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Reclaiming my time. Had a dream last night that there was a major evangelical discussion about race and the advert had white, Asian, & Latino males, but for the black person, it was photo of Aunt Jemima. I was ranting on Twitter. I'm taking that as a sign so I'm moving on. Why?
With every podcast, I'm regurgitating points I've been making since 1998. Not saying anything new. So, if you're interested in having a multi-ethnic future for your local church and/or Christian edu, I have a book on that. Do what the appendix says. https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Promised-Land-Leadership-Institutions/dp/1596382341?pf_rd_r=YSGAP8VCKRVDBSMR09BR&pf_rd_p=be25f964-4afb-442f-819e-9e628b270a7c&pd_rd_r=bbe7335d-68ec-4453-9c74-e09d927074a8&pd_rd_w=8VSfb&pd_rd_wg=If59U&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
Here are my thoughts on George Floyd, protests, & police reform: https://blog.acton.org/archives/116343-acton-line-podcast-anthony-bradley-on-george-floyd-police-reform-and-riots.html?utm_content=130885687&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-37730129
The fact that many conservative evangelicals refuse to utter the phrase "Black Lives Matter" reveals that their primary allegiance is to political ideology. It's neurotic. Jonathan Haidt explains conservative conformity pressure. https://billmoyers.com/segment/jonathan-haidt-explains-our-contentious-culture/
Evangelicalism is anemic & vacuous at the intersection of faith & culture because of its deep ignorance of 500 years worth of Christian social thought principles. No blog from TGC, T4G, DG, any 600-word op-ed on "the gospel" + random verses, etc will provide you tools for 2020.
Talking to evangelicals who don't know sphere sovereignty, personalism, eudaimonia, subsidiarity, etc. but want to offer cherry-picked biblicist solutions is a waste of time. They need to study Christian political philosophy. https://www.amazon.com/Political-Visions-Illusions-Contemporary-Ideologies/dp/0830852425/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/138-5288869-5897923?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0830852425&pd_rd_r=6827ce3d-77f6-4536-8ef9-d839cd4611f4&pd_rd_w=MDmUA&pd_rd_wg=uoTI3&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=THXNF15HSG4K85A0QCNZ&psc=1&refRID=THXNF15HSG4K85A0QCNZ
Christians not operating from a Confession of Faith are wasting time & money trying to connect dots already connected 300/400 years ago. We cannot demand orthopraxis when their orthodoxy has no depth beyond an 8-point "What We Believe" link. Start here> https://www.amazon.com/Credo-Historical-Theological-Confessions-Christian/dp/0300109741/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RDN8CNUCZMK5&dchild=1&keywords=creeds+and+confessions+of+faith+in+the+christian+tradition&qid=1593093883&s=books&sprefix=creeds+and+con%2Cstripbooks%2C304&sr=1-1
Anti-racism is truncated & is an anthropology of negation. It may prevent injustice but that does not provide the conditions needed for black thriving. That's a discussion about political and economic liberty and black personalism. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433111837/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i10
For people who have no religion, being anti-racist fills many voids left by leaving faith traditions. It provides a framework for transcendence of the self, sin, redemption, public worship, toppling "idols," atonement, etc. Christians don't need it. https://www.thedailybeast.com/antiracism-our-flawed-new-religion
Black thriving also *must* include moral formation of the whole black person. I have a book coming out on this very soon. It includes chapters from *black female scholars* with PhDs who do more than just Tweet, podcast, & write blog posts. Coming soon is "Why Black Lives Matter."
Evangelical's inability to concede that sinners can create systems in local communities that treat the disliked as "the other" need to read about the systemic injustice against lower class white people of Scots/Irish decent. It happened to blacks too. https://www.amazon.com/Not-Quite-White-Boundaries-Whiteness/dp/0822338734/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=not+quite+white&qid=1593094804&s=books&sr=1-2
If your conservative friends are struggling to believe America's race history, structurally, have them watch this and then tell them to read the book, "The Color of Law."
Is America a "racist country?" As a theologian, the answer is "yes." Why? Because every country that has people in is groupish & others other people. Ergo, every country on the planet earth is "racist." Does it explain racial disparities everywhere, "no!" https://www.amazon.com/Discrimination-Disparities-Thomas-Sowell/dp/1541645634/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=thomas+sowell+disparities&qid=1593095095&s=books&sr=1-1
Does "white privilege" exist? Yes. Does it mean white people have easier lives/don't have to work for things? "No!" It does mean that whiteness comes with the privilege of not having a range of burdens/liabilities. Class privilege too! These can intersect. https://blog.acton.org/archives/64617-racial-reconciliation-without-intersectionality-privilege.html
Intersectionality/CRT/Marxism are not threats to evangelicalism. Stop being silly. What's destroyed American evangelicalism is white Christian nationalism. Since Jim Crow, evangelicalism's gospel has proven no match for *that* syncretism. GenZ rejects it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081317578X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Many people, ergo, believe evangelicalism to actually not be Christian because of the inability of its leaders to show self-critical gospel humility about its history without the hysteria of "becoming Marxist." Instead you get defensive pride & arrogance. https://www.amazon.com/Mississippi-Praying-Southern-Evangelicals-1945-1975/dp/1479823511
If you're in the PCA & relying on evangelicalism to help you think about culture. Why? It's like bringing a Dollar Store mini-screwdriver set to repair a blown head gasket. Why are you not using Covenant Theology, the WCF, Kuyper, Scottish tradition? Why?
If you're in the PCA, authors with low sacramental views, not in connectional churches, don't have a Confession of Faith, in networks where celebrity = credibility, dabble in Reformed fruit but reject the roots, cannot help you apply Presbyterianism. #Cant https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K6MHLK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
If you're Presbyterian, here's primer on the intersection of the Bible and the WCF for thinking about personal and social ethics. Seriously, this need to be in every PCA pastor's library. https://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Christian-Ethics-David-Clyde/dp/0801052289/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H84US5SAU8B4&dchild=1&keywords=biblical+christian+ethics&qid=1593100305&s=books&sprefix=biblical+chri%2Cstripbooks%2C163&sr=1-1
Local church action on race? Use your church to facilitate transitional justice in your town. Convene local politicians, non-profit leaders, etc. to do this work. Your church should be a community center as well. https://www.fathommag.com/stories/finally-healing-the-wounds-of-jim-crow
If you're looking for writers to explain how we got here, here's a start. Read these like you're an adult: eat the meat & spit out the bones. It doesn't need to be from a tribal publisher to trust it. Stop being a lazy thinker. God gave you Reason. https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=antiracism-starter-booklist
I connect all these dots and apply 400 years of Christian social thought principles to issues in American life in this book, if you'd like a model for how this is done. It's a personalist approach to social issues. It's about human flourishing. https://www.amazon.com/Something-Seems-Strange-Christianity-Contemporary/dp/149828390X
I'm slowly learning that being non-tribal in a Facebook formed/confirmation bias world get you published/heard nowhere so . . . . .
