{"id":2189,"date":"2021-06-26T11:27:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T18:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2021-06-26T11:27:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T18:27:23","slug":"crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/","title":{"rendered":"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very knowledgeable of the theory. I\u2019ve read more about the controversy the theory seems to inspire, than the theory itself. That\u2019s probably true for most of us.<\/p>\n

However, I have looked into it a bit. Reading this essay<\/a>, I came across this:<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

My first thought after reading that description was it would appear CRT aligns very closely to what we are told in Ephesians 6:12:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, sin is an individual thing, but none of us are na\u00efve or ignorant enough to think that if one individual racist changes their mind, then racism is over and done with. Whenever we think about crime, racism, sexism, poverty, health issues, the environment, or any social and cultural problem, we should always focus on both the individual and the root or greater structural (and historical) causes.<\/p>\n

Many evangelical\/fundamentalists seem to think if we teach or give credence to CRT, we are somehow taking away the focus of the gospel regarding salvation and the idea of our individual fallenness. I think each fear is based on a misunderstanding of Scripture and Christian theology.<\/p>\n

First, the good news of salvation (the gospel) is not simply about the individual salvation of people or souls; it\u2019s about the salvation and redemption of the entire cosmos. The entire cosmos died with Jesus upon the cross and he brought the entire cosmos out of the grave in his resurrection.<\/p>\n

Second, while we need to keep in mind individual choices and decisions, we also need to remember that those never happen in a vacuum. It is impossible to understand the root causes of many crimes without considering poverty, child abuse, and other factors. We can hold people accountable individually for their decisions, while at the same time addressing the larger forces at work that contributed to the choices available to them and their decision making.<\/p>\n

So, in my view, CRT isn\u2019t new. St. Paul wrote of social constructs as a conveyance for embedded fallenness in Ephesians 6:12. We simply used to call these \u201cprincipalities and powers.\u201d In that passage, Paul is acknowledging that the problem (struggle) isn\u2019t against individual people or \u201cflesh and blood.\u201d The problem is more about what can be built-in (so to speak) to society\/culture through the political, economic, media, educational, and other vehicles of influence and power.<\/p>\n

Theologians like Walter Wink<\/a> and Marva J. Dawn<\/a> have addressed these areas deeply. In speaking of the principalities and powers, Marva Dawn quotes John H. Yoder:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow what these \u2018cosmic authorities\u2019 were in Paul\u2019s mind is not easy to say in modern terms. They are not human persons. Yet they influence human events and structures. What we call the state, the economy, the media, ideology\u2014these are their instruments.\u201d (Pg. 11-12<\/a>)<\/p>\n

And please, let\u2019s have none of this nonsense that we need only the Bible alone to address societal problems, racial or otherwise. For any Christian, all truth is God\u2019s truth, but there is no Bible verse that explicitly\/literally states such; it\u2019s an insight from philosophy\/theology and logic. We have gained truths\/insights from science, history, other religions, and every area of knowledge and expertise available to us.<\/p>\n

To not take advantage of any such insights, such truths, is to denigrate creation and to mock God\u2014the very (for the Christian) embodiment of Truth.<\/p>\n

Further, it is this idea of scriptural sufficiency that is partly responsible for the very need for something like CRT to begin with. Given it was the misuse and misunderstanding of scripture that was a key factor (the Bible was used to justify both slavery and white supremacy) behind the rise of racist cultural structures historically, the \u201cBible alone,\u201d attitude is hardly helpful here.<\/p>\n

The more I learn about CRT, the more I like it. In my mind, it sounds a lot like Ephesians 6:12. And the more I learn about why, especially white evangelicals, and others don\u2019t like it, I\u2019m only reminded further of the reason the theory exists in the first place.<\/p>\n

I have a Patreon<\/a>\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very knowledgeable of the theory. I\u2019ve read more about the controversy the theory seems to inspire, than the theory itself. That\u2019s probably true for most of us. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":2195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[992,83,344,365,473],"class_list":["post-2189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-critical-race-theory","tag-culture","tag-political","tag-racism","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nCRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2021\/06\/st-pauls-cathedral-768778_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/\",\"name\":\"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - Evangelicalism\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\",\"name\":\"Darrell Lackey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Darrell Lackey\"},\"description\":\"Darrell Lackey has served as a lead pastor and currently works in the private sector. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Now Gateway). He and his wife reside in Northern California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/darrelllackey1\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/author\/dlackey\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12","description":"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12","og_description":"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/","og_site_name":"Divergence","article_published_time":"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2021\/06\/st-pauls-cathedral-768778_640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darrell Lackey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@darrelllackey1","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darrell Lackey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/","name":"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-26T18:27:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813"},"description":"I\u2019m no expert on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and I doubt the reader is either. I haven\u2019t read any books on the subject, nor spoken with anyone very","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2021\/06\/26\/crt-in-light-of-ephesians-612\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CRT In Light of Ephesians 6:12"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/","name":"Divergence","description":"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - Evangelicalism","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813","name":"Darrell Lackey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Darrell Lackey"},"description":"Darrell Lackey has served as a lead pastor and currently works in the private sector. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Now Gateway). He and his wife reside in Northern California.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/darrelllackey1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/author\/dlackey\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2201,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions\/2201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}