As a mostly able-body heterosexual, middle-class white cisgender male, my life oozes with privilege. I am acquainted with the sanctimonious anger of Brett Kavanaugh, the smug sexism of Mark Driscoll, the pompous arrogance of Donald Trump, the assumption-rightness of John Piper, and the murderous racism of Derek Chauvin. Yet, Jesus indicates that with God鈥檚 help, even I might be squeezed through the eye of a needle.

All summer long 天美视频 core faculty have engaged a process of , ongoing dialogue, and self-examination about race and through weekly blogging. We鈥檝e taken turns writing posts, and engaging a peer review process with each other鈥檚 work so as to stimulate deeper and even more thoughtful reflection about white-body supremacy and what it may look like for our school to become a truly anti-racist1 learning community.

My colleague sometimes challenges me, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know! And you can鈥檛 help!鈥�2 I love him for this. I need lots of support decentering the lie that, 鈥淚 know and can help鈥� . . . or even worse that I 鈥渒now better鈥� and 鈥渢hey need me.鈥� Whiteness Christianity groomed me to anticipate my superiority in nearly every situation. When I鈥檓 honest, it kinda felt good to choose to believe God predestined me as a uniquely vital Divine instrument for the salvation of others. Turns out this is a white lie. I鈥檝e been unlearning this theological invention for decades now. I may have been discipled into whiteness Christianity, but I am in the process of being saved from myopic, whiteness evangelical religion.

Whiteness divides. Segregation is the goal of whiteness, and completely antithetical to the Gospel. From Genesis to Revelation, we see God reconciling all facets of the relational ecosystem that is creation to each other and to the Divine in Christ. Jesus summed up all scripture saying, 鈥淟ove God and love your neighbor as yourself.鈥�3 Love and segregation are incompatible; as are love and black-body racism. The scandal of Jesus鈥� words is that love is always located in the real. Love is particular. It is needful of the other; it鈥檚 relational and proximate; never ideological, or theological, or even religious.

My emerging sense is that we cannot separate love of self from love of neighbor or from love of God. These three loves are interpenetrating, interanimating, inseparable鈥� perichoretic, maybe? If you were to really love your neighbor, you would be loving God and yourself. If you were to really love God, you would be loving yourself and your neighbor. Moreover, if you were truly able to love yourself, you would already be loving God and loving your neighbor, so鈥� 鈥渨ho is your neighbor?鈥�4

Dr. Willie James Jennings writes that 鈥淪egregated spaces must be turned toward living places where people construct together an every day that turns life in health-giving directions. Overcoming whiteness begins by reconfiguring life geographically so that all the flows work differently鈥︹��5 Here are my questions for us as a school: Where are we? Who is already here? And how might we discover God鈥檚 Shalom in relation with our neighbors? How might our 鈥渇lows鈥� work differently?

So much more needs to be said; even more needs to be done and undone. Like the man who came to Jesus you’ll read in my paraphrase of Matthew, I am infected by whiteness鈥� as are many of the systems 鈥渘ecessary鈥� for 天美视频 to operate. Systemic and personal racism have no place in God鈥檚 kingdom. The Gospel of Jesus Christ necessitates our school鈥檚 work and my personal work to be utterly anti-racist. A practical way to begin is tangibly and holistically loving God by loving your neighbor as yourself while together discovering how to reconfigure life geographically. As Jesus suggests, humanly speaking, it may seem impossible. “But with God鈥︹��

Peace,
Dwight

I鈥檝e reimagined this passage, Matthew 19:16-26, within this context, and written it below:

鈥淎 highly privileged, White seminary professor came to Jesus with this question: 鈥淭eacher, what good thing must I do to know eternal life?鈥�

鈥淲hy ask me about what is good?鈥� Jesus replied. 鈥淭here is only One who is good. But to answer your question鈥攊f you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.鈥�

鈥淲hich ones?鈥� the White professor asked.

And Jesus replied: 鈥溾�榊ou must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.鈥欌��

鈥淚鈥檝e done all that,鈥� the White man replied. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 left?鈥�

Jesus told him, 鈥淚f you want to give it all you鈥檝e got, go interrogate your privilege, learn antiracist ways, all the while seeking reparations and equity, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.鈥�

But when the White man heard this, he went away sad, for he was very privileged.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, 鈥淚 tell you the truth, it is very hard for a White person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I鈥檒l say it again鈥攊t is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a White person to enter the Kingdom of God!鈥�

The disciples were astounded. 鈥淭hen who in the world can be saved?鈥� they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, 鈥淗umanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.鈥�

Resources

  1. The research and writings of Ibram X. Kendi has been especially helpful for me, most notably, How to be an Antiracist (2019) and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (2016).
  2. Ron Ruthruff, 鈥淭he Why and How of Justice with Dr. Ron Ruthruff,鈥� text.soul.culture podcast, from November 8, 2017.
  3. Matthew 22; Mark 12; Luke 10.
  4. Luke 10:25ff.
  5. Willie James Jennings, 鈥淐an 鈥榃hite鈥� People be saved?鈥� in Can 鈥淲hite鈥� People be Saved? : Triangulating Race, Theology and Mission, edited by Love L. Sechrest et al. Dowers Grove, IL: IVP Academic 2018, 43. Also, Dr. Jennings has a new book coming out mid-September that I am excited to get my hands on, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging (2020).