Jesus says our words will either “justify” us or “condemn” us in the Day of judgment.
Author: Jarvis Williams
“Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1969) was an anthem of Black joy as we continued the struggle of working to affirm Black dignity in the ‘60s. On the surface, the sentiment behind these celebratory words seems at odds with the New Testament’s language of self-denial and co-crucifixion with Christ. Jesus challenges […]
The global Coronavirus pandemic has brought out the best of many image-bearers. Nations are sharing advice, best practices, and resources with each other. Healthcare professionals daily risk their lives on the frontlines as they work around the clock to protect public health. Multiple leaders in government are working hard to inform their residents and citizens […]
When we suffer in 2019, remember God’s grace will be sufficient just as his resurrecting & transformative grace was sufficient for us in our suffering in 2018.
In the same week that a white supremacist murdered two African-Americans at a local Kroger grocery store and a white supremacist murdered 11 Jewish people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, Dr. Jarvis Williams preached on Galatians 3:1-14 in Louisville, Kentucky. In his message, Williams touches on the sweet truth that Jesus is our Redeemer and liberator. He also […]
Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels say much about love, justice, compassion, and mercy for the socially marginalized and socially vulnerable.
Overt expressions of White Supremacy engulfed Charlottesville this past weekend. The evil, hatred, and violence incited by White Supremacists resulted in a death and injuries of brave image-bearers opposing such hatred. Many Christians have rightly spoken out against these overt acts of White Supremacy. Those who willingly embrace a White Supremacist ideology might not necessarily […]
The first post of this series provided a few basics of biblical interpretation. I stated the goal of biblical interpretation is to understand the author’s intended meaning in the text and to think carefully about how to apply the text in modern contexts, so that we would be transformed by the Spirit as God uses […]
In part 1 of our series on biblical interpretation, I stated the goal of biblical interpretation is to study the text to discern the author’s intent, and to think responsibly about practical application of the text. The biblical author communicated an intended meaning that he wanted his audience to understand. The reader must labor in […]
As a black/brown professor of New Testament Interpretation at a predominately white seminary, I often ask my students whether they’ve ever read a non-white author. The amount who haven’t is staggering. Based on my travels throughout the country, and interaction with people who’ve studied at different institutions, I’ve learned many students can earn an undergraduate degree, a master’s degree, and even a Ph.D. in 2017 without being required to read […]
Like any academic discipline, the discipline of biblical hermeneutics is rife with complex debates. But many scholars have recognized for a long time that biblical hermeneutics refers to how one understands and applies the bible. Every reader of the bible is an interpreter, but no reader of the bible interprets the bible from a neutral […]
As I wrote several months ago, multi-ethnic church conversations are currently popular in Christian circles. However, by multi-ethnic church, Christians from majority culture often mean they want more minorities to attend their worship services, and to assimilate. Some Christian spaces want black and brown faces, but not black and brown voices or leadership. Some from […]
This post is the fifth in a series regarding racism in evangelicalism. The first 3 focused on why racism might defeat evangelicalism. The last post focused on the reason why evangelicalism might defeat racism. I discussed the importance of understanding and living out the whole gospel to fight and defeat racism in evangelical spaces. This […]
If evangelicals embrace a bigger understanding of the gospel in comparison to the one they’ve traditionally embraced, churches might defeat racism in their Christian spaces. In both popular and scholarly discussions about the concept of the gospel, many interpreters wrongly reduce the definition of gospel to entry vocabulary. They describe it as justification by faith, […]
In two recent posts, I offered 8 reasons why racism might defeat evangelicalism. Here, I specifically discuss the importance of having a complete understanding of the gospel, which includes both vertical and horizontal realities. What is the Gospel—Really? The most fundamental reason why certain evangelical churches are being defeated by racism, and don’t have a […]
In a recent post, I introduced a series titled “Why Racism Might Defeat American Evangelicalism.” I mentioned the classic 2001 study of Emerson and Smith (Divided by Faith) in which they identified the American evangelical movement as a predominate white racialized movement, based on their multiple telephone surveys and face-to-face interviews with those who identified […]
Divided By Faith (2001), the famous book written by Emerson and Smith, carefully documented how white Christians and black Christians generally have different perspectives of race and racism in America.[1] This classic book on race and religion also shows how the evangelical movement in America is a racialized movement that cannot be separated from white […]
Biblical interpretation is socially situated. One of the courses I teach at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is Biblical Hermeneutics. This course focuses on methods of bible study. I also focus on the history of biblical interpretation from the apostolic period to the post-modern era, exegetical method, transmission of the bible from ancient texts to […]
As a Christian, who follows and worships a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth, I forthrightly say that every Christian should speak against Anti-Semitism before and after it raises its ugly head in the church and in society. Anti-Semitism is Anti-Christ.