According to historian Kathryn Gin Lum, Americans have long viewed the world as a realm of suffering heathens whose lands and lives needed their intervention to flourish. The term “heathen” fell out of common use by the early 1900s, but...
race and religion
Evangelical leader Tony Evans offers “Kingdom race theology” as an an alternative to “critical race theory”
Evans recently gave a two-part presentation on the subject at his Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. Here is Part 1: Here is Part 2: A couple of quick thoughts: First, Evans clearly believes in systemic racism and the value...
The story behind Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise
Christianity Today is running a fascinating piece by Dan Hummel on the history of Jemar Tisby‘s breakout best-seller The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. Here is a taste: Then Tisby began to shop...
Conservative columnist on systemic racism: “I didn’t create these systems. But I wish I had realized earlier that these systems had created me”
Here is Wheaton College graduate and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: Systems had been carefully created to ensure I went to an all-White church, in an all-White neighborhood, while attending an all-White Christian school and shopping in all-White...
What is going on at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul?
I linked to this story in my May 24, 2021 Evangelical Roundup, but I thought it deserved a separate post. The University of Northwestern, a Christian college in St. Paul, Minnesota, appears to be making a good-faith effort to deal...
Some Catholic priests are conducting exorcisms to dispel the evil spirits left by racial justice activists
According to Audrey Clare Farley at The New Republic, some conservative Catholic priests believe they are engaged in a spiritual war against Black Lives Matter, Marxism, critical race theory, intersectionality, and wokeness. Here is a taste of her piece: Last...
Does your church have a racist past?
Check out Mark Wingfield’s piece at Baptist World Global titled “What to do if you unearth a history of slavery in your church, college, or institution?” Here’s a taste: With increasing attention to the roots of American slavery in religious...
The Wheaton College professor who teaches critical race theory
Over at Sojourners, Mitchell Atencio interviews Wheaton College (IL) philosophy professor Nathan Cartagena. Here is a taste of the interview: Mitchell Atencio, Sojourners: Because critical race theory has become such a hot-button issue, especially in white evangelical circles, do you...
The Reformed evangelical community reckons with race
Over at The Anxious Bench, historian Dan Williams historicizes the battles over racial justice currently taking place within the Reformed (Calvinist) wing of American evangelicalism. The battle is over what to do about critical race theory and the Black Lives...
The Asian American Christian Collaborative on anti-Asian racism in the time of COVID-19
Whatever motivated Robert Aaron Long to kill eight people in Atlanta this week, the number of Asian-American hate crimes is growing in this country. The Asian American Christian Collaborative has responded with this statement: We, the undersigned, join together as...
Esau McCaulley’s Christian view of social justice
I am looking forward to reading Wheaton College professor Esau McCaulley‘s book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As An Exercise in Hope. He talks about it here: And here: Over at The New York Times, David Brooks writes...
A Black Evangelical family in Trumpland
Isaac Bailey is the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College. In a recent piece at Politico, he describes what his son experienced at Erskine College, a Reformed Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. Here is...
Teaching Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
This is a revised and updated version of a post originally published on March 6, 2020: After a couple weeks focusing on “creation” in my Created Called for Community (CCC) course at Messiah University, we have shifted gears slightly to focus on the...
Evangelical pastor, author, and theologian Timothy Keller published a tweet on critical race theory. Look what happened:
On Friday, Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, wrote a post about critical race theory: Critical race theory is not the Gospel, but it can certainly help Christians understand our current moment. It has been useful...
The Liberty University Falkirk Center continues to promote evangelical Trumpism:
Yesterday I noted that Calvary Chapel-Chino Hills has emerged as a prominent site for Trump’s evangelical lost cause movement. Today I highlight (once again) the “think tank” associated with this movement: Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. It continues to baffle me...
What is going on at Bluefield College?
Bluefield College is a Christian college located in Bluefield, Virginia. (Bluefield College is not to be confused with Bluefield State College, a Historical Black College and University). It is a member of the Council of Christian Colleges & Universities. Recently,...
The Author’s Corner with Richard Boles
Richard Boles is Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma State University. This interview is based on his new book, Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North (NYU Press, 2020). JF: What led you to...