LeBron James’ Los Angeles home was vandalized when an unidentified person spray-painted the word “Nigger” on the front gate. This discouraging event took me back almost three years ago to the sight of my own vandalized home. Much like James’ incident, an unidentified person, in the darkness of a cold December night, spray-painted the homes […]
Category: The Church
Nothing demolishes the idea of American exceptionalism more thoroughly than an honest account of how people of color have been treated in this country.
Charlottesville is an hour away from me. I’ve visited several times, attended a few college basketball and football games, and even preached in a few churches in the area. So when I saw the recent pictures of a “protest” led by white nationalists and held around a statue of Robert E. Lee, it was infuriating, […]
“How do I find other Black kids for them to play with?” I was asked this question by a White adoptive mom of two Black preschool-aged daughters. After I recovered from the shock of the question, I responded she needed to start by meeting Black families in her neighborhood, children’s preschool, and church. If those […]
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 […]
Mississippi was not a state I had ever envisioned moving to. Growing up in San Diego and attending college in Los Angeles, the deep south was both foreign in concept and periphery in mindset. However, two years ago in March of my senior year, I received a phone call. Instead of continuing onto graduate school, […]
Based on some online comments, I expected to see a film where “white guilt” was pushed by excessive imagery of ethnic (racial) conflict and confrontation, punctuated with very brash and emotional statements about racism. I must also mention that I was not very familiar with James Baldwin previous to hearing about this film. I Am […]
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 […]
Dr. Willie Parker is the most recent face of the pro-choice movement. And unlike many of the other prominent faces of the movement, Dr. Parker speaks from the demographic that is generally not heard from concerning pro-choice: African-American men. While history informs us African-American men have been vocal on both sides of the abortion issue, […]
How might women fulfill their purpose while not violating God’s principles?
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 […]
Selfishness fails to balance our concern for others and robs us of being contributing members of God’s community. It creates spiritual blind spots that centralize our affairs and minimizes the issues of others.
Much ink has been spilled on how the concept of colorblindness is not only unhelpful, but actively harmful. Yet, people who want to claim they don’t see color, or say things such as, “there’s only one race: the human race” are plentiful. You can see them come out in droves in the comment section of any […]
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”—Jeremiah 12:4 How often do you ponder what life was like in the garden prior to […]
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 […]
I thought being a black man in America was difficult. This is certainly true, but prior to reading Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes’ book, “Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength”, I made the incorrect assumption that so many others have made about the plight of the black woman. To be a black […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download You knew this one was coming… Tyler and Jemar debate the usefulness of the term ‘woke’, the definitions perceived around it, and the use of secular terms by Christians. Donate to RAAN Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook
Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 teaches us that the local and global body of Christians has many members, who all have an indispensable part to play. Therefore, the lack of minority representation in international missions is not something to be ignored.
Remembrance is a fundamental and powerful aspect of the Christian life. Throughout Scripture, the people of God are encouraged to remember the acts, commands, and character of God. Stones were set in place, altars were built, festivals were celebrated, and epistles were written, all so that God’s people would not forget his wonderful deeds of […]
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 […]