Race and racism are obviously controversial issues. Writing on the subject is a thankless task, bound to provoke accusations that an author is enthralled by some nefarious ideology and insufficiently enlightened by a better one. This essay has no agenda either to . . . Continue reading →
Race and Reformation
They Turned The Covenant Of Grace Into A Covenant Of Works (Or Why The Distinction Between Law And Gospel Matters)
Understanding The Duplex Regimen Would Also Help
…In replying to DeYoung, Kwon and Thompson could have replied in kind, foregrounding theological questions raised by DeYoung. Indeed, they could easily have made the case that on the merits of DeYoung’s own theology he should be far more concerned about justice . . . Continue reading →
Your Ethnic Identity Is Important But It Is Not Ultimate
Christians are not Gnostics. Against the Gnostics, Christians have, since the first quarter of the second century, affirmed the essential, inherent goodness of creation. Against the Gnostics and Marcionites we also affirmed the unity of the covenant of grace. Both of those truths help us to address the problem of ethnic tensions in Christ’s church. Continue reading
Trueman: The Psalms Are Better For What Ails Us Than Critical Race Theory
Does critical race theory contain some truths? Yes. Neil Shenvi recently pointed this out. Does it offer helpful insights that cannot be better found elsewhere? I have yet to see any. Indeed, I consider the Psalter itself to offer a far better . . . Continue reading →
Who Gets To Criticize Machen?
I was thinking about Machen as I was listening Mike and Steve on NoCo Radio discussing the new collection of Machen’s radio addresses, Things Unseen. Continue reading
In A Shocking About Face Some Americans Want To Go Back To The Pre-Civil Rights Era
I ask that Smith College stop reducing my personhood to a racial category. Stop telling me what I must think and feel about myself. Stop presuming to know who I am or what my culture is based upon my skin color. Stop . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 171: What American Christians Can Learn From Black History
For much of the history of North America, Christianity has been the dominant religious group and a major culture-shaping force. In the USA it, as I have noted regularly here, until quite recently people spoke of the USA as a “Christian nation” . . . Continue reading →
Luther Delivered Us From The Doctrine Of Purgatory But Critical Theory Will Have It Reinstated
R. Scott Clark, professor of church history at Westminster Seminary California in Escondido, California, told Campus Reform that “Dr. Thompson calls Lutherans to repent for ‘systemic racism’ and takes for granted that we should all accept this new, rather radical redefinition of racism which, in her account, entails a new, decided un-Lutheran definition of repentance.” Continue reading →
Contra Favoritism: James’ Response To Injustice In The Church As A Model For Our Response To Racism
For the last several Lord’s Days I have been meditating on James 2:14 (and the surrounding context). I have been thinking about what James said to the largely Jewish congregation in Jerusalem. I think of James as a New Testament counterpart to . . . Continue reading →
Derryck Green: The New Antiracism Is A New Religion
Paul said, “From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.” He saw other people as present or potential members of the “new creation”: “The old has passed away and the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:16–17). The new creation, . . . Continue reading →
Fredrick Douglass: America Is Not Irredeemable
Where Douglass may have raised a few eyebrows was in his conclusion where he challenged the common northern abolitionist belief that the U.S. Constitution itself was pro-slavery and should be discarded. When Douglass initially escaped slavery, he had accepted this view, but . . . Continue reading →
Stella Morabito: Emotional Manipulation Is Baked Into The Revolution
So, what’s the secret of creating enough woke conformity to get to such an anti-thought point? How does a well-organized band of power-craving elitists get people to surrender the right to speak their own minds? To open the door to giving collectivist . . . Continue reading →
Pilgrim Theology Versus Ethnic Theology
In recent decades it has become fashionable to qualify theology with one’s ethnicity or sexuality. The most famous example of such is James Cone’s 1969 Black Theology and Black Power. In this work Cone correlated “black theology” to the “Black Power” movement of . . . Continue reading →
Machen’s Letter To His Mother Or What To Do With Dead Sinners?
J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937) was born in the American South. He was born fewer than 20 years after the end of the Civil War. He was born to wealth and privilege. He also inherited the attitudes of many in the American South . . . Continue reading →
McWhorter On An Alternative Doctrine Of Atonement
This brand of self-flagellation has become the new form of enlightenment on race issues. It qualifies as a kind of worship; the parallels with Christianity are almost uncannily rich. White privilege is the secular white person’s Original Sin, present at birth and . . . Continue reading →
The Law Exposes Racism As Sin
In response to yesterday’s column, a correspondent to the HB asked how we know that racism is sin. It is true that I assumed that we all know that racism is sin, that it is obvious on the face of Scripture but . . . Continue reading →
The Gospel Is The Remedy For Racism
Racism is sin. There can be no hedging or qualifying here. To regard another image bearer as inferior because of his ethnicity is sin and has no place in the church of Jesus Christ. God’s Word is clear about the only remedy . . . Continue reading →
The Legal-Eschatological Religion And Racism
2017 is a “Reformation Year.” It is the 500th anniversary of Luther’s 95 Theses and an opportunity to remember the Reformation basics. One of those is the distinction between law and gospel. One of the five most basic distinctions Luther recovered for . . . Continue reading →
Houston, We Do Have A Problem
The traditional definition of racism, the definition that I learned as a boy and that was generally accepted until recently is this: racism (rāˌsizəm) noun. prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours With Dr Vincent Bacote: Facing Race
The problem of race in America is more deeply embedded and intractable than most American Christians probably realize. Everyone reads Scripture in a context, in a culture and that reality influences the way we understand and apply it. Race, slavery, Jim Crow, . . . Continue reading →