This is a review of the second of three articles written by Thabiti Anyabwile on social justice (click here for the article). This article addresses social justice from perspective of two different political views. The one view is from the view of those who are privileged because of their race in America while the other is written from the view of those who have historically been extremely marginalized for the same reason in America.
Anyabwile's point here is that one's position in America determines one's politics more than one's theology. That the difference between white and black Christianity has more to do with the difference in their politics than theology. And behind those politics are the social ethics that support our reaction to our situation. And this leaves the Church divided.
Anyabwile describes the political views of many whites as revolving around individual responsibility and what one can achieve for oneself. And I know from a past discussion that this view can be defended tenaciously because, in the end, it either supports or challenges one's self image. On the other hand, the political views of blacks embrace and promote political views that will help them escape the effects that past, and even present, race-based marginalization has on them.
Regarding the political views of whites, I remember hearing a debate between two people. One person was a white person who had pulled themselves up by their own boot straps to escape poverty and become successful. The other person, who was also white, challenged the notion that that one was the self-made success they claimed to be by pointing out that privileges the other person by virtue of their race. Of course that challenge flew in the face of the first person's pride and joy in knowing what they had achieved. And thus that person was angry at the claim that privilege was part of their success.
On the other hand, I've heard white Christians blame blacks for their less frequent success stories. Such blame again challenges blacks who lacked the advantages afforded by privilege given to white and thus may not have achieved as much for themselves as others have. Thus the challenge served as an indictment because black Christians have had fewer success stories than their white brothers and sisters have had.
Of course the real issue for blacks is that those challenges present is that they are not to expect the necessary political help from most white Christians that would allow them to escape marginalization. How tragically ironic it is that they could better expect such help from whites who did not share their Christian beliefs because these whites had not learned their politics from their religion.
What is the solution? That question almost serves as the end of the article. Anyabwile's solution revolves around no longer severing the ethical from the Gospel. And that ethical includes more than one's personal ethics, it includes the ethics that comes from our political convictions. And we must do so for the sake of the Church and the Gospel.
This second article is a very worthwhile article to read because it gets at some of the core reasons why the political views of white Christians can differ so much from the political views of black Christians. And before closing by saying that one should read this particular article by Anyabwile, a lesson what it means to know vs what it means to understand from Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef is vital here.
Max-Neef gave an illustration about our experience with love to show the difference between knowing and understanding. Max-Neef said that one can study love by learning about the psychology of love, the biology of love, and so forth and still not understand what love is about. One might know everything that is written about love, but one doesn't really understand love until one has fallen in love. Once one has fallen in love, they can start to understand what love is about.
And that is a challenge made by this blogpost to whites when they are puzzled by the political views of their black brothers and sisters in Christ. Us white Christians will never understand what the black experience in America has been like because we will never suffer in America what blacks have and still suffer. Thus before we pass judgment on the political views of our black Christian brothers and sisters, we should look to know everything we can about their collective experiences with the knowledge that we will never understand their views because we have never experienced what they have. And thus we should not let the differences in their views serve as a threat to how we see ourselves. I say that because like the debate I overheard from the two people mentioned earlier, learning about our advantages can rightfully challenge how we see ourselves and others.
No comments:
Post a Comment