{"id":1330,"date":"2013-07-15T19:14:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T19:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html"},"modified":"2013-07-15T19:14:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T19:14:00","slug":"a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html","title":{"rendered":"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a><\/span>
R3 Contributor<\/span>

<\/span>*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a> blog<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
When I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I felt a variety of emotions. Those emotions ranged from initial confusion and disbelief to anger, and were followed by intense sadness and grief. I felt a renewed sense of loss for the Martin family\u2013only this time, that sense of loss was compounded by frustration over the injustices they\u2019re enduring at the hands of our legal system. In my despair, I closed my eyes and wished that I could escape the system\u2013 the social system, the class system, the racial system, and the legal system\u2013that we\u2019ve built here in America.<\/span><\/div>\n
While sitting there with my eyes closed, I remembered that the desire for escape\u2013 the longing for a place in the world where oppressive forces have been defeated, where the \u201cleast of these\u201d have been vindicated and where evil is merely a memory\u2013 is a continual theme in scripture. I thought of how the search for some utopian place can be found early in the Hebrew Bible within the story of a people who journeyed for decades with hope of reaching a \u201cpromised land\u201d rich with milk and honey. It\u2019s found in the cries of those who desperately sought to escape exile because they were in a land where they were too depressed and oppressed to sing the songs of their home country. It is even found in the cautionary parables of Jesus\u2013words that often paint a picture of a day when God will break into history and right the wrongs of the world.<\/span><\/div>\n
This desire for escape, vindication and the intervention of God is also central to modern Christian theology. Most of the churches that I know adhere to some form of the Apostles\u2019 Creed which offers the claim that Jesus will someday \u201ccome again to judge the living and the dead.\u201d\u00a0 A common belief spans across denominational identities and philosophical leanings that at some point, \u201cGod\u2019s people\u201d will be removed (or \u201craptured\u201d) from their existence in the world so that God can judge and ultimately deal with \u201cwicked\u201d people, and that at that time, those who have suffered oppression and\/or persecution will finally witness God\u2019s justice. This time of intervention\u2013 the \u201cend times,\u201d if you will\u2013 is understood as the time in history when God will finally balance the scales\u2026 a time for which many Christians wait with anticipation.<\/span><\/div>\n
My personal theology has changed in recent years. As I wrote in my\u00a0personal creed<\/a>, I no longer hold traditional views about the end times. I don\u2019t look for Jesus to return to our stratosphere on a white horse, wielding a sword in his mouth and sporting a tattooed thigh. Despite the shift in my personal beliefs, I do understand the desire for judgment, escape and vindication. I understand it in a deep place within my soul, and I understood it in a very real way last night. I understood it as my friends and family members took to their social media accounts to declare that the American justice system does not have the \u201cfinal say\u201d and that God will judge Zimmerman \u201cin the end\u201d. I understood the complex nature of that belief in context of its historical and theological roots, and I knew how this theology could remain sustainable throughout history\u2026 a history that has always featured an oppressive force and a victim.<\/span><\/div>\n
As I sat on the floor in front of the television set with my eyes closed, listening to the jurors\u2019 individual affirmations of their \u201cnot guilty\u201d votes, I wished with every fiber of my being for the intervention of some loophole in the legal system, of the judge on television\u2026 or even of God. I wished for an intervention that would right the wrongs of my society and the suffering experienced in the rest of the world.<\/span><\/div>\n
In that moment, I understood the desire to escape, but reminded myself of my responsibility to remain as present as possible. I understood the desire for God\u2019s intervention, but also understood that it is my responsibility to intervene constructively. I reminded myself that the intervention of God requires the cooperation of humans\u2026 I remembered that the tools for changing the world have been entrusted to me.<\/span><\/div>\n
I fought the urge to escape our society and the urge to wait patiently for divine intervention\u2026 And then I prayed for clarity on what I might do to help change the world.<\/span><\/div>\n
Follow Crystal on twitter at @crystallewis<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blog When I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I felt a variety of emotions. Those emotions ranged from initial confusion and disbelief to anger, and were followed by intense sadness and grief. I felt a renewed sense of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html\",\"name\":\"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology","description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I","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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology","og_description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00","author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html","name":"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-15T19:14:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This article first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogWhen I heard the words \u201cNot Guilty\u201d last night, I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/a-reflection-on-the-zimmerman-verdict-and-traditional-eschatology.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Reflection on the #Zimmerman Verdict and Traditional Eschatology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}