I wholeheartedly believe that issues of Justice, fairness and equity especially as they relate to ecological, gender, sexual, racial/cultural and economic realities should occupy the forefront of our theologies. In my experiential opinion, justice should take precedence over any other theological concerns. I say this not only as a theologian, but as a black Latino male. Any theologizing about God and her being and very existence, is really irrelevant for all important purposes if issues of equity for all human being are not addressed.
This leads me to discuss my experiences within some of the mainline historical denominations in the US. I have come to accept that perhaps the most unabashedly racist institutions in our society are churches and their denominational organizations. This may be due in part to some prominent teachings that are remnants of 16th century reformation theology such as “justification by faith and grace alone,” constructs of “saint and sinner” and notions that God is able to forgive us even for sins perpetrated against others. Intentionally or not, these teachings facilitate the ability for individuals to continue hating, because, in accordance with the teachings of Luther and Calvin, the depth of human deprivation is so deep and encompassing that evil/racism is not in the sphere of human agency/volition to be confronted. Therefore thanks be to God for her grace that is freely bestowed upon the sinner exonerating him or her from all consequences of their sins.
I ask myself: Does God really have the right to forgive someone who trespasses against me, without asking for my permission? Does God have the right to forgive those who, due to ignorance or evil have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi children, women and men? Does God have the authority to forgive those Christians who continue to break and destroy the self-esteem of others and dehumanize their fellow human beings simply because of the color of their skin or culture? I will leave these questions to be answered by the theologians. It seems to me that God has a perpetual public relations nightmare to address!
There is something I find troubling about disassociating “works” from “faith”. I’m not sure the blight is completely on Calvin and Luther, though their writings do contain tacit xenophobia. I am much more inclined to point the accusation toward succeeding generations and how they variously appropriated the teachings of these reformers. It is always the responsibility of succeeding generations to use the words of the past in their most fruitful manifestation.
I would be curious to hear what Union’s many Luther and Calvin scholars have to say about it. Takers?
Dr. Cruz,
This is certainly a challenging position to take on the nature of race relations in mainline churches in the United States. Glossing over for the sake of discussion the plurality among those churches, I do agree that issues of justice need to be addressed on the bases of racial, sexual, gender, economic, ecological disparities; indeed every possible expression of humanity ought very much to be addressed. I fear that your analysis offered above, however, leaves little room for the hope that they can be addressed.
Specifically, when you mention “these teachings facilitate the ability for individuals to continue hating, because, in accordance with the teachings of Luther and Calvin, the depth of human deprivation is so deep and encompassing that evil/racism is not in the sphere of human agency/volition to be confronted,” you seem to be speaking about a remarkably hopeless situation. I would further argue that it ignores the contribution of the Social Gospel movement and Political and Liberation Theologies in their stresses of the social nature of religious systems. The understanding that racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. are not only sins but are systemic social sins is sadly not widely enough adopted in our churches. That is not to say, however, that the concept is utterly unknown.
In “Theological Investigations VI”, Karl Rahner has an article very much on topic here. He argues in “Reflections on the unity of the love of neighbour and the love of God” that they are one and the same thing: that is, we love God by loving our neighbor/fellow human. The opposite is also true. By dishonoring our fellow human beings, we dishonor (or sin against) God. Rahner of course goes into much greater depth of why this is so than I can manage here, but I would commend the essay to anyone seeking a theological explanation for why discrimination is indeed an affront to God.
The last paragraph of your blog can be considered (especially by those whose theologies are invested in maintaining the status quo) as scandalous or irreverent–if not outright blasphemous. However, when one reads this same paragraph in light of the preceding paragraphs and the devastation that is constantly being brought upon our brothers in sisters in other parts of the world and even “at home,” one can’t help but to realize that your words are nothing but prophetic..
What a wonderful writing. Bravo Dr. Cruz for putting this out there…for asking the question. I too agree that the theology of old is perpetuating a “church” where people believe that it is ok to be unwise…ok to unloving…ok to be hateful…ok to be inhumane. I too agree with Justice being the most important theological concern. How sad is it when the teachings of Jesus are over shadowed by the teachings of Paul. How sad is it when we overlook the writings of James, that make faith an action word, just so that we can uphold our “weak flesh” being stronger than our “willing spirits”. I hold on to hope though, that more theologians like yourself will rise up and continue to make people look at the world and their faith for what it is…and is not.
The issue of whether Luther and Calvin specifically advocated hate and racism in their teachings was not the point I was intending to make. My point was to demonstrate how their teachings on the theologies of grace, election, sovereignty, justification by faith have been incorporated by 20th and 21st century Christians to continue their discirminatory practices. I would also paraphrase the late Mary Daly who suggested that whether the Apostle Paul was a mysoginist or not was irrelevant after two thousand years of his teaching being used to suppress women. At this point, the theologies of Calvin and Luther have been used to justify the oppression of many millions and the accurate portrayal of their theologies is simply at this point “academic.” I consider myself to be a pessimistic – optimist, but I would rather read the works of Elsa Tamez, James Cone, Katie Cannon, Gustavo Gutierrez, Jon Sobrino, Ada Maria Isasi Diaz, Pablo Richard, Hugo Assman, Maria Pilar Aquino etc… The soical gospel movement was so embedded in racist ideology that I would search elsewhere for guidance.