Be well.

Gar, thanks for the comment and your contribution to the post. I really like what you’re doing with the Fighting 44s.

Warren, it sounds like you believe that some of this “racism” talk is a thing of the past, and that to dwell in it is to forfeit how we have the possibility to impact the future. Is that right?

The irony here is that everyone who forms his/her theological/spiritual perspectives does bring their ethnic-social / historical lens to how they articulate a theology, and those who posit such a transcendent non-ethnic spiritual perspective do a dis-service to ignore and dismiss the nuances of ethnic/cultural contexts.

I think you’re onto something here, David, with your newly coined term of “ethnogyny”. I hope this is the beginning of an acknowledgment and engagement of theology and cultures, and as you’ve rightly suggested, a “de-Europeanization of American Christianity.”.

hahaha.

Still, I’m a bit disappointed that Rick Warren holds what seems to be an unsympathetic view of what it means to be a person of color AND a Christian in this country. In an ideal world, the ugliness of racism and cultural issues would never mar the Church, but even first century Christians struggled with it, right?

After all, the Book of Acts itself tells of the struggle for Greek-Jewish Christians (such as the widows) being neglected in favor of the Hebrew-speaking Jewish widows…

Another provocative post and conversation. I appreciate Pastor Warren’s point of view but do not agree with all aspects.

The larger question at hand is “how should a Christian engage his or her ethnicity”, regardless of whether they belong to the “ruling majority” or “oppressed, disaffected minority”. Are there general rules of engagement?

Here are a few that I will suggest -

1. Celebrate your ethnicity – it’s God’s design and I think we’re meant to celebrate that in fullness. If you’re in the majority, it can tricky to do so without alienating minority cultures. It means doing so in a spirit of love and unity.

2. Celebrate the ethnicity of others around you. This is where we get to practice hospitality, love and generosity.

3. Acknowledge that there are parts of our own ethnic culture that are God glorifying and others that are not. We need to use Scripture as the plumb line and not our cultural context. We need to stop making excuses for the negative limitations of our ethnic culture.

4. We’re sinners saved by grace first and last. Our chief identity is not race or color, it’s as rebels rescued by an amazing Savior. I believe even if we’re among the disaffected minority, this view is firmly biblical and will serve us in engaging the “majority culture” in a fruitful way.

I’d love to say more but I think I’ve overstayed my welcome with regard to the length of the comment so I’ll stop here.

Grace to you

I think I hear what you’re saying regarding “ethnogyny” and I love that quote you pulled at the end about the de-Europeanization of American Christianity. I wonder, though, if “ethnogyny” wouldn’t carry some of the negative connotations “androgyny” might (e.g., ambiguous, etc.).

I’m not getting down on this terminology, though (particularly because I don’t have any alternatives to offer!). This search for appropriate terminology to capture the tension, the “both/and but not really either-ness” in which we live is important — and extremely difficult given the complex nature of these issues.

Thanks for sharing from your journey. My understanding of faith, race, ethnicity and reconciliation is also constantly being shaped, transformed and, hopefully, redeemed.