sarkakaiaima

Like all reform movements, the abolitionists legacy is not without fault. We look back upon the prior generations greatest achievements and we can critique them and perceive how those social or legal reforms could have been enacted more effectively (and perhaps justly). To not ask critical questions of the views and actions of our forebearers is folly and leads us into a blind repetition of the ways of the ancestors for sake of imitation and preservation of culture. The biblical revelation leads us to critique cultural norms and customs because it presents God as present in the world as Savior—creatively intervening to redeem and restore human beings. And with human redemption and restoration comes the reformation of cultural norms. God has placed us together as God’s people in our time in order to work for the good of the other and ultimately for all people—to partner with God as the Holy Spirit builds the Kingdom of God on earth. This is spiritual work precisely because it is expre...

This essay (and the next) was written for the blog for Resonance Theological Journal in August 2018. I am publishing it here due to the timeliness of the subjects addressed.  We modern Americans (and those with a general knowledge of American history) tend to assume that the abolitionists legacy is right not only in the sense of their cause being just but also in their arguments and methods. In other words, we tend to assume that God was on their side and that the means of social and legal reforms they sought was completely right. I would strongly agree that their cause was entirely just and that God was on their side because slavery is evil and an affront to his good will and purpose for human beings. I addressed this already in other blog posts, The Heresy of Racism (Part 1) and The Heresy of Racism (Part 2 ). However, we need to be careful about passing judgment even as we make judgments about the merits of laws and social customs (culture). The task of discerning the truth reg...

I am well aware that the phrase “the heresy of racism” may strike readers as odd or even incorrect. The phrase was chosen purposely because how we think of ourselves as human beings is inherently theological (or ideological if one does not acknowledge Deity). We draw conclusions about what it means to be human based on the core convictions we hold regarding the nature of things and our place in this world. Some markers of cultural boundaries are common practices and customs which are expressions of shared convictions about reality.   In the modern Western world, this is one of the reasons we are now witnessing such virulent hostility between people today over abortion and human sexuality in particular (to give to prominent examples). Americans no longer hold to the once commonly held consensus which was shaped by the Christian theological heritage and thus they sharply disagree about the purpose and identity of human existence. I would assert that this is why it is accurate to ...

  This essay and the following essay (Part 2) were previously published on the blog for Resonance Theological Journal in June and July of 2018. I am publishing them here because of the timeliness of the subject. I have never understood racism. The very idea of pre-judging a person’s value or worth based solely on skin color has always struck me as ranking on the highest order of stupidity—the kind of stupidity that is chosen and reinforced rather than merely passively learned from others. This particular kind of sin is not merely a case of superficiality triumphing over a more mature understanding of human existence; rather it is a purposeful distortion of the nobility and intrinsic value of the human person as created in God’s image. That is why I propose a different way of describing racism—as the heresy of racism.   That I have never sympathized with nor understood racism I count as a gift of God. My mind was never poisoned by the heresy of racism and the irrational not...