Ironically, people like Thabiti Anyabwile, Mark Labberton, Reformed Margins, RAAN et al. are parasitic on white society and white evangelicalism. They act like they have no identity of their own. They define themselves by attacking whiteness. They don't know what they're for–just what they're against. No positive identity. No constructive alternative.
I assume the title is intentionally provocative. Leave it to the editors (or whoever came up with the title) to try to start controversy where there should be none. It's divisive.
ReplyDeleteIs there a practical program that's underway too, to demonstrate how mission should be done? Are there fruits that can be examined, of the alternative approach? Steve's criticism can't be met without one.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I follow. I would think one can criticize this position without needing to supply an alternative.
DeleteNonetheless there are missiologists like Allen Yeh (PhD, Oxford) who might provide what you're requesting.
I have to exercise a great deal of restraint when I come across this kind of thing. I just watched a little of Willie Jennings and the other conference speakers in 2017 on this topic and title, and it just sounds contrived.
ReplyDeleteI work in a place where I'm the only white employee (mostly Chinese, some Filipinos, myself, and one solitary black gal. This black gal talks about her "people" all the time. She cries out for attention and love. There's no doubt she has personal challenges, and when she shares them with me, they are not at all about race, but this is what she brings up every time. Its misdirection.
Its creating a familiar target so we all can join in, while her real needs remain unaddressed.
I just have a low tolerance for people who pontificate over issues that are (it seems to me) stirred up intentionally to get attention. I'll try to be patient.