What is truth in America---biblically, historically and sociologically? Bits of truth, fragments of truth are being taught as the whole truth, even in Christian colleges, universities and seminaries.
After reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' latest masterpiece on Trump and his deep-seated and dominant ethnocentrism/racism/white supremacy (October 2017, The Atlantic), I pondered again "What is Truth?" or 'How does a person find truth in confused America---biblically, historically, and sociologically?"
Late in life, probably around age 70, Billy Graham discovered an important new biblical truth:
"I have come to see in deeper ways the implications of my faith. . . . I can no longer proclaim the Cross and Resurrection without proclaiming the whole message of the Kingdom [of God] which is justice for all."
This emphasis is supported by Matthew 6:33 (NEB), "God's kingdom and his justice" and by Hebrew scholar Thomas Hanks observation that "Oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit."
But to my knowledge, Graham never developed, in depth, this all-important part of the gospel. Graham needed, as I did, a black mentor such as Tom Skinner, Martin Luther King or John Perkins, to help him understand the justice dimension of the biblical gospel.
I needed a second conversion, a justice conversion; my first justification by faith conversion did not include biblical justice. I also needed 35 years of experience living in black communities. And I needed three black mentors who had a deep understanding of oppression and justice. Not all blacks do.
Most white professors of the Bible, history and sociology have not had a second conversion to justice or years of living in a black community or black mentors. Therefore, their understanding of the Bible, American history and American social problems is flawed, incomplete notwithstanding their doctorates in their fields. But neither they nor their students know about these flaws.
Coates has written three or four superb articles on white supremacy in America; all reveal a deep understanding of American history, but unfortunately, not the Bible as well. Theological history is also deeply flawed; Wesley did not add justice to love; the Reformation did not add justice to justification.
The English Bible itself is deeply flawed; justice is largely missing in the NT. Few American theologians know this nor have they tried to correct this glaring omission.
Biblical spirituality demands a justice component; grace and justice, love and justice, worship and justice, faith and justice. Rarely do white pastors and churches preach and practice the justice gospel. Neither do all black churches.
A glaring example of this failure can be found in West Jackson, Mississippi. I am referring to a three to four square block area bounded by Robinson, Rose, the Parkway and Prentiss streets, not too far from downtown Jackson. This is a deteriorating area with some boarded up houses and shot shotgun houses.
But in the midst of this community decline stand three well-maintained black churches that are full on Sunday mornings. Beautiful and full church buildings surrounded by deteriorating housing.
Just to the east of Rose street stand twelve nice Habitat for Humanity houses, visible demonstrations of how to rebuild poor communities. Just to the west of Prentiss Street is the Perkins Center that specializes in community development. But the three black churches practice a worship without justice, copying the widespread mistake of most white churches.
Seldom does one find the whole truth in white evangelical scholarship. A few exceptions: Divided by Faith, W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, The Wars of America: Christian Views.
I do not know of a single white evangelical Bible scholar that I can read on a biblical theology of oppression, a NT theology of justice or an integration of the Spirit, the kingdom and justice---Jubilee justice. This means all teaching of the Bible should cease until these catastrophic omissions are corrected.
Until these omissions are corrected, white evangelicals cannot be relevant to the ethnic poor of America.
GU, the ethnic poor need nothing less than our very best; good is not good enough; in this case the good really is the enemy of the best.
Whether intended or not, the end result of no theology of oppression, no theology of NT justice is continued white supremacy, even on Christian college campuses. Almost every white person on such campuses would deny they are supporting white supremacy, but by sins of omission they really are doing so.
Ethnic diversity among faculty and students is good, very necessary, but it is only one piece of the solution. A better, more holistic, Bible is the best. Ethnic diversity plus a biblical justice that actually releases the oppressed, rebuilds poor communities. This is the required best.
GU---nothing less than our biblical best.
Friday, September 15, 2017
Thursday, September 14, 2017
The White Trump is Negating the Black Obama
In the October 2017 The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates has struck again---with the same quality, brilliance and thoroughness as he has demonstrated in previous Atlantic articles. His thesis: "Donald Trump's presidency is predicated nearly entirely on the negation of a black president. And the constituencies he has activated are not going away."
Simply stated, Coates shows that white supremacy is alive and well in modern America; from the beginning of this nation down to the present, racism has always been present. Blends historical past and current political analysis. White Trump represents the bold and brash extreme, Biden and Clinton have their serious shortcomings as well, as do most white Americans. This includes the white church which has not yet confessed, repented, restituted nor repaired the damage done by centuries of white oppression.
A few nuggets from Coates:
"Trump . . . has made the awful [American] inheritance explicit."
"For Trump, it almost seems that the fact of Obama, the fact of a black president, insulted him personally. Replacing Obama is not enough---Trump has made the negation of Obama's legacy the foundation of his own. And this too is whiteness. . . . the construct of a 'white race' is the idea of not being a nigger."
"Trump truly is something new---the first president whose entire political existence hinges on the fact of a black president."
"If you tallied only white voters, Trump would have defeated Clinton 389 to 81 in the Electoral College."
"Speaking in 1848, Senator John C. Calhoun saw slavery as the explicit foundation for a democratic union among whites, working or not: With us the two great divisions of society are not the rich and poor, but white and black; all the [white] former, the poor as well as the rich, belong to the upper class, and are respected and treated as equals.'"
Coates concludes:
"When W.E.B. Du Bois claims that slavery was 'singularly disastrous for modern civilization' or James Baldwin claims that whites 'have brought humanity to the edge oblivion: because they are white,' the instinct is to cry exaggeration. But there is really no other way to read the presidency of Donald Trump. The first white president in American history is also the most dangerous president---and he is made more dangerous still by the fact that those charged with analyzing him cannot name his essential nature, because they are too implicated in it."
Noble comment: In addition to racial inequality, there is also economic inequality. When combined, the impact is unbelievably damaging upon all ethnic Others.
Simply stated, Coates shows that white supremacy is alive and well in modern America; from the beginning of this nation down to the present, racism has always been present. Blends historical past and current political analysis. White Trump represents the bold and brash extreme, Biden and Clinton have their serious shortcomings as well, as do most white Americans. This includes the white church which has not yet confessed, repented, restituted nor repaired the damage done by centuries of white oppression.
A few nuggets from Coates:
"Trump . . . has made the awful [American] inheritance explicit."
"For Trump, it almost seems that the fact of Obama, the fact of a black president, insulted him personally. Replacing Obama is not enough---Trump has made the negation of Obama's legacy the foundation of his own. And this too is whiteness. . . . the construct of a 'white race' is the idea of not being a nigger."
"Trump truly is something new---the first president whose entire political existence hinges on the fact of a black president."
"If you tallied only white voters, Trump would have defeated Clinton 389 to 81 in the Electoral College."
"Speaking in 1848, Senator John C. Calhoun saw slavery as the explicit foundation for a democratic union among whites, working or not: With us the two great divisions of society are not the rich and poor, but white and black; all the [white] former, the poor as well as the rich, belong to the upper class, and are respected and treated as equals.'"
Coates concludes:
"When W.E.B. Du Bois claims that slavery was 'singularly disastrous for modern civilization' or James Baldwin claims that whites 'have brought humanity to the edge oblivion: because they are white,' the instinct is to cry exaggeration. But there is really no other way to read the presidency of Donald Trump. The first white president in American history is also the most dangerous president---and he is made more dangerous still by the fact that those charged with analyzing him cannot name his essential nature, because they are too implicated in it."
Noble comment: In addition to racial inequality, there is also economic inequality. When combined, the impact is unbelievably damaging upon all ethnic Others.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
The United States As Oppressor in the Philippines
The United States as the oppressor in the Philippines. Note especially the dramatic difference between the pious prayer by our president and the facts on the ground as reported by The Philippines Reader.
In August of 1994, I, Lowell Noble, spent two and a half weeks in the Philippines teaching Free Methodist pastors and students about social justice, the kingdom of God and community development. In preparation for the trip, I did some background reading on the history of the Philippines and the U.S. involvement in the Philippines. I was shocked and shamed as I discovered how Americans had brutalized the Filipino people.
Even though I was a college professor for much of my life, I am now retired, I was ignorant of our treatment of the Filipino people. Previously, I knew that we had obtained the Philippines during the Spanish American war and after our conquest. The U.S. had set up a school system and a public health system; after nearly 50 years, we gave the Philippines their independence. Basically, the history I had been taught made these United States look like the 'good guys.'
]Upon reading The Philippines Reader, which consisted primarily of primary documents, in other words, the actual writings and statements of U.S. and Filipino leaders, I discovered a trail of greed, imperialism, ethnocentrism (false belief that Americans are superior to Filipinos) and oppression on a scale and viscousness usually associated with a Hitler or a Stalin.
Next an excerpt from a speech by President McKinley to Methodist church leaders on November 21, 1898. The Spanish had been defeated (largely by Filipino soldiers, not U.S. soldiers); the Filipino people were free from over 300 years of Spanish domination. McKinley's speech drips with religious piety combined with American ethnocentrism to justify our conquest of the Philippines:
"When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides---Democrats as well as Republicans---but got little help. I thought first we would only take Manila; then Luzon; then the other islands also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night.
And one night late it came to me this way---I don't know how it was, but it came: (1) that we could not give them back to Spain, that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient, that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave themselves to themselves, they were unfit for self-government, they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellowmen for whom Christ died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States, and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President."
In January, 1990, a U.S. Senator by the name of Beveridge spoke about U.S. war aims: our desire for markets for our goods, our need for cheap raw materials and tropical crops, our desire for military bases in the orient, the rivalry with other commercial European powers, and the supposed superior morality of white Anglo-Saxons.
From ethnocentrism to oppression. How devastating was the U.S. conquest of the Philippines? The editors of The Philippine Reader summarize the human cost of the war as follows; as you read this account, remember that the OT defines oppression as the crushing, humiliating, animalizing, impoverishing, enslaving or killing of a people:
"How many Filipinos died resisting American aggression? It is doubtful if historians will ever agree on a figure that is anything more than a guess. The figure of 250,000 crops up in various works; one suspects it is chosen and repeated in ignorance. . . . Records of the killing were not kept and the Americans were anxious to suppress true awareness of the extent of the slaughter, in any case, in order to avoid fueling domestic anti-imperialistic protest. How many died of disease and the effects of concentration camp life is even more difficult to assess.
General Bell, who one imagines might be in as good a position to judge such matters as anyone, estimated in a New York Times interview that over 600,000 people in Luzon alone had been killed or had died of disease as a result of the war. This estimate given in May 1901 means that Bell did not include the effect of the Panay campaign, the Samar campaign, or his own bloodthirsty Batangas campaign (where at least 100,000 died), all of which occurred after his 1901 interview. Nor could it include the 'post-war' period, which saw the confinement of 300,000 people in Albay, wanton slaughter in Mindanao, and astonishing death rates in Bilibid Prison, to name but three instances where killing continued.
A million deaths? One does not happily contemplate such carnage of innocent people who fought with extraordinary bravery in a cause which was just, but is now all but forgotten. Such an estimate, however, might conceivably err on the side of understatement. To again quote the anonymous U.S. Congressman, "They never rebel in Luzon anymore because there isn't anybody left to rebel."
General Arthur MacArthur, the father of General Douglas MacArthur, was one of the key designers of the policies to defeat and destroy the Filipino people, mostly innocent civilians. A General Smith ordered his men to : "kill and burn, kill and burn, the more you kill and the more you burn the more you please me. . . . no time to take prisoners." When asked to define the age limit for killing, Smith replied, "Everything over ten." Extermination and concentration camps the order of the day. The American genocide of Native Americans west of the Mississippi served as the model.
What has happened since the brutal U.S. conquest of the Philippines?
1. The U.S. government and business elite have allied themselves with the Filipino landowning and political elite with the result that landownership has been more and more concentrated in the hands of a few people and corporations. The number of landless peasants has increased sharply; poverty and oppression has worsened. Read Ownership by Charles Avila, a Filipino Catholic priest. Also read
A Captive Land by James Putzel.
2. The U.S. invested much more money in the rebuilding of Japan after World War II than it did in the rebuilding of the Philippines. The Filipino people were promised major assistance from the U.S., but our ally received only a small amount of money.
3. The U.S vigorously supported a Jubilee type land reform or agrarian reform in Japan, Korea and
Taiwan after World War II; this land reform provided the basis for strong and more equitable economic growth. Each of these three nations is now quite prosperous with the number of poor sharply reduced. The U.S. opposed similar agrarian reform in the Philippines; instead it helped crush legitimate attempts by peasants to regain control of their own land.
4. U.S. multi-national corporations have directed some Filipino agriculture to produce cheap food exports for the United States. These corporations have made millions of dollars using cheap Filipino labor to do so.
5. Instead of making the Philippines safe for authentic democracy, the U.S. has made it safe for exploitation.
In August of 1994, I, Lowell Noble, spent two and a half weeks in the Philippines teaching Free Methodist pastors and students about social justice, the kingdom of God and community development. In preparation for the trip, I did some background reading on the history of the Philippines and the U.S. involvement in the Philippines. I was shocked and shamed as I discovered how Americans had brutalized the Filipino people.
Even though I was a college professor for much of my life, I am now retired, I was ignorant of our treatment of the Filipino people. Previously, I knew that we had obtained the Philippines during the Spanish American war and after our conquest. The U.S. had set up a school system and a public health system; after nearly 50 years, we gave the Philippines their independence. Basically, the history I had been taught made these United States look like the 'good guys.'
]Upon reading The Philippines Reader, which consisted primarily of primary documents, in other words, the actual writings and statements of U.S. and Filipino leaders, I discovered a trail of greed, imperialism, ethnocentrism (false belief that Americans are superior to Filipinos) and oppression on a scale and viscousness usually associated with a Hitler or a Stalin.
Next an excerpt from a speech by President McKinley to Methodist church leaders on November 21, 1898. The Spanish had been defeated (largely by Filipino soldiers, not U.S. soldiers); the Filipino people were free from over 300 years of Spanish domination. McKinley's speech drips with religious piety combined with American ethnocentrism to justify our conquest of the Philippines:
"When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides---Democrats as well as Republicans---but got little help. I thought first we would only take Manila; then Luzon; then the other islands also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night.
And one night late it came to me this way---I don't know how it was, but it came: (1) that we could not give them back to Spain, that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient, that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave themselves to themselves, they were unfit for self-government, they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellowmen for whom Christ died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States, and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President."
In January, 1990, a U.S. Senator by the name of Beveridge spoke about U.S. war aims: our desire for markets for our goods, our need for cheap raw materials and tropical crops, our desire for military bases in the orient, the rivalry with other commercial European powers, and the supposed superior morality of white Anglo-Saxons.
From ethnocentrism to oppression. How devastating was the U.S. conquest of the Philippines? The editors of The Philippine Reader summarize the human cost of the war as follows; as you read this account, remember that the OT defines oppression as the crushing, humiliating, animalizing, impoverishing, enslaving or killing of a people:
"How many Filipinos died resisting American aggression? It is doubtful if historians will ever agree on a figure that is anything more than a guess. The figure of 250,000 crops up in various works; one suspects it is chosen and repeated in ignorance. . . . Records of the killing were not kept and the Americans were anxious to suppress true awareness of the extent of the slaughter, in any case, in order to avoid fueling domestic anti-imperialistic protest. How many died of disease and the effects of concentration camp life is even more difficult to assess.
General Bell, who one imagines might be in as good a position to judge such matters as anyone, estimated in a New York Times interview that over 600,000 people in Luzon alone had been killed or had died of disease as a result of the war. This estimate given in May 1901 means that Bell did not include the effect of the Panay campaign, the Samar campaign, or his own bloodthirsty Batangas campaign (where at least 100,000 died), all of which occurred after his 1901 interview. Nor could it include the 'post-war' period, which saw the confinement of 300,000 people in Albay, wanton slaughter in Mindanao, and astonishing death rates in Bilibid Prison, to name but three instances where killing continued.
A million deaths? One does not happily contemplate such carnage of innocent people who fought with extraordinary bravery in a cause which was just, but is now all but forgotten. Such an estimate, however, might conceivably err on the side of understatement. To again quote the anonymous U.S. Congressman, "They never rebel in Luzon anymore because there isn't anybody left to rebel."
General Arthur MacArthur, the father of General Douglas MacArthur, was one of the key designers of the policies to defeat and destroy the Filipino people, mostly innocent civilians. A General Smith ordered his men to : "kill and burn, kill and burn, the more you kill and the more you burn the more you please me. . . . no time to take prisoners." When asked to define the age limit for killing, Smith replied, "Everything over ten." Extermination and concentration camps the order of the day. The American genocide of Native Americans west of the Mississippi served as the model.
What has happened since the brutal U.S. conquest of the Philippines?
1. The U.S. government and business elite have allied themselves with the Filipino landowning and political elite with the result that landownership has been more and more concentrated in the hands of a few people and corporations. The number of landless peasants has increased sharply; poverty and oppression has worsened. Read Ownership by Charles Avila, a Filipino Catholic priest. Also read
A Captive Land by James Putzel.
2. The U.S. invested much more money in the rebuilding of Japan after World War II than it did in the rebuilding of the Philippines. The Filipino people were promised major assistance from the U.S., but our ally received only a small amount of money.
3. The U.S vigorously supported a Jubilee type land reform or agrarian reform in Japan, Korea and
Taiwan after World War II; this land reform provided the basis for strong and more equitable economic growth. Each of these three nations is now quite prosperous with the number of poor sharply reduced. The U.S. opposed similar agrarian reform in the Philippines; instead it helped crush legitimate attempts by peasants to regain control of their own land.
4. U.S. multi-national corporations have directed some Filipino agriculture to produce cheap food exports for the United States. These corporations have made millions of dollars using cheap Filipino labor to do so.
5. Instead of making the Philippines safe for authentic democracy, the U.S. has made it safe for exploitation.
Is The White American Church Doing More Harm Than Good?
Could it possibly be true that the white American church is doing more harm than good in terms of the social evils of ethnocentrism and oppression?
John Perkins who was born and raised a poor black in Mississippi, now 87, once wrote that Mississippi would have been better off if the church didn't exist. Mississippi was highly churched in both the black and white communities, but at the same time racism, poverty and oppression continued, unchanged and unchallenged.
It was a church which put white privilege ahead of justice for all. It had a spirituality without justice. Shades of Amos 5:21-24 and Isaiah 58!! Or maybe Matthew 23. Or Luke 11:42.
Trump is a bad problem, but he is not the real problem; the enormous failures of the white church are THE problem.
Bannon is evil incarnate much of the time (he is right that the U.S. should withdraw from the Middle where we have done far more harm than good), but the white church that puts white privilege ahead of ending systems of oppression is THE real problem.
The Klan and similar organizations are serious problems, but the white church's silence in the face of injustice is THE problem.
The Southern Confederate flag is a problem, but a far worse problem was Northern slave trade often conducted by professed Christians.
There is no NT theology of kingdom of God justice.
There has been 400 year of tragic American ethnocentrism and oppression; the church has not stopped it.
There has been little confession, repentance, restitution, nor repair by the white, self-righteous church.
When will all this stop? Who will lead the revolution---from love to justice?
John Perkins who was born and raised a poor black in Mississippi, now 87, once wrote that Mississippi would have been better off if the church didn't exist. Mississippi was highly churched in both the black and white communities, but at the same time racism, poverty and oppression continued, unchanged and unchallenged.
It was a church which put white privilege ahead of justice for all. It had a spirituality without justice. Shades of Amos 5:21-24 and Isaiah 58!! Or maybe Matthew 23. Or Luke 11:42.
Trump is a bad problem, but he is not the real problem; the enormous failures of the white church are THE problem.
Bannon is evil incarnate much of the time (he is right that the U.S. should withdraw from the Middle where we have done far more harm than good), but the white church that puts white privilege ahead of ending systems of oppression is THE real problem.
The Klan and similar organizations are serious problems, but the white church's silence in the face of injustice is THE problem.
The Southern Confederate flag is a problem, but a far worse problem was Northern slave trade often conducted by professed Christians.
There is no NT theology of kingdom of God justice.
There has been 400 year of tragic American ethnocentrism and oppression; the church has not stopped it.
There has been little confession, repentance, restitution, nor repair by the white, self-righteous church.
When will all this stop? Who will lead the revolution---from love to justice?
Monday, September 11, 2017
Denouncing the lie of white supremacy
As I read the September 13, 2017 issue of CC which contained legitimate and needed editorials and articles condemning white supremacy, I was both impressed and depressed. Impressed because CC stance was correct and uncompromising; depressed because it was a tad self-righteous---like the North's emphasis on the evil Southern Confederate flag. Seldom does the North face up to its own equal evil in being home to the home of most of the slave trade.
Seldom does the American church----evangelical or mainline, Presbyterian or Pentecostal, Mennonite or Methodist---honestly face its own enormous failures both in theology and practice. As a sociologist, I suspect that most of the white clergy pictured courageously protesting against white supremacy, went home to white privilege. From protest to privilege; from united in protest on the streets to segregated in privilege at home.
But our failure runs much deeper. Is it a conspiracy of white privilege, a conspiracy of willful ignorance, or just plain massive biblical ignorance?
Most white church leaders are brilliant and well educated so why have they after 400 years not yet provided a good biblical theology of oppression. Oppression that crushes, humiliates, animalizes, impoverishes, enslaves and kills persons/peoples created in the image of God. After all, there are 555 references to oppression and its synonyms in the OT, according to Hebrew scholar Thomas Hanks.
Why have white church leaders after 400 years not yet produced a NT theology of justice? According to Nicholas Wolterstorff, there are 300 dik-stems with meanings of just, justice and justify in the NT. There is not a single reference to justice in the KJV of the NT, and few in the OT. Wolterstorff asserts that the English NT has been "dejusticized. Who will rejusticize the English NT?
There is little white theology that ties the Spirit, the kingdom of God and justice together as a unit as Isaiah does in his six Messianic passages beginning with 9:7 and ending with 61:1-4. Why has the Holy Spirit been divorced from the kingdom as justice---as Jubilee justice?
These enormous theological failures have left a huge ethical/social vacuum in American society into which rushed white supremacy, whether glaring or quiet.
In my opinion, these theological sins of omission though not as obviously glaring as the sin of white supremacy, a sin of commission, are much worse than the sins of commission that have been in the headlines recently. I hope a future issue of CC will be devoted to "Denouncing the theological failures of the white church."
In Luke 11:42, Jesus scorches the Pharisees for "neglecting justice and the love of God." Biblical justice is an act of love. Both justice and love are action words---do justice, do love. You are not loving if you are not doing justice. Warm feelings of love must become actions of justice.
Amos 5:21-24 scorched the Israelites for empty worship, spirituality without justice. God wants justice to flood the land, to wash away ethnocentrism and oppression. Trickles of justice, fragments of justice are not adequate to "release the oppressed," (Luke 4:18). Jubilee style justice is required (Luke 4:19).
What the white American church is now doing is not working. Doing the same old thing is not the answer. Possibly a good way to keep the Sabbath Day holy would be to do justice. How about after Communion, after worship, everyone over ten is fed a large bowl of chili, given a hammer, and as a group the church spends the next four hours building a Habitat for Humanity house. Bring in a portable swing set, put up a portable plastic fence to keep the kids corralled.
The "old folks" who can't work could sing songs of justice set to the tune of Amazing Grace every hour on the hour during a 10 minute break. They could write their own verses and then sing them to the Habitat crew. Some sample verses:
Amazing justice, how sweet the sound
to the ears of the oppressed.
When floods of justice cover the land
Then the oppressed will be blessed.
From oppressed to blessed,
love and justice combine.
To create, shalom sublime.
A hurricane named oppression
has ravaged this land for years.
The church must lead with justice and love
to take away the tears.
Friday, September 8, 2017
The Social Hurricane Named WHITE
For 400 years, the white social hurricanes of ethnocentrism and oppression have ravaged this land from sea to shining sea. Physical hurricanes last a day or two, ravage the landscape; then we quickly move into recovery mode. When social hurricanes continue for 400 years, its very hard to recover.
For the next 400 years, the Spirit-anointed American evangelical church, colleges and seminaries must release torrents of justice to cleanse and renew America---floods of Jubilee justice, of kingdom of God justice. At this point, I see only an occasional burst of trickles of justice, fragments of justice.
Instead of confessing, repenting, restituting and repairing, most whites, including most Christian whites, are busy blaming black inferiority, black dysfunction or savage Indians as the THE problem. Rather than doing justice, whites talk about white American exceptionalism, white Manifest Destiny, white Christian nation. All this preserves white dominance, white superiority, white privilege, white self-righteousness. This type of white Christian chooses to ignore many Scriptures such as Exodus one, Exodus 6:1-9, Leviticus 25, Nehemiah 5, Isaiah 58, etc. etc.
The white-caused social hurricanes of ethnocentrism and oppression continue on 365 days a year, decade after decade, century after century. There is an occasional outburst of energy to change things such as the abolitionist movement to end slavery; freedom was its rally cry but it did not dig deep on the requirements of justice. After a brief burst of success, neo-slavery roared back in the form of segregation, economic sharecropping, prison gangs and lynching. Not much of an improvement over slavery. Freedom without justice does last long.
For the most part, the white American church has either tolerated or even participated in religio-cultural ethnocentrism and economic oppression. The DeWolf klan, America's premier slave traders, said they did it for "Money, money, money, money, money. . . ." They attended the Episcopal church; an Episcopal church was built on top of a slave castle where they held slaves until a slave ship arrived. Over a 40 year period, 40 out of 44 Lutheran churches moved out of the city of Detroit. A.W. Tozer and his church moved out of the south side of Chicago because poor blacks had moved in; this black community was "irreparably damaged" in Tozer's eyes.
Can the reader tell the difference between a trickle and a torrent, a sprinkle and a downpour? I see across the country many white Christians who think they are torrent Christians but in reality they are only trickle Christians when it comes to justice. Why? They have no biblical theology of oppression, no NT theology of justice. So they are fighting the battle with one hand tied behind their back.
I have heard John Perkins say the following many times:
"Justice is an economic issue. Justice is a stewardship issue. Justice is an ownership issue. Justice has to do with access to the resources of God's creation." In America, whites own most of the wealth. In America, most Christian whites put their prosperity ahead of their stewardship. In America, justice is primarily a theological abstraction.
If you want more information on ethnocentrism and systems of oppression, I recommend that you read The New Jim Crow and The Hidden Cost of Being African American. Yes, the social hurricane named WHITE is still ravaging the social landscape even today. It is much more than a Southern issue, a Confederate flag issue.
Some conclusions:
1. What is my definition of WHITE? A broad definition: all whites, male and female, including poor whites and those formerly among the oppressed such as the Irish who now identify as white because they can enjoy the privileges of being white. A narrower definition: rich, Anglo-Saxon males, the ones with power.
2. Natural hurricanes usually last one or two days, longer if you include flooding. But rather quickly the affected area moves to recovery mode, a long and difficult period. But in the 400 year social hurricane there is no recovery period; or you have to try to recover during the hurricane. An impossible task.
3. It is the WHITE'S responsibility to end whiteness dominance, not the responsibility of the oppressed. They already have their hands full surviving, recovering. They shouldn't have to carry a double burden, surviving AND teaching whites. WHITES, stand up and be a man, a woman, repent, restitute and repair.
4. Ethnocentrism and oppression were ravaging Palestine at the time of Jesus. Ethnocentric priests ran the Temple; Jesus called the operation of the Temple "a den of robbers." In other words, a religious institution characterized as economic oppression.
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus appropriately made attacking and exposing Jewish ethnocentrism (supposed superiority of Jews over inferior Gentiles and Samaritans), CENTRAL in his ministry, not a side issue. See Luke 4:25-30. He also called for the release of the oppressed, for the ending of systems of oppression by practicing Jubilee justice. See Luke 4:18-19.
Jesus reinterpreted two true OT stories about Elijah and Elisha to demonstrate that God's love and grace was equally available to despised Gentiles. Out of deep gratitude for this Bible teaching, the Nazareth Jews tried to kill Jesus on the spot. Teaching ALL the Bible is not always popular, even among bible-believing white evangelicals. Possibly this is why there is no evangelical theology of oppression, no NT theology of justice.
For the next 400 years, the Spirit-anointed American evangelical church, colleges and seminaries must release torrents of justice to cleanse and renew America---floods of Jubilee justice, of kingdom of God justice. At this point, I see only an occasional burst of trickles of justice, fragments of justice.
Instead of confessing, repenting, restituting and repairing, most whites, including most Christian whites, are busy blaming black inferiority, black dysfunction or savage Indians as the THE problem. Rather than doing justice, whites talk about white American exceptionalism, white Manifest Destiny, white Christian nation. All this preserves white dominance, white superiority, white privilege, white self-righteousness. This type of white Christian chooses to ignore many Scriptures such as Exodus one, Exodus 6:1-9, Leviticus 25, Nehemiah 5, Isaiah 58, etc. etc.
The white-caused social hurricanes of ethnocentrism and oppression continue on 365 days a year, decade after decade, century after century. There is an occasional outburst of energy to change things such as the abolitionist movement to end slavery; freedom was its rally cry but it did not dig deep on the requirements of justice. After a brief burst of success, neo-slavery roared back in the form of segregation, economic sharecropping, prison gangs and lynching. Not much of an improvement over slavery. Freedom without justice does last long.
For the most part, the white American church has either tolerated or even participated in religio-cultural ethnocentrism and economic oppression. The DeWolf klan, America's premier slave traders, said they did it for "Money, money, money, money, money. . . ." They attended the Episcopal church; an Episcopal church was built on top of a slave castle where they held slaves until a slave ship arrived. Over a 40 year period, 40 out of 44 Lutheran churches moved out of the city of Detroit. A.W. Tozer and his church moved out of the south side of Chicago because poor blacks had moved in; this black community was "irreparably damaged" in Tozer's eyes.
Can the reader tell the difference between a trickle and a torrent, a sprinkle and a downpour? I see across the country many white Christians who think they are torrent Christians but in reality they are only trickle Christians when it comes to justice. Why? They have no biblical theology of oppression, no NT theology of justice. So they are fighting the battle with one hand tied behind their back.
I have heard John Perkins say the following many times:
"Justice is an economic issue. Justice is a stewardship issue. Justice is an ownership issue. Justice has to do with access to the resources of God's creation." In America, whites own most of the wealth. In America, most Christian whites put their prosperity ahead of their stewardship. In America, justice is primarily a theological abstraction.
If you want more information on ethnocentrism and systems of oppression, I recommend that you read The New Jim Crow and The Hidden Cost of Being African American. Yes, the social hurricane named WHITE is still ravaging the social landscape even today. It is much more than a Southern issue, a Confederate flag issue.
Some conclusions:
1. What is my definition of WHITE? A broad definition: all whites, male and female, including poor whites and those formerly among the oppressed such as the Irish who now identify as white because they can enjoy the privileges of being white. A narrower definition: rich, Anglo-Saxon males, the ones with power.
2. Natural hurricanes usually last one or two days, longer if you include flooding. But rather quickly the affected area moves to recovery mode, a long and difficult period. But in the 400 year social hurricane there is no recovery period; or you have to try to recover during the hurricane. An impossible task.
3. It is the WHITE'S responsibility to end whiteness dominance, not the responsibility of the oppressed. They already have their hands full surviving, recovering. They shouldn't have to carry a double burden, surviving AND teaching whites. WHITES, stand up and be a man, a woman, repent, restitute and repair.
4. Ethnocentrism and oppression were ravaging Palestine at the time of Jesus. Ethnocentric priests ran the Temple; Jesus called the operation of the Temple "a den of robbers." In other words, a religious institution characterized as economic oppression.
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus appropriately made attacking and exposing Jewish ethnocentrism (supposed superiority of Jews over inferior Gentiles and Samaritans), CENTRAL in his ministry, not a side issue. See Luke 4:25-30. He also called for the release of the oppressed, for the ending of systems of oppression by practicing Jubilee justice. See Luke 4:18-19.
Jesus reinterpreted two true OT stories about Elijah and Elisha to demonstrate that God's love and grace was equally available to despised Gentiles. Out of deep gratitude for this Bible teaching, the Nazareth Jews tried to kill Jesus on the spot. Teaching ALL the Bible is not always popular, even among bible-believing white evangelicals. Possibly this is why there is no evangelical theology of oppression, no NT theology of justice.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Top 20 Books About Oppression, Justice and the Kingdom of God.
The following 20 books, mostly by Christian authors, that have influenced my thinking about oppression, justice and the kingdom of God, first biblically, then historically and finally sociologically. To get me started down this road, I first needed a second conversion to social oppression and social justice issues following Martin Luther King's assassination in April 1968. Next 35 years living in two black communities---one in the North (Jackson, Michigan) and one in the South (Jackson, Mississippi) greatly expanded my thinking on the above issues. Finally, I was exceedingly fortunate to have 12 years of mentoring by John Perkins after my retirement in 1994 from teaching sociology and anthropology at Spring Arbor University.
1. The Challenge of Bible Translations, Steven Voth, chapter 14 on Justice and Righteousness where one page lists the data on justice or the lack of justice in various language translation. English translations are very weak on justice in the NT when compared to Spanish, French, Latin and German translations. Wolterstorff asserts that English NT translations have been "dejusticized."
2. Dream With Me, John Perkins. A third grade dropout, creator of Christian Community Development, Perkins has authored 17 books and received 13 honorary doctorates. This is his 2017 memoir.
3. At Home With The Poor, Jean Thomas. Thomas, a Haitian, had a four year internship under John Perkins in the late 1970s. For the past 35 years he has been practicing Christian Community Development in rural Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti. A case where the disciple has done better than his master.
4. God So Loved The Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression, Thomas Hanks. The subtitle describes the essence of the book. There is little theology on the biblical teaching on oppression so this fine study by a Hebrew scholar is of great importance. Oppression crushes, humiliates, animalizes, impoverishes, enslave and kills; traumatizes---creates PTSD or PTSS.
5. Shalom, Perry Yoder. This fine OT Mennonite scholar puts oppression in the context of justice and shalom.
6. The Wars of America: Christian Views, edited by Ronald Wells. Eight professional historians, each an expert in the war they discuss, show that most American wars were not justified. George Marsden proves that British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution.
7. The Very Good Gospel, Lisa Sharon Harper. She probes the social dimensions of the gospel, something most white evangelicals are weak on; in the process, she reveals her own searing experiences as a black.
8. Divided by Faith, Michael Emerson. Emerson shows that white evangelicalism, an overly individualized faith, has not brought about racial healing; instead it has divided America.
9. Inheriting the [Slave] Trade, DeWolf. Modern descendants of the DeWolf klan discover the enormous evil of the northern slave trade. The 'great folks' were actually enormously evil.
10. All books by Jim Wallis. A genius at applying biblical principles to modern American society.
11. Dear White Christians, Jennifer Harvey. The well meaning reconciliation has largely failed; it has failed to address oppression/justice issues.
12. The Scandalous Message of James, Elsa Tamez. Tamez, a rare expert in OT oppression, reinterprets James through the lens of oppression, the rich oppressing the poor, the widows and orphans as oppressed, not afflicted.
13. Walking With the Wind, John Lewis. An insider's mature reflection on the civil rights movement.
14. W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, Edward Blum. Contrary to most scholars of Du Bois who see him as a secular person, Blum sees Du Bois as deeply spiritual because of his understanding of and commitment to justice.
15. Reforging the White Republic, Edward Blum. Blum is an expert on the 1865-1900 period of American history which he sees as the reestablishment of white power in the South. Moody began this by calling a reconciliation meeting of northern white pastors and southern white pastors in St. Louis. Moody did not try to bring about reconciliation between northern white pastors and southern black pastors.
16. Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men in Washington, D.C., Eliot Liebow. A 1960s anthropological classic giving an inside look at what was really going on in the lives of these men, not the widespread stereotypes of them.
17. The Politics of Rich and Poor, Kevin Phillips. A conservative Republican partly responsible for Reagan's election shares his profound disillusionment with the 1980s.
18. Any book about Ella Baker, the second most important person in the 1960s civil rights movement.
19. Any book by David Shipler who relies on a combination of scholarship and numerous interviews with the poor and ethnics of America.
20. Google the blog by yours truly, "Lowell Noble's Writings." For biblical, historical and sociological perspectives on oppression and justice issues which are badly neglected and misunderstood by white evangelicals.
Three Recommended Experiences
1. Haiti Mission Trip to Haiti Christian Development Fund ministry in rural Fond-des-Blancs directed by Jean Thomas, the Haitian disciple of John Perkins. Represents 35 years of CCD; BEST PRACTICES of CCD. Guide: Cheri Lane, cheri.marie.lane@gmail.com
2. CCDA weeklong April Immersion in Chicago. An intensive on BEST PRACTICES in urban ministry.
3. A CCDA fall national convention.
1. The Challenge of Bible Translations, Steven Voth, chapter 14 on Justice and Righteousness where one page lists the data on justice or the lack of justice in various language translation. English translations are very weak on justice in the NT when compared to Spanish, French, Latin and German translations. Wolterstorff asserts that English NT translations have been "dejusticized."
2. Dream With Me, John Perkins. A third grade dropout, creator of Christian Community Development, Perkins has authored 17 books and received 13 honorary doctorates. This is his 2017 memoir.
3. At Home With The Poor, Jean Thomas. Thomas, a Haitian, had a four year internship under John Perkins in the late 1970s. For the past 35 years he has been practicing Christian Community Development in rural Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti. A case where the disciple has done better than his master.
4. God So Loved The Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression, Thomas Hanks. The subtitle describes the essence of the book. There is little theology on the biblical teaching on oppression so this fine study by a Hebrew scholar is of great importance. Oppression crushes, humiliates, animalizes, impoverishes, enslave and kills; traumatizes---creates PTSD or PTSS.
5. Shalom, Perry Yoder. This fine OT Mennonite scholar puts oppression in the context of justice and shalom.
6. The Wars of America: Christian Views, edited by Ronald Wells. Eight professional historians, each an expert in the war they discuss, show that most American wars were not justified. George Marsden proves that British tyranny was not bad enough to justify a violent revolution.
7. The Very Good Gospel, Lisa Sharon Harper. She probes the social dimensions of the gospel, something most white evangelicals are weak on; in the process, she reveals her own searing experiences as a black.
8. Divided by Faith, Michael Emerson. Emerson shows that white evangelicalism, an overly individualized faith, has not brought about racial healing; instead it has divided America.
9. Inheriting the [Slave] Trade, DeWolf. Modern descendants of the DeWolf klan discover the enormous evil of the northern slave trade. The 'great folks' were actually enormously evil.
10. All books by Jim Wallis. A genius at applying biblical principles to modern American society.
11. Dear White Christians, Jennifer Harvey. The well meaning reconciliation has largely failed; it has failed to address oppression/justice issues.
12. The Scandalous Message of James, Elsa Tamez. Tamez, a rare expert in OT oppression, reinterprets James through the lens of oppression, the rich oppressing the poor, the widows and orphans as oppressed, not afflicted.
13. Walking With the Wind, John Lewis. An insider's mature reflection on the civil rights movement.
14. W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet, Edward Blum. Contrary to most scholars of Du Bois who see him as a secular person, Blum sees Du Bois as deeply spiritual because of his understanding of and commitment to justice.
15. Reforging the White Republic, Edward Blum. Blum is an expert on the 1865-1900 period of American history which he sees as the reestablishment of white power in the South. Moody began this by calling a reconciliation meeting of northern white pastors and southern white pastors in St. Louis. Moody did not try to bring about reconciliation between northern white pastors and southern black pastors.
16. Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men in Washington, D.C., Eliot Liebow. A 1960s anthropological classic giving an inside look at what was really going on in the lives of these men, not the widespread stereotypes of them.
17. The Politics of Rich and Poor, Kevin Phillips. A conservative Republican partly responsible for Reagan's election shares his profound disillusionment with the 1980s.
18. Any book about Ella Baker, the second most important person in the 1960s civil rights movement.
19. Any book by David Shipler who relies on a combination of scholarship and numerous interviews with the poor and ethnics of America.
20. Google the blog by yours truly, "Lowell Noble's Writings." For biblical, historical and sociological perspectives on oppression and justice issues which are badly neglected and misunderstood by white evangelicals.
Three Recommended Experiences
1. Haiti Mission Trip to Haiti Christian Development Fund ministry in rural Fond-des-Blancs directed by Jean Thomas, the Haitian disciple of John Perkins. Represents 35 years of CCD; BEST PRACTICES of CCD. Guide: Cheri Lane, cheri.marie.lane@gmail.com
2. CCDA weeklong April Immersion in Chicago. An intensive on BEST PRACTICES in urban ministry.
3. A CCDA fall national convention.
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