The Religious Cancer of Racism

Almost two weeks ago, our country observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I attended an MLK event at my alma mater, Wittenberg University. Michael Eric Dyson--pastor, professor, author, NPR commentator, and cultural critic--was the keynote speaker. As expected, he was both inspiring and provocative (yes, he went after Bill Cosby). His message to the white people in the audience was to stop investing in the psychological privilege of whiteness.

Dyson's challenge brought to mind an article by James Cone that I first read a few years ago called "The Religious Cancer of Racism". In this piece, Cone calls on white theologians to study racism as seriously as they study the historical Jesus. "From Jonathan Edwards to Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold Niebuhr to the present, progressive white theologians, with few exceptions, write and teach as if they do not need to address the radical contradiction that racism creates for Christian theology," states Cone.

He continues, "Race criticism is just as crucial for the integrity of Christian theology as any critique in the modern world. Christianity was blatantly used to justify slavery, colonialism, and segregation for nearly five hundred years. Yet this great contradiction is consistently neglected by the same white male theologians who would never ignore the problem that critical reason poses for faith in a secular world. They still do theology as if white supremacy created no serious problem for Christian belief. Their silence on race is so conspicuous that I sometimes wonder why they are not greatly embarrassed by it. "

I have made it a goal to address racism in all of my theology courses. I also am committed to doing what I can to work for long term anti-racist tranformation in the institutions in which I work and do ministry--with the help of organizations such as Lutheran Human Relations Association and Crossroads Ministry. Would you join me?

Finally up and running!

Last spring, the students in my "Being Lutheran in America" course told me that I needed to create a blog so that I could share theological resources with them once they graduated. Since then, I have been pondering what name to give this blog. I almost went with "Blogylonian Captivity" (my spouse's contribution) but I decided that was a bit arcane. So I am calling my blog "Theology for the Church" because that describes how I understand my own call as assistant professor of systematic theology at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. The seminary's mission is to "form leaders for Christ's church at work in the world." I understand my call as teaching theology for the church, that is, to help the church reflect critically on what it believes, as it is sent out to bear witness to the gospel. So, as promised, I will post thoughts, book and article suggestions, links to resources for doing ministry and mission, and anything else I can think of that could help Trinity graduates and anyone else serving in Christ's church at work in the world!