Many American Christians would answer, YES, I love the poor; I give generously to charities. Good, but is your love informed by biblical wisdom, biblical truth. The book When Helping Hurts documents that well meaning, but misguided, generosity can do more harm than good.
I would hazard a guess that the majority of well meaning Christian aid given to Haiti over the years has been misguided and therefore ineffective. Why?
1. It is not informed by the extensive biblical teaching on oppression and justice. Instead, it is informed by conventional wisdom, by cultural ideology, resulting in flawed analysis of both the causes of poverty and the best solutions to end poverty. Few American Christians have an in-depth understanding of oppression which in the bible is the primary cause of poverty. If you love the poor and want to end poverty, you first must end oppression. Few Christians do this.
2. Biblically, love must always be combined with justice and wisdom to make helping socially healing.
3. John Perkins would assert that the first and crucial step a person must take to assist the poor is to relocate---decide to live among the poor. The gift of yourself---your presence, knowledge and skills---is much more important than your money, though your money is needed. Think long term; plan to relocate for 10-20-30 years in one place. It will take years before you really know what you are doing, before you gain a deep understanding of poverty, oppression and justice.
4. If you can't or won't relocate, then PARTNER with an indigenous leader who has relocated and is combining church and community development, who has his/her ministry undergirded with a biblical theology that combines Christ, Kingdom, church and community.
So the question: Do you love the poor? needs to be followed by two other questions: Are you and your church releasing the oppressed? And are you and your church doing Jubilee justice in a poor community?
Monday, May 23, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
A Chosen, Servant People or a Chosen, Superior People?
Why did the Nazareth Jews who believed that God was their own private God---not the God of the Samaritans and Gentiles---try to kill God when he showed up on their doorstops?
After the resurrection, Jesus continued to teach about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), a topic that had been a major theme in his previous teaching. So, in this respect, the question his disciples asked (1:6), "Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" was a legitimate one.
But from a larger context, the question was a dangerous and ethnocentric one---one the Pharisees might have asked. But this question came from came from the lips of his own disciples who had just spent three years observing Jesus' life, listening to his teachings. They had heard the teaching about the Good Samaritan which broke down religion-ethnic ethnocentrism and replaced it with love and compassion.
Early in his ministry (Luke 4:25-30), Jesus very directly confronted the hot and controversial topic of ethnocentrism. The Nazareth Jewish response---they tried to kill Jesus on the spot. All Jesus had done was re-interpret two well known OT stories.
Elijah walked right by starving Hebrew widows and fed a starving Gentile widow. Elisha walked by Hebrew lepers and then healed a Gentile leper. This proved God equally loved the unclean Gentiles. Since Jews were God's chosen people, this teaching appeared to them as heresy.
Jesus own disciples, not the Pharisees, wanted to misuse God's power to destroy a Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-55). Jesus' reaction---he rebuked them.
These two true stories from Luke show the depth of Jewish ethnocentrism. This ethnocentrism was behind the Acts 1:6 question. Jesus answer, at the end of verse 8, also hints at the necessity of transcending ethnocentrism.
Yes, the kingdom is for Israel, but not for Israel alone. The kingdom is also includes the deeply despised Samaritans and the godless, unclean Gentiles. The kingdom of love and justice is for all peoples. The kingdom of love and justice breaks down all religious, cultural, economic and racial barriers. But even after the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, it took years for them to actually go to the Samaritans and Gentiles. See chapter 8, 9, and 10.
The American Puritans also tried to make God into their own private God; not even Baptists were allowed into the Puritan kingdom.
American WASPs, past and present---we have many WASPs in Iowa, some my best friends are WASPs---also believe in a false sense of chosenness and superiority. This has had a deadly impact upon Indians and Afro Americans. In America, we have not yet preached and practiced the kingdom of God as justice for all.
After the resurrection, Jesus continued to teach about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), a topic that had been a major theme in his previous teaching. So, in this respect, the question his disciples asked (1:6), "Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" was a legitimate one.
But from a larger context, the question was a dangerous and ethnocentric one---one the Pharisees might have asked. But this question came from came from the lips of his own disciples who had just spent three years observing Jesus' life, listening to his teachings. They had heard the teaching about the Good Samaritan which broke down religion-ethnic ethnocentrism and replaced it with love and compassion.
Early in his ministry (Luke 4:25-30), Jesus very directly confronted the hot and controversial topic of ethnocentrism. The Nazareth Jewish response---they tried to kill Jesus on the spot. All Jesus had done was re-interpret two well known OT stories.
Elijah walked right by starving Hebrew widows and fed a starving Gentile widow. Elisha walked by Hebrew lepers and then healed a Gentile leper. This proved God equally loved the unclean Gentiles. Since Jews were God's chosen people, this teaching appeared to them as heresy.
Jesus own disciples, not the Pharisees, wanted to misuse God's power to destroy a Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-55). Jesus' reaction---he rebuked them.
These two true stories from Luke show the depth of Jewish ethnocentrism. This ethnocentrism was behind the Acts 1:6 question. Jesus answer, at the end of verse 8, also hints at the necessity of transcending ethnocentrism.
Yes, the kingdom is for Israel, but not for Israel alone. The kingdom is also includes the deeply despised Samaritans and the godless, unclean Gentiles. The kingdom of love and justice is for all peoples. The kingdom of love and justice breaks down all religious, cultural, economic and racial barriers. But even after the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, it took years for them to actually go to the Samaritans and Gentiles. See chapter 8, 9, and 10.
The American Puritans also tried to make God into their own private God; not even Baptists were allowed into the Puritan kingdom.
American WASPs, past and present---we have many WASPs in Iowa, some my best friends are WASPs---also believe in a false sense of chosenness and superiority. This has had a deadly impact upon Indians and Afro Americans. In America, we have not yet preached and practiced the kingdom of God as justice for all.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Who Failed? Civil Rights Leaders or the White Church?
The Civil Rights Movement had many notable successes but some of them have been reversed. Was this because of divisions that developed within the movement or because most of the white church sat on the sidelines and still is on the sidelines?
Joy Leary in her groundbreaking book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, makes these observations:
I cannot count the number of times I have heard white people, as well as a few black people, argue, 'Race is no longer an issue in this country. After all, slavery ended one hundred and fifty years ago and blacks have had their civil rights for fifty years. Stop making excuses. It's time to move on.
Unfortunately, the crime here is that civil rights legislation fell significantly short of its intent to level the playing field and guarantee equality and justice for all.
Then black scholar Leary approvingly quotes Robert Westly:
A crucial but seldom considered defect of all civil rights legislation is the fact that it needs to be administered and enforced. Many Blacks (and whites, too) appear to be under some delusion that once Congress passes civil rights legislation, Blacks are protected from discrimination and white racism. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the history of Black Reconstruction clearly shows. Every measure passed by Congress during Reconstruction for social and political equality of Blacks---with the possible exception of the Thirteenth Amendment---was subverted or made null and void before the turn of the century.
In other words, whites control the political and legal systems of this country; seldom do they vigorously enforce civil rights laws; seldom does the white church demand that they do so. Therefore, the status quo of white superiority and privilege continues.
Michelle Alexander, in her book The New Jim Crow, documents this practice:
President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods. A few years after the drug war was declared, crack began to spread rapidly in the poor black neighborhoods of Los Angeles and later emerged in cities across the country. The Reagan administration hired staff to publicize the emergence of crack cocaine in 1985 as a part of a strategic effort to build public and legislative support for the war. The media campaign was an extraordinary success. Almost overnight, the media was saturated with images of black 'crack whores, 'crack dealers,' 'crack babies.' . . . . helped to catapult the War on Drugs from an ambitious federal policy to actual war.
With heavy racial profiling, this new system of oppression---unjust mass incarceration---became a nightmare, destroying much of King's Dream. President Bill Clinton, the first 'black' president, soon joined the racist parade:
In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton vowed that he would never permit any Republican to be perceived as tougher on crime than he. . . . . Once elected, Clinton endorsed the idea of a federal "three strikes and you're out" law, which he advocated in his 1994 State of the Union address to the enthusiastic applause on both sides of the aisle. . . . . Clinton escalated the drug war beyond what conservatives had imagined possible a decade earlier.
And the white church either was silent on the sidelines or sometimes cheered the get tough, racial profiling approach.
Joy Leary in her groundbreaking book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, makes these observations:
I cannot count the number of times I have heard white people, as well as a few black people, argue, 'Race is no longer an issue in this country. After all, slavery ended one hundred and fifty years ago and blacks have had their civil rights for fifty years. Stop making excuses. It's time to move on.
Unfortunately, the crime here is that civil rights legislation fell significantly short of its intent to level the playing field and guarantee equality and justice for all.
Then black scholar Leary approvingly quotes Robert Westly:
A crucial but seldom considered defect of all civil rights legislation is the fact that it needs to be administered and enforced. Many Blacks (and whites, too) appear to be under some delusion that once Congress passes civil rights legislation, Blacks are protected from discrimination and white racism. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the history of Black Reconstruction clearly shows. Every measure passed by Congress during Reconstruction for social and political equality of Blacks---with the possible exception of the Thirteenth Amendment---was subverted or made null and void before the turn of the century.
In other words, whites control the political and legal systems of this country; seldom do they vigorously enforce civil rights laws; seldom does the white church demand that they do so. Therefore, the status quo of white superiority and privilege continues.
Michelle Alexander, in her book The New Jim Crow, documents this practice:
President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods. A few years after the drug war was declared, crack began to spread rapidly in the poor black neighborhoods of Los Angeles and later emerged in cities across the country. The Reagan administration hired staff to publicize the emergence of crack cocaine in 1985 as a part of a strategic effort to build public and legislative support for the war. The media campaign was an extraordinary success. Almost overnight, the media was saturated with images of black 'crack whores, 'crack dealers,' 'crack babies.' . . . . helped to catapult the War on Drugs from an ambitious federal policy to actual war.
With heavy racial profiling, this new system of oppression---unjust mass incarceration---became a nightmare, destroying much of King's Dream. President Bill Clinton, the first 'black' president, soon joined the racist parade:
In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton vowed that he would never permit any Republican to be perceived as tougher on crime than he. . . . . Once elected, Clinton endorsed the idea of a federal "three strikes and you're out" law, which he advocated in his 1994 State of the Union address to the enthusiastic applause on both sides of the aisle. . . . . Clinton escalated the drug war beyond what conservatives had imagined possible a decade earlier.
And the white church either was silent on the sidelines or sometimes cheered the get tough, racial profiling approach.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Leary
Joy Leary, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, is an Afro American with a doctorate in social work. Leary has applied the concept of PTSD to the damage done to American blacks by slavery, segregation, mass incarceration and the racial wealth gap. All whites need to read this fine book so they will stop blaming black dysfunction on supposed black interiority. All blacks need to read this book so they will better understand their own experience in America.
Leary defines and describes trauma in this fashion:
"Trauma is an injury caused by an outside, usually violent, force, event or experience. We can experience this injury physically, emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually. . . . If a trauma is severe enough, if can distort our attitudes and beliefs. Such distortions often result in dysfunctional behaviors, which can in turn produce unwanted consequences. If one traumatic experience can result is distorted attitudes, dysfunctional behaviors and unwanted consequences, this pattern is magnified exponentially when a person [and a culture] repeatedly experiences severe trauma, and it is much worse when the traumas are caused by human beings."
Leary adds:
The slave experience was one of continual, violent attacks on the slave's body, mind and spirit. . . . In the face of these injuries, those traumatized adapted their attitudes and behaviors to simply survive, and these adaptions continue to manifest today.
Leary continues:
With the endorsement of slavery as a legal, acceptable and justifiable institution, the founding fathers committed America's original sin. . . . Since that time black America has labored to recover from the dehumanization of bondage, the offense of peonage, the outrage of the black codes, the affront of convict leasing, the indignities of Jim Crow and the ravages of poverty.
I would add "the humiliation of unjust mass incarceration and the damage of the current racial wealth gap." Leary then states: "The indifference of most whites to this black experience is contemptible."
Then Leary comments on the sanitizing of American history:
Studying history in American schools, we learn about the excesses of the Roman Empire, the viciousness of Stalin's Soviet Union and the brutality of the Nazis. . . . the barbarity of the Mongols and the cruelty of the Huns. . . . But missing from this list is one society that is responsible for some of the most gruesome crimes against humanity---the United States of America.
Leary recounts her visit to South Africa in 1994 when she visited two black villages---the healthy Ndebele and the damaged Onverwagt. In Ndebele, the children were confident, humble and secure. In Onverwagt which had once been enslaved, the damage was obvious; Leary states:
It was here that I experienced what felt to be a journey back to the American antebellum south. The women and men wore clothing similar to that of southern sharecroppers. They held their heads low and seemed unwilling to look any of us in the eyes, The villagers had social problems which bore a remarkable resemblance to those of urban America. They had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, crime and poverty. . . . The children were unruly, dirty, and engaged in aggressive and sometimes violent play. This was in stark contrast to the poor, yet calm and gentle nature of the Ndebele children.
Most Americans are generally familiar with the damage slavery and segregation did in much of the black community in Mississippi. By sharp contrast, there is a black town that is quite healthy---Mound Bayou. Google 'Mound Bayou Movement History' for a detailed story of the difficult but largely successful story of this all-black town in Mississippi. While far from perfect,
Mound Bayou was an oasis in turbulent times. . . . no racial codes. . . . a proud history of credit unions, insurance companies, a hospital . . . a variety of businesses owned by blacks. . . . also a quality education system.
Freed from systems of oppression, blacks can succeed. PTSD need not have the last word.
Leary defines and describes trauma in this fashion:
"Trauma is an injury caused by an outside, usually violent, force, event or experience. We can experience this injury physically, emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually. . . . If a trauma is severe enough, if can distort our attitudes and beliefs. Such distortions often result in dysfunctional behaviors, which can in turn produce unwanted consequences. If one traumatic experience can result is distorted attitudes, dysfunctional behaviors and unwanted consequences, this pattern is magnified exponentially when a person [and a culture] repeatedly experiences severe trauma, and it is much worse when the traumas are caused by human beings."
Leary adds:
The slave experience was one of continual, violent attacks on the slave's body, mind and spirit. . . . In the face of these injuries, those traumatized adapted their attitudes and behaviors to simply survive, and these adaptions continue to manifest today.
Leary continues:
With the endorsement of slavery as a legal, acceptable and justifiable institution, the founding fathers committed America's original sin. . . . Since that time black America has labored to recover from the dehumanization of bondage, the offense of peonage, the outrage of the black codes, the affront of convict leasing, the indignities of Jim Crow and the ravages of poverty.
I would add "the humiliation of unjust mass incarceration and the damage of the current racial wealth gap." Leary then states: "The indifference of most whites to this black experience is contemptible."
Then Leary comments on the sanitizing of American history:
Studying history in American schools, we learn about the excesses of the Roman Empire, the viciousness of Stalin's Soviet Union and the brutality of the Nazis. . . . the barbarity of the Mongols and the cruelty of the Huns. . . . But missing from this list is one society that is responsible for some of the most gruesome crimes against humanity---the United States of America.
Leary recounts her visit to South Africa in 1994 when she visited two black villages---the healthy Ndebele and the damaged Onverwagt. In Ndebele, the children were confident, humble and secure. In Onverwagt which had once been enslaved, the damage was obvious; Leary states:
It was here that I experienced what felt to be a journey back to the American antebellum south. The women and men wore clothing similar to that of southern sharecroppers. They held their heads low and seemed unwilling to look any of us in the eyes, The villagers had social problems which bore a remarkable resemblance to those of urban America. They had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, crime and poverty. . . . The children were unruly, dirty, and engaged in aggressive and sometimes violent play. This was in stark contrast to the poor, yet calm and gentle nature of the Ndebele children.
Most Americans are generally familiar with the damage slavery and segregation did in much of the black community in Mississippi. By sharp contrast, there is a black town that is quite healthy---Mound Bayou. Google 'Mound Bayou Movement History' for a detailed story of the difficult but largely successful story of this all-black town in Mississippi. While far from perfect,
Mound Bayou was an oasis in turbulent times. . . . no racial codes. . . . a proud history of credit unions, insurance companies, a hospital . . . a variety of businesses owned by blacks. . . . also a quality education system.
Freed from systems of oppression, blacks can succeed. PTSD need not have the last word.
Monday, May 9, 2016
More from Haiti: after the earthquake
Some additional nuggets from Paul Farmer's book Haiti: after the earthquake: mostly from the footnotes.
"A little more than two hundred years ago, Haiti produced three-quarters of the world's sugar. Yet despite this wealth . . . the island nation is now the poorest in the Western hemisphere. This is due largely to its [tragic] history, . . . Promises were broken, debt [slavery]was imposed, dictatorships were supported, and natural resources were depleted." In other words, a history of 500 years of oppression.
How might we 'build back better'? I suggest three keys:
1. Focus on rebuilding rural communities.
2. Follow Christian Community Development principles and practices; see HCDF for a model.
3. Create a new Christian University at Fond-des-Blancs in order to train a new core of leaders.
From Farmer footnotes:
Farmer disagrees with Par Robertson's theodicy on Haiti but makes these positive comments about Operation Blessing: "this organization was one of the very finest, and best led, we worked with in the year after the quake."
Farmer quotes Jeffery Sachs, the economist who wrote The End of Poverty: "When a country is too poor to provide its people with the basic necessities such as health care, and when the underlying ecology makes agriculture difficult without fertilizer and irrigation, any change can push society off the edge and into outright desperation. . . . Something as simple as bad rains can trigger internal conflicts when a society is living on the edge of survival."
Mildred Aristide: "It is clear that Haiti's [failed] rural development and the faltering road to a national public education system have been and remain at the center of the propagation of child domestic service in the country. This explains why the prototypical image of a child in domestic service [a form of slavery] is one of a child from the impoverished countryside seeking an education, working in the city."
"In 2002, Haiti, was ranked 147 out of 147 countries on the Water Poverty Index, and 101 out of 122 countries for water quality."
"Few years in Haiti's history are unmarked by foreign intervention or meddling of some kind" to extract some of Haiti's wealth. "the Haitian state has been starved of resources."
"Increasing evidence points toward the value of cash transfers [Haitian Americans sending monies back to their families in Haiti], especially those targeted at women, at strengthening families and spurring grassroots development."
"Partners in Health efforts to manufacture vitamin-enriched peanut butter as a ready-to-use therapeutic food."
"There is the disgruntled former Haitian army (an institution with a violent and unpalatable recent history), which has been wielded many times in the service of coups d'etat, often subsidized by its masters, the elite of Haiti. . . . they must be called the entrenched class enemies of the Haitian people."
"Paul Collier has argued the combination of high population and unemployment in Haiti has created a large and volatile group of unemployed young people---a youth tsunami. Haiti has exceptionally rapid population growth which adds to an already acute pressure on the land. . . . Seventy percent of its people do not have jobs."
Haiti needs a "national civic service corps, . . . . akin to President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. . . . Not only would such an initiative grease the wheels of economic growth, but it could also combat the cycles of deforestation and erosion that---along with dumping subsidized American produce in Haitian markets---fuel rural poverty and urban crowding."
"most of the fruits of the peasantry's toil were seized by the alliance of rulers and merchants and transferred abroad." The Haitian elites and U.S. elites often conspire against the poor peasant of Haiti.
"A little more than two hundred years ago, Haiti produced three-quarters of the world's sugar. Yet despite this wealth . . . the island nation is now the poorest in the Western hemisphere. This is due largely to its [tragic] history, . . . Promises were broken, debt [slavery]was imposed, dictatorships were supported, and natural resources were depleted." In other words, a history of 500 years of oppression.
How might we 'build back better'? I suggest three keys:
1. Focus on rebuilding rural communities.
2. Follow Christian Community Development principles and practices; see HCDF for a model.
3. Create a new Christian University at Fond-des-Blancs in order to train a new core of leaders.
From Farmer footnotes:
Farmer disagrees with Par Robertson's theodicy on Haiti but makes these positive comments about Operation Blessing: "this organization was one of the very finest, and best led, we worked with in the year after the quake."
Farmer quotes Jeffery Sachs, the economist who wrote The End of Poverty: "When a country is too poor to provide its people with the basic necessities such as health care, and when the underlying ecology makes agriculture difficult without fertilizer and irrigation, any change can push society off the edge and into outright desperation. . . . Something as simple as bad rains can trigger internal conflicts when a society is living on the edge of survival."
Mildred Aristide: "It is clear that Haiti's [failed] rural development and the faltering road to a national public education system have been and remain at the center of the propagation of child domestic service in the country. This explains why the prototypical image of a child in domestic service [a form of slavery] is one of a child from the impoverished countryside seeking an education, working in the city."
"In 2002, Haiti, was ranked 147 out of 147 countries on the Water Poverty Index, and 101 out of 122 countries for water quality."
"Few years in Haiti's history are unmarked by foreign intervention or meddling of some kind" to extract some of Haiti's wealth. "the Haitian state has been starved of resources."
"Increasing evidence points toward the value of cash transfers [Haitian Americans sending monies back to their families in Haiti], especially those targeted at women, at strengthening families and spurring grassroots development."
"Partners in Health efforts to manufacture vitamin-enriched peanut butter as a ready-to-use therapeutic food."
"There is the disgruntled former Haitian army (an institution with a violent and unpalatable recent history), which has been wielded many times in the service of coups d'etat, often subsidized by its masters, the elite of Haiti. . . . they must be called the entrenched class enemies of the Haitian people."
"Paul Collier has argued the combination of high population and unemployment in Haiti has created a large and volatile group of unemployed young people---a youth tsunami. Haiti has exceptionally rapid population growth which adds to an already acute pressure on the land. . . . Seventy percent of its people do not have jobs."
Haiti needs a "national civic service corps, . . . . akin to President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. . . . Not only would such an initiative grease the wheels of economic growth, but it could also combat the cycles of deforestation and erosion that---along with dumping subsidized American produce in Haitian markets---fuel rural poverty and urban crowding."
"most of the fruits of the peasantry's toil were seized by the alliance of rulers and merchants and transferred abroad." The Haitian elites and U.S. elites often conspire against the poor peasant of Haiti.
With Liberty and Justice for All???
One nation under God with liberty and justice for all or one nation under WASPs with liberty and superiority for WASPs?
Back to back book reviews in the May 11, 2016, Christian Century, reveal that the white American church, from the Puritans on down to 2016, has failed, and the American WASP nation have failed in their supposed quest for liberty and justice for all.
The two books: Trouble I've Seen: changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart, and A Just and Generous Nation: Abraham Lincoln and the Fight for American Opportunity by Harold Holzer and Norton Garfinkel.
The review of Trouble I've Seen, which is about racial injustice by black pastor, activist and scholar. Drew Hart, begins:
The opening line of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth might be one of the most chilling ever written: "The boys came early for the hanging."
The current political context is forcing Americans to discuss race and church people have some serious reckoning to do. Not only did the church turn a blind eye to racism, but congregations would often let out early on days there was to be a lynching in the town square so parishioners could get a good seat for the festivities. The church came early to the hanging. . . . throughout American history and today, the church not only condones but also contributes to antiblack racism and white supremacy. Why does the church participate in modern-day lynching, or at most turn a blind eye, rather than protesting as our [biblical] faith would dictate?
The review of A Just andGenerous Nation, which is about economic injustice, states:
that Lincoln's fundamental cause was for 'free labor.' . . . Lincoln meant by 'free labor' that every American should be free to advance to the middle class and to enjoy the fruit of his own labor. . . . Lincoln declared : "Labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
Of course, under slavery, slave labor was anything but free; labor was exploited. To whites, this labor was free, and along with 'free land' stolen from Native Americans, capitalism exploded. With the 'free gifts' of both labor and land, any idiot should make a generous profit.
The authors discuss at length which presidents stood for the American Dream and which stood for the Gospel of Wealth. The reviewer states: "This compelling and persuasive book shows how the 'old house' divided persists in contested claims about the American Dream and who has access to it. Ta-Nehisi Coates parses the dream as a white notion of a life of privilege that depends upon the cheap labor of others."
Our nation may have been conceived in liberty---life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness---but it was never conceived in justice. Our founding fathers never believed in justice---especially a biblical Jubilee type justice; neither did Lincoln; neither do white Americans today. Biblically, there is no liberty without justice.
In 2016, our nation is experiencing unparalleled economic inequality/injustice; and unending racial inequality/oppression Our tragic historical past continues to haunt our current sociological present. And most of the American church stands idly by.
Back to back book reviews in the May 11, 2016, Christian Century, reveal that the white American church, from the Puritans on down to 2016, has failed, and the American WASP nation have failed in their supposed quest for liberty and justice for all.
The two books: Trouble I've Seen: changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew Hart, and A Just and Generous Nation: Abraham Lincoln and the Fight for American Opportunity by Harold Holzer and Norton Garfinkel.
The review of Trouble I've Seen, which is about racial injustice by black pastor, activist and scholar. Drew Hart, begins:
The opening line of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth might be one of the most chilling ever written: "The boys came early for the hanging."
The current political context is forcing Americans to discuss race and church people have some serious reckoning to do. Not only did the church turn a blind eye to racism, but congregations would often let out early on days there was to be a lynching in the town square so parishioners could get a good seat for the festivities. The church came early to the hanging. . . . throughout American history and today, the church not only condones but also contributes to antiblack racism and white supremacy. Why does the church participate in modern-day lynching, or at most turn a blind eye, rather than protesting as our [biblical] faith would dictate?
The review of A Just andGenerous Nation, which is about economic injustice, states:
that Lincoln's fundamental cause was for 'free labor.' . . . Lincoln meant by 'free labor' that every American should be free to advance to the middle class and to enjoy the fruit of his own labor. . . . Lincoln declared : "Labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
Of course, under slavery, slave labor was anything but free; labor was exploited. To whites, this labor was free, and along with 'free land' stolen from Native Americans, capitalism exploded. With the 'free gifts' of both labor and land, any idiot should make a generous profit.
The authors discuss at length which presidents stood for the American Dream and which stood for the Gospel of Wealth. The reviewer states: "This compelling and persuasive book shows how the 'old house' divided persists in contested claims about the American Dream and who has access to it. Ta-Nehisi Coates parses the dream as a white notion of a life of privilege that depends upon the cheap labor of others."
Our nation may have been conceived in liberty---life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness---but it was never conceived in justice. Our founding fathers never believed in justice---especially a biblical Jubilee type justice; neither did Lincoln; neither do white Americans today. Biblically, there is no liberty without justice.
In 2016, our nation is experiencing unparalleled economic inequality/injustice; and unending racial inequality/oppression Our tragic historical past continues to haunt our current sociological present. And most of the American church stands idly by.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God
William Herzog is the author of Jesus, justice, and the reign of God (2000).
Some theologians describe Jesus' ministry as three-fold: prophet, priest and king. Most Western theologians highlight the priestly ministry---cross and resurrection; most Western theologians minimize the equally important prophetic ministry. Herzog endeavors to correct this mistake; he ties the prophetic to justice and the kingdom of God.
A biblical prophet is the bearer of truth; mostly a forth teller, sometimes a fore teller. The biblical prophet is a bearer of both good news and bad news. The bad news: if a people does not repent of their idolatry, ethnocentrism and oppression, then God's judgment will fall upon them. The good news: if a people does repent and then do justice, the shalom of the kingdom will be yours.
In the NT, the religio-politico-economic elite refused to repent; therefore, God used the Romans to destroy the sacred Temple.
Half of Herzog's book is a discussion of the theological garbage and historical trivia regarding the fruitless quest for the historical Jesus. Much of this Enlightenment deism is "an unhistorical quest for an apolitical Jesus." Herzog doesn't believe this garbage/trivia, but as a scholar, he feels compelled to discuss it. Once the reader moves beyond this garbage, a person finds a solid discussion of the NT teaching on both oppression and justice---a rarity in NT scholarship.
Herzog sees the Temple as the key social institution that had become a den of robbers, a religiously legitimated system of oppression. He sees Jesus as a "prophet of justice of the reign [kingdom] of God." Would that Herzog had devoted this entire book to a broader and deeper discussion of oppression and justice. Then he could have fully rejusticized the NT gospel.
Next, some nuggets on NT oppression.
The misuse of the Torah "by the Jerusalem [religio-politico-economic] elite to justify their oppression of the [despised] people of the land." "the people of Galilee who were being increasingly squeezed by [Roman] colonial domination and internal [Jewish elite] exploitation." "villagers of Galilee, who were increasingly separated from their land and traditions by an alien network of Roman domination, Herodian exploitation, and temple control."
On Palestine:
"Wealth is based on land and the control of the land. Typically composed of no more than 1 to 2 percent of the population, the ruling class controlled the vast majority of the rest of their society. "the high-priestly families with their lay collaborators, controlled the temple and its institutions, notably the Sanhedrin [religio-political body] and the temple treasury [like Wall Street, Federal Reserve and the U.S. treasury combined]." "The relationship between the [rich] aristocrat and the [poor] peasant was predatory, oppressive, and exploitative, a fact that required ideological concealment."
The peasant: "who lives at the subsistence level, barely able to survive from one planting season to the next, in perpetual debt, at the point when the failure to pay off a loan could spell financial ruin."
Approximately two chapters are devoted to the Temple, the key socioeconomic institution of Judaism, which as a den of robbers, stood in the way of the justice of the kingdom of God. Why did Jesus cleanse the Temple? Because it was commercialized, needed to be purified, needed a place for Gentiles to worship, the corrupting role of the treasury, the apex of a system of exploitation; Jeremiah seven describes a similar misuse of the Temple.
My summary and application of Herzog's ideas:
In the OT, Israel truly was God's chosen people; the Torah really was God's divine revelation; the Temple was God's holy place. Despite many claims to the contrary, America was/is not God's chosen nation; chosenness is historical myth. The Bible Belt preached and practiced only half the gospel; the ignored the kingdom of God as justice half. The American church was syncretistic, combining the Christian trinity and the American trinity.
The divine calling: Israel as God's chosen people------------Torah------------Temple
The demonic corruption: from servant to superior-----------from justice---- - -from Holy to hellish
to oppression
American ideology: "Christian nation"------------"Bible Belt"------------"American church"
Brutal Reality: from superior to superior--------ethnocentrism--------combined Trinity and
and oppression and American trinity
Biblical Revolution: Spirit and Kingdom----------Jubilee justice---------Christian community
Development
Alistair Young's book, Environment, Economics, and Christian Ethics: A summary statement: Economic forces, such as capitalism, make for domination, devastation and only sometimes development; I would add a fourth 'd'---debt or debt slavery. This concise statement describes both the Palestinian economy and Haiti's 500 year history of oppression.
Richard Wood and Brad Fulton, A Shared Future; "three demons bedeviling American society: unparalleled economic inequality, [public] policy paralysis, and [endless] racial inequality."
Some theologians describe Jesus' ministry as three-fold: prophet, priest and king. Most Western theologians highlight the priestly ministry---cross and resurrection; most Western theologians minimize the equally important prophetic ministry. Herzog endeavors to correct this mistake; he ties the prophetic to justice and the kingdom of God.
A biblical prophet is the bearer of truth; mostly a forth teller, sometimes a fore teller. The biblical prophet is a bearer of both good news and bad news. The bad news: if a people does not repent of their idolatry, ethnocentrism and oppression, then God's judgment will fall upon them. The good news: if a people does repent and then do justice, the shalom of the kingdom will be yours.
In the NT, the religio-politico-economic elite refused to repent; therefore, God used the Romans to destroy the sacred Temple.
Half of Herzog's book is a discussion of the theological garbage and historical trivia regarding the fruitless quest for the historical Jesus. Much of this Enlightenment deism is "an unhistorical quest for an apolitical Jesus." Herzog doesn't believe this garbage/trivia, but as a scholar, he feels compelled to discuss it. Once the reader moves beyond this garbage, a person finds a solid discussion of the NT teaching on both oppression and justice---a rarity in NT scholarship.
Herzog sees the Temple as the key social institution that had become a den of robbers, a religiously legitimated system of oppression. He sees Jesus as a "prophet of justice of the reign [kingdom] of God." Would that Herzog had devoted this entire book to a broader and deeper discussion of oppression and justice. Then he could have fully rejusticized the NT gospel.
Next, some nuggets on NT oppression.
The misuse of the Torah "by the Jerusalem [religio-politico-economic] elite to justify their oppression of the [despised] people of the land." "the people of Galilee who were being increasingly squeezed by [Roman] colonial domination and internal [Jewish elite] exploitation." "villagers of Galilee, who were increasingly separated from their land and traditions by an alien network of Roman domination, Herodian exploitation, and temple control."
On Palestine:
"Wealth is based on land and the control of the land. Typically composed of no more than 1 to 2 percent of the population, the ruling class controlled the vast majority of the rest of their society. "the high-priestly families with their lay collaborators, controlled the temple and its institutions, notably the Sanhedrin [religio-political body] and the temple treasury [like Wall Street, Federal Reserve and the U.S. treasury combined]." "The relationship between the [rich] aristocrat and the [poor] peasant was predatory, oppressive, and exploitative, a fact that required ideological concealment."
The peasant: "who lives at the subsistence level, barely able to survive from one planting season to the next, in perpetual debt, at the point when the failure to pay off a loan could spell financial ruin."
Approximately two chapters are devoted to the Temple, the key socioeconomic institution of Judaism, which as a den of robbers, stood in the way of the justice of the kingdom of God. Why did Jesus cleanse the Temple? Because it was commercialized, needed to be purified, needed a place for Gentiles to worship, the corrupting role of the treasury, the apex of a system of exploitation; Jeremiah seven describes a similar misuse of the Temple.
My summary and application of Herzog's ideas:
In the OT, Israel truly was God's chosen people; the Torah really was God's divine revelation; the Temple was God's holy place. Despite many claims to the contrary, America was/is not God's chosen nation; chosenness is historical myth. The Bible Belt preached and practiced only half the gospel; the ignored the kingdom of God as justice half. The American church was syncretistic, combining the Christian trinity and the American trinity.
The divine calling: Israel as God's chosen people------------Torah------------Temple
The demonic corruption: from servant to superior-----------from justice---- - -from Holy to hellish
to oppression
American ideology: "Christian nation"------------"Bible Belt"------------"American church"
Brutal Reality: from superior to superior--------ethnocentrism--------combined Trinity and
and oppression and American trinity
Biblical Revolution: Spirit and Kingdom----------Jubilee justice---------Christian community
Development
Alistair Young's book, Environment, Economics, and Christian Ethics: A summary statement: Economic forces, such as capitalism, make for domination, devastation and only sometimes development; I would add a fourth 'd'---debt or debt slavery. This concise statement describes both the Palestinian economy and Haiti's 500 year history of oppression.
Richard Wood and Brad Fulton, A Shared Future; "three demons bedeviling American society: unparalleled economic inequality, [public] policy paralysis, and [endless] racial inequality."
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