John Stackhouse is a theologian who teaches at Crandall University in Canada. He’s from a Plymouth Brethren background, educated at Queen’s University, Wheaton Graduate School, and the University of Chicago. He generally has a pretty sensible Christian view of most contemporary issues. (aka: I generally find him sensible… 🙂
In this series of popular articles, he summarizes a bunch of influential academic trends that are influencing our culture these days. Of course, any such summary leaves out a lot that aficionados would find important. But then, he’s not writing for them. Maybe he’s writing for you?
Jesus Christ must be the center and the norm for Christian public engagement. Why? Because Christ and Christ’s Spirit aren’t at work only in our hearts, families, and churches, but in our civic communities, cities, nations, and the entire world.
I’ve been engaged in quite a bit of recent discussion about the presence of racism and prejudice in the United States today. This is a list of resources that come to mind this morning and are thus weighted towards the recent. I think they are useful as background or direct input for consideration of the issue of racism in the United States today (June of 2020). I decided to document them in one place (and possibly update the list over time) in order to be able to share the resources list easily. Note that this list is particularly oriented towards the issue of racism related to African Americans. I’ve read, watched, or listened to all of these. I’m sure there are others that are valuable that I have forgotten or never experienced. I have attempted to leave out mere political demagoguery.
Some definitions are in order. First of all, some decades ago one of my teachers helped clarify some definitions for me after a race riot at my high school. As an African American teacher, he explained that racism is a belief in the superiority of one race over another. He further clarified that prejudice is a preconceived opinion or expectation. Thus prejudices may or may not be racist. I found this a useful distinction. Many people will admit to prejudices. Not that many will admit to racism. This distinction may prove useful in breaking the ice in what can be heated discussions. It won’t change the reality; but it might be helpful in defusing the heat.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – This is a book by Bryan Stevenson that I believe should be (if such a thing were possible) mandatory reading for every American Christian. The witness of Stevenson as he offers aid to the abandoned and condemned is challenging. His redemptive and loving response to racist attacks upon himself and others is even more telling. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. And yes, it was made into a feature movie called Just Mercy. The movie is really great. The book is better. See the movie. Buy and read the book. There has been progress; but what you see here is not over. Bryan Stevenson, whom I have never met, is a hero of mine nonetheless.
John Perkins books and life work. I have listened to John Perkins tell his story, teach, preach, and have met him personally. Rarely does any human being impress me so deeply as a godly man. He is genuinely an American hero, and a man of God whose leadership and teaching I admire greatly. He has founded several organizations and authored numerous influential books. I highly recommend his book Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win. I have given away many copies of this book, including to many of the leaders of Long Beach Friends Church. Immediately after writing that book, he wrote another:One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race. It’s excellent too. John Perkins has written and co-authored quite a few other books. I’ve read most of them. Good stuff. You can find him on YouTube and other places. The Christian Community Development Association has many audio recordings of John Perkins. He tells his story in a ten-minute video. There’s a longer, 21 minute video available on YouTube also.
The “Minnesota Paradox” episode of The Indicator from Planet Money: “OK. So in those particular instances, everybody’s acting rationally. There are a lot of racial disparities that occur that are not meant to be racial disparities, that were not intentional to be racial disparity. But they happen.“
The “Melissa Dell On Security and Prosperity” episode of The Indicator from Planet Money… This one is an episode with implications for race in the United States rather than presenting conclusions: “I think that the main questions that motivate me are thinking about why poverty and insecurity persist and what society needs to do if they want to promote economic growth, if they want to promote security.“
“The Persistence of Poverty” episode of The Indicator from Planet Money: “Why are some parts of Peru and Bolivia poor and others are not? The answer actually explains a lot about the modern world. And one of the economist Melissa Dell’s papers answers it by looking at something that happened roughly 450 years ago.” (Again, this podcast episode is one with implications for today’s America rather than directly addressing it.)
“What A 1968 Report Tells Us About The Persistence Of Racial Inequality“, a Planet Money newsletter. This newsletter has a number of links to interesting reports. “Fifty years later, Americans are taking to the streets again, protesting systemic inequities that haven’t gone away. How much has really changed?“
“Minneapolis Ranks Near The Bottom For Racial Equality“, a Planet Money newsletter. This newsletter has a number of links to interesting reports. “So, about Minneapolis… we found it, and the Twin Cities area more generally, has some of the most abysmal numbers on racial inequality in the nation. Here is a snapshot…”
The Economist for June 6, 2020 has several relevant articles addressing issues brought on by protests over the killing of George Floyd.
Race in America 2019, published before the recent awful incidents and resulting protests, this Pew study shows perceptions of race in America. “More than 150 years after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, most U.S. adults say the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on the position of black people in American society today. More than four-in-ten say the country hasn’t made enough progress toward racial equality, and there is some skepticism, particularly among blacks, that black people will ever have equal rights with whites, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.“
I’ve heard a lot of talk about the Haitian Revolution – the “only successful slave rebellion” – and its tactics recently in discussion of violence associated with recent protests. I certainly pray we don’t go there. Hate, injustice, and violence begets hate, injustice, and violence. If you are a podcast listener, Mike Duncan covered Haiti in his Revolutions podcast. Chapter 4 was the Haitian Revolution, which he began podcasting about on December 6, 2014. It is quite the story of developing racial perceptions and prejudices and hates and, well, unspeakable violence by and against all sides. You can begin listening to the episodes on this revolution here.
A 14-part film series called Eyes on the Prizewas broadcast on PBS as a part of The American Experience beginning in 1987. It is quite good as a background primer on the struggle for civil rights for black Americans.
A film called Freedom Riderswas broadcast on PBS as a part of The American Experience in 2010. It is another good background primer on the struggle for civil rights for black Americans. You will be able to find quite a few relevant films from The American Experience series.
The New York Times published The 1619 Project. There is some scholarly dissent from the data and conclusions presented in this project. In addition to the history and interpretation of history, and relevant to racial issues today, episode 5 (in two parts) details the experience of black sugar cane farmers June and Angie Provost and their family in Louisiana. Find the 1619 podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Whatever you think of the case for reparations, it is worth at least understanding an intelligent young black man’s perspective. You may or may not find yourself agreeing with Ta-Nehisi Coates 2014 argument. However, understanding his perspective is key.
Former president Barack Obama @BarackObama recently tweeted “In our @MBK_Alliance town hall yesterday, I mentioned James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. From 1962, it remains a seminal meditation on race by one of our greatest writers and relevant for understanding the pain and anger behind the protests.” You can read an excerpt online at the New Yorker. I can say that the pain and anger certainly come through. James Baldwin is, indeed, quite a writer. It will stir you up and inform you of his perspective. I will say up front that I found his understanding of Christianity and scripture quite flawed, but his experience of the church all too true of much common practice in America. Regardless, he represents a perspective that has been prominent for the better part of a century.
Update June 13, 2020 – Here is one fairly elaborate definition of “systemic racism”. It’s surprisingly difficult to find an agreed upon definition! I just think we continue to have a problem with racism and prejudice in the United States. I don’t care that much about the labels – except we need to communicate.
Update June 19, 2020 – The second season of the podcast series Scene on Radio is called Seeing White. It is about that “structural racism” that you hear folks talk about. Listen carefully. It’s very easy to think the topic is individual attitudes of bigotry or prejudice. It is not, even though that’s what most people think of when they hear the word “racism”. One could argue that the term “structural racism” is confusing for most people – and maybe it is. It is about pervasive systems that maintain a power imbalance in favor of white people, whomever “white people” are. Do you know who is white? How do you know? Are you white? Are you being co-opted to be white? Is there such a thing as “good white”? You may find yourself challenged by this listen. I learned a lot when I listened to it.
Update June 27, 2020 – My friend Art Gray posted publicly as below on Facebook recently. He is such a treasure and gift to the church in Long Beach!
Some months ago, I watched the excellent Chernobylmini-series on television. In the last episode (number five) the protagonist, Legasov, reflects on his experience with the nuclear disaster. Powerful people tried to cover it up and hide the magnitude of the disaster from public view. His comments are timeless, but particularly apt in our day. Here’s a couple of the comments that have been haunting me in this time of extreme partisan politics that carry over even into management of pandemics.
We’re on dangerous ground right now, because of our secrets and our lies! They’re practically what define us. When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can longer remember it is even there. But it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid.
And then later, he writes of his life as a scientist, apparently in contrast to government bureaucrats and politicians.
To be a scientist is to be naive.  We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not.  The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. It doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: What is the cost of lies?
I find it (perhaps naively) surprising and dismaying that so many who claim to follow the one who is the Truth seem more concerned with politics than inconvenient truth. Of course, many have said this, and said it better, before me. But still. Really? The debt will come due.
As Christians, we tend to think of the debt coming due when Jesus’ kingdom comes in its fullness. At that last trumpet, so to speak. That’s not Legasov’s point. Consider all the references to “the land of the living” in scripture. Are these referring to that distant future or to reality in even this fallen world? With all due respect to those scholars who explain “the land of the living” refers to the fullness of new creation, I’m just not using the term here in that way. Legasov is talking about how the truth has a way of making itself known in the face of lies, in this world as we know it today. It doesn’t stay buried in the land of the living.
Some didn’t want the Truth when he came into the land of the living 2000 years ago. He was a danger to their plans – and He remains so. We recently remembered how Jesus was crucified and left dead in the tomb. And then the Truth returned, unbowed, from the grave. That’s the way truth is, I think. You can only hide it away in the grave for so long before the sheer life of it comes back to haunt those who sought to keep it down. That’s because the truth reflects how God is – how Jesus is. You can’t keep him down. The world He created reflects that reality. The truth is out there, and he is jealous.
I long for simple truth in the land of the living – the land I live in now. I think this is the proper attitude for one who follows the Truth.
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24) The truth is of Him. He is the Truth. What is the cost of lies? It is death, naturally.
True peace is not made when powerful parties gather and dictate terms to their enemies. The hard work of peacemaking requires listening, tough choices, hard conversations, and mutual sacrifice.
Justo Gonzales closes his book The Changing Shape of Church History:
No longer can the church claim the religious hegemony it once had… Many Christians think that thIs means that the church is losing is power, and yearn with nostalgia for the old times of Christendom. But if I understand correctly the message of Jesus, that marginality, whether imposed or voluntary, is to be received as an opportunity to recover an essential dimension of that message:
“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”
Lk. 22:25-26
The church of the future, that Catholic and universal church that I have just described, will be a church of service, but of service from the margins. It will not be the church at the center, as in the paradigm of Eusebius. It’s great temptation will be to become a purely spiritual church, claiming to be above the vicissitudes of human history, as in the paradigm of Augustine. However, if it is obedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be a church incarnate, present, a participant of human life, but present above all at the margins, without pretending or even seeking to be at the center or to control, and with a clear call of service to all mankind.
Do you know a student who is trying to work out how to reconcile the latest science on human origins with their Christian faith and biblical teaching? Allow me to recommend that you refer them to works by John Walton, Iain Provan, or Tremper Longman. (I’m sure there are others; but these three I have found particularly helpful.)
For example, John Walton’s book The Lost World of Adam and Eve is very helpful in clarifying how the accounts of human origins in Genesis should be received in their historical and literary context and then what that means for us today. It’s available in paper, on Kindle, and as an audiobook. Walton also has many lectures available online via youtube and other sources.
For a wider scope, try Iain Provan book Seriously Dangerous Religion, which is quite a seriously good book for Jesus-followers who want to understand how to think of Christian faith in relation to the wider world.