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Tuesday, 09 January 2007 15:58 |
 | | Marc Mullinax |
"A clash of doctrines is not a disaster ÇƒÓ it is an opportunity."
ÇƒÏ A.N. Whitehead
ï
MARS HILL ÇƒÓ "Who are you, to write such critical essays about our most sacred doctrines?" "Why do you keep on tearing down the faith?" "Do your views reflect the views of the college where you serve as chairman of the Philosophy and Religion Department?"
It appears Page 21 of this paper has become a lively place for many readers. Thank you. But critics seek answers again. Once more, let me explore why this religion professor from a Baptist college engages the topics that I do.
First,
a story. In my last graduate school, there was a world-famous
African-American liberation theologian, who was my professor the very
first semester I attended. It was a course in liberation theology,
comprising of about 15-20 students of all colors, sexual orientations
and ages. White people were in the minority. Remember this.
The professor
began to explain the texts for the day, demonstrating how voices from
the underside of history have important theological points to make
about God, Jesus and the Church. Such points are often neglected by
mainstream Christianity. Some of the young white men began to discount
these minority views as valid.
One even went so
far as to question the validity of one of the professorës key ÇƒÓ and
famous ¨?ÇƒÓ points: traditionally oppressed people, who have been
systematically excluded from economic and social benefits are to be
held in special regard. In other words, whatever personal or original
sin they may be involved in is secondary to their victimization by
social and economic conditions.
The professor
went livid. He tiraded for about 10 minutes. Hereës a sampling of his
argument. "I donët trust ... ANY of you white people! White supremacy
has been the number one terror and threat to black people, and you
still use your supremacist ways to deny your responsibility,
short-change your constituency, and subvert democracy.
"Listen. Itës
worse. You call yourself ǃÚChristianë. I donët think so. Because you are
white, you can immunize yourself from racism and the unique suffering
that comes from being the wrong color. And thus, because you donët
suffer, youëll never, and I mean never EVER ǃÚgetë Christianity. Your
interpretations of the Bible will always suffer from the neglect of
black experience.
"Thatës the
power of your racism. And it will keep you from being the Christian you
think you are. Your whiteness means youëll never be black. And youëve
got to be black ÇƒÏ in America today ÇƒÏ in order to understand Jesus and
his religion."
I was blown
away. The power of that moment remains undiminished to this day. Rarely
do I open the Bible and not think about this story, and I vow that on
this opening of the Bible, I can prove him wrong. My success has been
less than noteworthy.
This professor
asked for me the main question in my life, and I end with it by posing
it here. If faith is too easy, is it not more habit, than real,
struggling faith? Am I a Christian through force of habit and custom,
or because of a real wrestling with the questions of life?
Answers I do not
discount. We must have a blessed assurance about lifeës troubling
issues.
Otherwise, we could not get out of bed and face the day.
Nevertheless, it seems incumbent upon the person of faith to suspend
their non-negotiables on a regular basis, become disoriented, and then
discover what compass-like questions remain strong enough as a guide.
Therefore, dear
readers, I wrestle and ask you here to wrestle with me hard questions,
rather than rest in answers. This struggle, at least for me, has made
all the difference. Such struggle makes faith much more difficult, and
therefore more possible.
ï
Dr. Marc S.
Mullinax, chairman of the philosophy and religion departments at Mars
Hill College, can be reached at mmullinax-at-mhc.edu.
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