God. Chapter 9 ends with "the surpassing grace God has given you."
In between the beginning of chapter 8 and the end of chapter 9, we see the Macedonian churches engaging in an "act of grace," "rich generosity," and the "grace of giving." Out of their own joy and poverty, they gave liberally, showing their love in this service to the Jerusalem saints in need because of famine.
Our generous giving has its source in God.
Question: Is love an expression of grace or is grace an expression of love? How are the two related? "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. . . . " Does love initiate grace? Are love, grace and justice intertwined?
Friday, October 27, 2017
War and Oppression are EVIL
War and Oppression are Evil.
I base this blog on a Christianity Today article (June 2015) titled "War Torn." CT summarizes the essence of the article in one sentence: "PTSD is not just trauma of the Mind but trauma of the Soul." To me, a key sentence is : "In 2012, the United States lost more active-duty troops to suicide than to combat in Afghanistan."
This article is about war-caused PTSD; it sees PTSD as more than psychological trauma. It is also moral injury, soul trauma."
Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist who was treating Viet Nam veterans suffering from PTSD. Kinghorn had been taught that PTSD was an anxiety disorder driven by "intense fear, helplessness, or horror." "Kinghorn learned to give a quick PTSD diagnosis and apply a simple formula for treatment: Prescribe medication to blunt the fear, recommend social support, and refer the patient for talk therapy."
Kinghorn was later introduced to the writings of Jonathan Shay. "Shay concluded that the psychological and moral injury sustained in combat destroys trust. . . . when the capacity for social trust is destroyed, all possibility of a flourishing human life is lost."
One veteran described himself as a person with "strong religious beliefs." When he went to Vietnam, "I wasn't prepared for it at all. . . . It was all evil. All evil. . . . I'm horrified at what I turned into. What I was. What I did."
Another veteran wrote: "The spiritual and emotional foundations of the world disappeared and made it impossible for me to sleep the sleep of the just. . . . I have a feeling of intense betrayal."
It may be these veterans' nation and parents betrayed him; they took advantage of his youth, his patriotism and seduced him into fighting an unjust war. Their definition of patriotism required that these veterans do unspeakable evil. As a result, America has millions of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans trying to function as normal human beings but who are moral cripples. Add to these veterans, the millions of Afro Americans, Indian Americans, Mexican Americans who are suffering from varying degrees of PTSD because of white oppression; they are seldom allowed the privilege of functioning as full-fledged human beings.
Kinghorn finally realized that PTSD was not primarily about fear, but was about "right and wrong."
It was about ethics, morality, spirituality. This was missing from secular psychiatry.
Both war and oppression are EVIL; both cause TRAUMA; not only to the body and mind but also to the soul and spirit. Both cause moral injury.
Thousand of years ago this truth was proclaimed again and again in the OT; there are 555 references to oppression in the OT. This is how the Hebrew scholar Thomas Hanks describes, in one powerful sentence, the essence of oppression; "Oppression smashes the body and CRUSHES THE SPIRIT."
Crushing the spirit is another way of talking about what we moderns call PTSD. Joy Leary, a black social worker, in the title of her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, captures this thought. So does Exodus 6:9 when the Hebrew slaves could not believe the good news Moses had just delivered to them.
Where do we go from here? Are there any solutions? It seems as Americans we keep blundering from war to war, from one system of oppression to another.
After World War I, we insisted on reparations from the Germans which they paid but this demand was a heavy burden. So when Hitler came along and promised that he would restore the glory of the fatherland, Germans followed this promised national Savior. After World War II, we didn't make the same mistake. Instead, America instituted the Marshall Plan, a way to help ruined Germany rebuild. Germany is now a healthy prosperous nation and our friend. We engaged in a form of community development.
Some radical suggestions for the future:
1. Make community development a national goal, a patriotic act.
2. Train as many community developers as soldiers.
3. Put as many billions into community development as we do the military.
Our past approaches haven't worked very well so we need different strategies.
I base this blog on a Christianity Today article (June 2015) titled "War Torn." CT summarizes the essence of the article in one sentence: "PTSD is not just trauma of the Mind but trauma of the Soul." To me, a key sentence is : "In 2012, the United States lost more active-duty troops to suicide than to combat in Afghanistan."
This article is about war-caused PTSD; it sees PTSD as more than psychological trauma. It is also moral injury, soul trauma."
Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist who was treating Viet Nam veterans suffering from PTSD. Kinghorn had been taught that PTSD was an anxiety disorder driven by "intense fear, helplessness, or horror." "Kinghorn learned to give a quick PTSD diagnosis and apply a simple formula for treatment: Prescribe medication to blunt the fear, recommend social support, and refer the patient for talk therapy."
Kinghorn was later introduced to the writings of Jonathan Shay. "Shay concluded that the psychological and moral injury sustained in combat destroys trust. . . . when the capacity for social trust is destroyed, all possibility of a flourishing human life is lost."
One veteran described himself as a person with "strong religious beliefs." When he went to Vietnam, "I wasn't prepared for it at all. . . . It was all evil. All evil. . . . I'm horrified at what I turned into. What I was. What I did."
Another veteran wrote: "The spiritual and emotional foundations of the world disappeared and made it impossible for me to sleep the sleep of the just. . . . I have a feeling of intense betrayal."
It may be these veterans' nation and parents betrayed him; they took advantage of his youth, his patriotism and seduced him into fighting an unjust war. Their definition of patriotism required that these veterans do unspeakable evil. As a result, America has millions of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans trying to function as normal human beings but who are moral cripples. Add to these veterans, the millions of Afro Americans, Indian Americans, Mexican Americans who are suffering from varying degrees of PTSD because of white oppression; they are seldom allowed the privilege of functioning as full-fledged human beings.
Kinghorn finally realized that PTSD was not primarily about fear, but was about "right and wrong."
It was about ethics, morality, spirituality. This was missing from secular psychiatry.
Both war and oppression are EVIL; both cause TRAUMA; not only to the body and mind but also to the soul and spirit. Both cause moral injury.
Thousand of years ago this truth was proclaimed again and again in the OT; there are 555 references to oppression in the OT. This is how the Hebrew scholar Thomas Hanks describes, in one powerful sentence, the essence of oppression; "Oppression smashes the body and CRUSHES THE SPIRIT."
Crushing the spirit is another way of talking about what we moderns call PTSD. Joy Leary, a black social worker, in the title of her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, captures this thought. So does Exodus 6:9 when the Hebrew slaves could not believe the good news Moses had just delivered to them.
Where do we go from here? Are there any solutions? It seems as Americans we keep blundering from war to war, from one system of oppression to another.
After World War I, we insisted on reparations from the Germans which they paid but this demand was a heavy burden. So when Hitler came along and promised that he would restore the glory of the fatherland, Germans followed this promised national Savior. After World War II, we didn't make the same mistake. Instead, America instituted the Marshall Plan, a way to help ruined Germany rebuild. Germany is now a healthy prosperous nation and our friend. We engaged in a form of community development.
Some radical suggestions for the future:
1. Make community development a national goal, a patriotic act.
2. Train as many community developers as soldiers.
3. Put as many billions into community development as we do the military.
Our past approaches haven't worked very well so we need different strategies.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Martin and Malcolm and John
In 1991, James Cone wrote a great book titled Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare. I want to add another equally important name, John M. Perkins. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and John Perkins.
On August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. uttered these immortal words:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day . . . sons of formers slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."
John Perkins was driving on the road from Mendenhall, MS to Jackson, MS while listening to King's speech on the radio. John was so deeply moved that he had to pull off the road; he wept as he listened. King's speech reinforced John's commitment to rebuilding poor and oppressed communities in Mississippi.
On April 3, 1964, Malcolm X uttered these powerful words, ideas born of bitter experiences with poverty and racism, ideas which King increasingly shared with Malcolm toward the latter part of King's ministry:
"I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the . . . victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver. . . . I'm speaking as a victim of this American system [of oppression]. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare."
Malcolm encouraged John to stand up and be a proud black man. Perkins started wearing a goatee as a symbol that he was a man. Under Mississippi segregation, black males were forbidden to wear beards reinforcing the fact that they were only boys. John wants to be buried with his goatee intact. In this sense, Perkins is a disciple of Malcolm X.
James Cone, who himself has written eloquently about the Afro-American experience in America, who has passionately condemned the oppression of blacks by white America, is at his scholarly best in Martin and Malcolm and America; David Garrow accurately describes this book as 'an immensely valuable, landmark analysis by a scholar uniquely qualified to interpret both King and Malcolm.'"
In chapter eight titled "Shattered Dreams (1965-68," Cone traces King's developing awareness of the enormous poverty and suffering being experienced by millions of his Afro-America sisters and brothers. Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, King was reasonably optimistic about the future of black Americans. This optimism was shattered five days later. The Watts ghetto in Los Angeles exploded. Thirty-four people died; whole blocks burned.
As King talked with the people of Watts, they told him that the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had not significantly reduced their problems of poverty and racism. After visiting numerous ghettos, King, in December 1967, four months before his assassination, uttered these discouraging words:
"In 1963 . . . in Washington, D.C. . . . I tried to talk to the nation about a dream I had had, and I must confess . . . that not long after talking about that dream I started seeing it turn into a nightmare, just a few weeks after I had talked about it. It was when four beautiful . . . Negros girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. I watched that dream turn into a nightmare as I moved through the ghettos of the nation and saw black brothers and sisters perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity, and saw the nation doing nothing to grapple with the Negroes' problem of poverty. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched my black brothers and sisters in the midst of anger and understandable outrage, in the midst of their hurt, . . . turn to misguided riots to try to solve that problem. . . . Yes, I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes."
Increasingly King spoke as a prophet of judgment as he saw America doing little to respond to the desperate economic straits of millions of Black Americans. While King never forsook his principles of love and nonviolence, he sounded more and more like a revolutionary. He was deeply disappointed in white moderates, most of whom did not support King when he moved beyond civil rights and voting rights to economic rights, economic justice, economic equality. King never found an effective means of dealing with poverty though he was an eloquent prophet against poverty and racism in his last years.
It may be that now is the time to give heed to another great Afro-American, one who is not yet widely known. John Perkins, born and raised a poor black in Mississippi, started a unique ministry in rural Mississippi in 1960. As this ministry developed, it combined evangelism and social justice into what Perkins now calls Christian Community Development. CCD is a strategy that brings rich and poor, black and white together to rebuild poor and oppressed communities.
For more, read some of John Perkins 17 books. Perkins, whose formal education ended around third grade, has received 13 honorary doctorates. Perkins was deeply disillusioned with the white church in Mississippi: "The white church institutions in Mississippi have been the last bastion of racism and discrimination. . . . So if somehow all the church and church institutions had been wiped out in Mississippi, we would be much further along in terms of progress than we are at the present time."
On August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. uttered these immortal words:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day . . . sons of formers slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."
John Perkins was driving on the road from Mendenhall, MS to Jackson, MS while listening to King's speech on the radio. John was so deeply moved that he had to pull off the road; he wept as he listened. King's speech reinforced John's commitment to rebuilding poor and oppressed communities in Mississippi.
On April 3, 1964, Malcolm X uttered these powerful words, ideas born of bitter experiences with poverty and racism, ideas which King increasingly shared with Malcolm toward the latter part of King's ministry:
"I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the . . . victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver. . . . I'm speaking as a victim of this American system [of oppression]. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare."
Malcolm encouraged John to stand up and be a proud black man. Perkins started wearing a goatee as a symbol that he was a man. Under Mississippi segregation, black males were forbidden to wear beards reinforcing the fact that they were only boys. John wants to be buried with his goatee intact. In this sense, Perkins is a disciple of Malcolm X.
James Cone, who himself has written eloquently about the Afro-American experience in America, who has passionately condemned the oppression of blacks by white America, is at his scholarly best in Martin and Malcolm and America; David Garrow accurately describes this book as 'an immensely valuable, landmark analysis by a scholar uniquely qualified to interpret both King and Malcolm.'"
In chapter eight titled "Shattered Dreams (1965-68," Cone traces King's developing awareness of the enormous poverty and suffering being experienced by millions of his Afro-America sisters and brothers. Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, King was reasonably optimistic about the future of black Americans. This optimism was shattered five days later. The Watts ghetto in Los Angeles exploded. Thirty-four people died; whole blocks burned.
As King talked with the people of Watts, they told him that the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had not significantly reduced their problems of poverty and racism. After visiting numerous ghettos, King, in December 1967, four months before his assassination, uttered these discouraging words:
"In 1963 . . . in Washington, D.C. . . . I tried to talk to the nation about a dream I had had, and I must confess . . . that not long after talking about that dream I started seeing it turn into a nightmare, just a few weeks after I had talked about it. It was when four beautiful . . . Negros girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. I watched that dream turn into a nightmare as I moved through the ghettos of the nation and saw black brothers and sisters perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity, and saw the nation doing nothing to grapple with the Negroes' problem of poverty. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched my black brothers and sisters in the midst of anger and understandable outrage, in the midst of their hurt, . . . turn to misguided riots to try to solve that problem. . . . Yes, I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes."
Increasingly King spoke as a prophet of judgment as he saw America doing little to respond to the desperate economic straits of millions of Black Americans. While King never forsook his principles of love and nonviolence, he sounded more and more like a revolutionary. He was deeply disappointed in white moderates, most of whom did not support King when he moved beyond civil rights and voting rights to economic rights, economic justice, economic equality. King never found an effective means of dealing with poverty though he was an eloquent prophet against poverty and racism in his last years.
It may be that now is the time to give heed to another great Afro-American, one who is not yet widely known. John Perkins, born and raised a poor black in Mississippi, started a unique ministry in rural Mississippi in 1960. As this ministry developed, it combined evangelism and social justice into what Perkins now calls Christian Community Development. CCD is a strategy that brings rich and poor, black and white together to rebuild poor and oppressed communities.
For more, read some of John Perkins 17 books. Perkins, whose formal education ended around third grade, has received 13 honorary doctorates. Perkins was deeply disillusioned with the white church in Mississippi: "The white church institutions in Mississippi have been the last bastion of racism and discrimination. . . . So if somehow all the church and church institutions had been wiped out in Mississippi, we would be much further along in terms of progress than we are at the present time."
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