Excavating Race: An Individual's Journey with Repentance

How much the world has changed in a week!  Since the last time I wrote, it seems as if the nation has exploded and now its hard to escape from people talking about race.  While I appreciate that race is now acknowledged openly as an area of brokenness, I struggle with some of the logic and rhetoric behind arguments and how very oversimplified a very complicated topic can be made when it hits memes and social media posts. 

In response to my last post, I’ve received questions on “how.”  “How do I do uncover implicit bias in my own life?  How do I get better at this?”  I love those questions.  They make my heart happy.  However, I have to be honest in my answer.  I have no idea.  Sure, sure, I can throw a million resources at you (which, by the way, I have updated my resource page on this blog to give you more info sources than you can ever hope to read, written by people much more knowledgeable than myself).  However, the more I learn, the more I don’t know.  There isn’t a “ten easy steps to fixing racism.” It’s a complicated, deeply layered, interconnected problem and oversimplification can sometimes further entrench false ideologies instead of healing them.  That being said, learning is great! 

While I can’t tell you what your process needs to be or how you need to shift in your heart and thought processes, I can share my journey.  It’s not perfect.  It’s not done.  I’ve got a long way to go still. However, maybe reading some of the ways I have struggled to grow in this might give you a place to start and lean into in your own life. 

First off, I am fully convinced that the first step in ethnic/racial reconciliation is repentance under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  While education and government programs have a place, the more I see, the more I am convinced that true, lasting healing has to start from a spiritual level and if that's not dealt with, then nothing can permanently change.  I have to start by discovering where I am blind or believing lies in my own heart.  
I will talk about five areas where I’ve had lean deeper into repentance: on an individual/personal level, in my family line, in my people/nation, in my land/neighborhood, and in my church. 



1.)  Personal/Individual:  Where are the ways I’ve screwed up? 

First off, through my own ignorance and pride, I’ve made mistakes in the ways I’ve treated and thought about other people(s).  I’ve had to repent for the ways I, as a person and individual, have knowingly or unknowingly believed lies about my culture, my race, and my ethnicity. 

Here’s a couple of examples:

One day, I spent a long afternoon with a bi-cultural family friend debating all the cities in the U.S. we wouldn’t want to subject our brown children to.  We discussed the merits of different states and cities and which are the most open to our unique families.  Afterwards, I was convicted by the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit: 

What if I called you there?  Is it your job to protect your children or decide where I want them to live?  Should that decision be made out of fear or obedience?  Will you trust me with your children?  Will you trust my protection instead of trusting your own wisdom and your geographic location? 

Yeah.  I repented. 

As our family has journeyed with cultural adaptation and what it means to be a multicultural and biracial family in the U.S., I was shocked to find how hard it has been, how much rejection we’ve faced, and the implicit and explicit bias dished out by people of many races and backgrounds.  Digging into my emotional response of shock, I realized not only my own ignorance to the lived experiences of other peoples in the U.S., but my own deeply rooted pride.  The Holy Spirit came to whisper to me again:

You thought your skin, your background, your identity would be enough to protect your husband and your children from racism and rejection. You believed your knowledge, your strength, your position in society, and your cultural dominance would be enough to “cover” your family and make them accepted.  In what do you place your faith?  Where does your hope lie? Where is your worth found?   

I repented-again and again.  I realized I dishonored my husband’s identity and background through my ethnocentric attitude.  I also failed to fully surrender myself to the spiritual covering he gives as my husband and other half.  I needed to recognize and support the unique journeys, challenges, and identities that my husband and children are facing and give them space for different roads than those I have walked. 



Another example of my own garbage I’ve had to dig through came out of experiences with the Ethnic Reconciliation Task force I’ve been apart of with a missions organization for nearly three years now.  We’ve put together resources, workshops, articles, and tools to try to raise awareness and bring healing in what we see as a long-neglected spiritual discipline. It’s been a journey, a challenge, and a privilege for me to be a part of this mighty team. 

Proverbs 19:2 says, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”  Unfortunately, I am very good at overzealousness and haste.  Part of this journey has involved me repenting of my desire to “fix things” and “change the world.”  Not that those are bad in and of themselves, but where I erred was placing the emphasis on myself and my own zeal.  It was by my strength, my gifts, my knowledge, my work that the world would be fixed. 

Yeah.  That’s ugly pride again.  It’s only the Holy Spirit who can bring genuine healing and if I am privileged to be a conduit, amazing!  If not, I need to get out of the way, lean deeper into the Spirit and let the Spirit work.

 A few months ago a friend listened to me ranting about my zealous desire to “fix” things and made this comment: “The work you are doing might not be for you.  It might be for your children and they will be the voice of change.”  There was a bite of much needed truth in that. I needed to lean into my own hiddenness, growth process, and behind-the-scenes role in some areas so that the work could go on unhindered by my clumsy, flawed attempts at fixing everything. 



Finally, I’ve had to learn to give more space to listen.  People have a variety of life experiences and perspectives and if I assume I know what people are like because of my outward perception of their identity, then I am missing the opportunity to gain knowledge of the nuances and layers and varieties of human experiences.  Everyone can teach me something and I need to listen and give space to be surprised. 

I also need to give more space and grace to people I do not agree with.  I was at a workshop a few years back and we were praying around stereotypes we needed to let go of and someone said, “When I see a white guy who flies a Confederate flag, I judge them immediately as being racist and I was convicted I need to let that go and ask forgiveness for my own attitude.” 

This comment showed me I needed to do the same.  Can the Confederate flag symbolize a dirty, bloody history?  Yes.  Do I agree with flying it?  No.  However, if I define someone entirely by one aspect of their identity, I am also guilty of unfounded prejudice.  I don’t need to agree.  I can think they are downright wrong, but I still need to listen and try to understand what their logic is and the way their worldview has developed.  Why do they think the way they do?  How does the Spirit call me to live with and interact with them?  How do I learn to love them?  What can they teach me?

It’s been harder for me this week.  I get angry when people mess with my family and those I love and there’s been a whole lot of that this week.  While sympathizing with the desire for justice and a greater acknowledgement of injustices, I do not agree with group membership being the defining characteristic for innocence or guilt.   If someone’s innocence or guilt or worthiness to live or die is determined only by their race, their occupation, their ethnicity, their class, their religion, or any other single characteristic, instead of their actual actions, then something is wrong.  If people, regardless of their racial background, determine that my husband deserves verbal abuse and threats of violence because of his ethnicity, his occupation, or his skin color, I get angry. 

After sharing with me what he’s experienced this week, my husband said, “I have to learn to live in a state of perpetual forgiveness so I don’t let my heart get hardened.” 

Yeah, that fully humbled me.  I’ve had to repent again and forgive all the people (of all sides of this current crisis) of the terrible insults directed towards my husband.  Yes, I have a right to be angry, but in my anger, I cannot sin and I cannot let the sun go down on it (Eph 4:26).  If I do, I give space for the Enemy within my heart and I don’t want that.  I have to forgive or I will grow in bitterness and anger and that will influence my heart condition and the ways I interact with others. 

Once again, I have to trust in God’s protection and not in any manmade weapon, argument, or positionality for salvation and protection.  And that is a very vulnerable and unnatural place to be in and I am still struggling with it.



2.)  Family Line:  What are the ways my blood line has screwed up? 

Next, I’ve done a lot of work over the past year or so on my own genealogy and family history.  Sometimes it’s through listening to family stories from the wonderful elders in my family, or through digging through closets and old photo albums.  Sometimes it’s through online records and archival documentation.  I find it fascinating to trace family movements in context with greater historical trends and learn more our collective identity, the story of “us” and how we have developed to become who we are. 

However, as I have worked on this, I’ve unearthed things which I was led to repent of again and again.  As a representative of my family line, I have the spiritual authority to lament and repent on behalf of my family line and the actions and attitudes of my ancestors (1 Peter 2:5, Daniel 9).  This can bring healing to generational sins that can bring spiritual bondage.  I’ll only give a few examples of this. 

First, one day I was digging through a box in my grandmother’s garage and came across of piece of sheet music.  It was a children’s song entitled “the Ten Little N***** Boys.”  As I read through the lyrics, each verse graphically outlined a gruesome death for each little boy and my jaw fell open. 

We all have things hidden in our garages and boxes and we gotta dig them out and throw them away or they are still there.  I repented on behalf of the prejudice my family line displayed towards African Americans, Mexicans, Portuguese, and Okies (and others).  Family stories are full of what past generations thought about “those people” and I am glad I learned about it cause then I can dig it out and throw it away and say, “I’m so sorry.”    

Next, I can trace family pioneering and homesteading efforts across the nation and through history.  I was sobered to then compare this to the histories of the peoples who previously inhabited those spaces and the convenient government actions to clear those people just in time for my ancestors to buy cheap land.  For all those peoples who were removed and lost their homes and lands so that my ancestors could homestead, mine gold, and farm across the U.S., I had to repent.      

As I brought my family line to God in prayer, He told me I not only needed to ask for forgiveness on their behalf, but I also needed to forgive them.  I needed to forgive the lies we handed down from generation to generation, the pride, the materialism, and expressions of Christianity that simultaneously encouraged legalism while leaving prejudice unredeemed.  In that process, the Spirit encouraged me:  Remember and learn from both the good and the bad, the strengths and weaknesses of your people.  They are not defined by their mistakes any more than they are innocent of all wrongdoing. 

The truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) and all are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  If I don’t remember that, I am liable to fall into one of two errors: the first is seeing my own group as all good and other groups as all bad.  The other error is to see my own group as all bad and another group (or groups) as all good.  Both are just as flawed and based on lies that need to be uprooted. 

The truth is that I need to look at the very worst actions of humanity and recognize my own innate capacity to become that or else I don’t truly know myself.  I also need to look at the very best actions of humanity and recognize my potential for that as well.  This is equally as valid for other peoples.  I need to recognize that, for other groups, even ones vastly different from my own, they are just as capable for good and evil, truth and captivity, the power of God or bondage to the Enemy, as myself and my own people.  It is by grace we are saved, by the work of Christ and not by belonging to a particular people or nation or living life according to culturally prescribed rules of “civilization” (Eph. 2:8-9).

3.) People/Nation:  What are the ways my nation and people group have screwed up?

This category is pretty similar to family line, only expanded to include my ethnic group/nationality with a shared history and cultural identity.   As I watch historical documentaries or read current events or historical accounts, I sometimes have to stop and repent on behalf of my people group, my nation, and the socio-political context that has birthed and grown me.  As I learn more and more examples of past and current brokenness and injustices, I can repent of those evils on behalf of the people I am apart of and a representative for. 

4.) Land: What are sins and evils that have been committed in certain locations around me? 

“Water has memory,” Frozen II tells us in all its infamous wisdom.  I liked that analogy in the movie because I think it applies to the land around us.  In the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 2:10-12) tells us how “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”  Places of trauma, sin, and unforgiveness in our lives give space for the Enemy to gain a foothold.  This same principle is true for geographic spaces.  Where are spaces in my city and in my neighborhood which have witnessed blood and evil and have yet to be cleansed of the “blood” that cries from them? 

I met a guy at the park one time.  Both our biracial children were playing and we started talking.  He came from “the other side of the tracks” (literally-we have train tracks that pretty well separate economic sides of the city).  The son of a Mexican immigrant, he told me all about his experiences in and out of jail, his struggles growing up, and the “race wars” of previous decades.  “That side over there belonged to the African American gang and this side over here belonged to the Mexicans,” he said and described the violence and tension between groups.  I found it fascinating.  He painted a historical picture of the city I had never seen before and wouldn’t have known by looking at.  However, those tensions doubtlessly have an impact on the city, even if I don’t know they are there.  He helped me “read” my city in a new way.    

This is a never-ending process that involves both asking questions from others and doing archival research and observation.  I’ve read about place names and the tragic history of the indigenous peoples in the region as well as the first slaves brought here and the fears of alliances with the Confederacy during the Civil War.  I have found locations the KKK used to meet, which spaces were for the “black church” and where the Chinese used to be (before they were kicked out.  As I learn, I can pray over those parts of my city when I walk past them and repent on its behalf. 

I can also use this knowledge to help track current issues.  Where are places of violence or problems currently?  Are these tied in any way to past, unhealed wounds?  Similarly, I can map out current ways space is used.  Are there ethnic enclaves?  Conflicts between groups?  Where do certain groups gather?  Are there symbols or graffiti revealing territories or communicating messages?  When I find particularly abhorrent messages, I can pray more deeply over a space.  However, being aware of the dividing lines, underlying tensions, and unhealed wounds both within groups and between groups is necessary to understand where the Gospel needs to do its work in my city (and areas that are potential powder kegs for future violence).    



5.) Church:  How has the Church failed, by commission or omission, to bring the Gospel into the interstice between people groups? 

Finally, I’ve had to stop and reflect on ways my faith community has messed this all up and repent on their behalf too.  No Body of Christ is perfect and no expression of Christianity is without flaws.  However, whenever there are blatant blindspots that not only perpetuate throughout generations but are rationalized and supported by the Church, then there are serious areas of idolatry within that faith community. 

I have spent time reflecting on how the various churches, missions agencies, and faith communities I’ve been apart of have handled ethnic conflict (or ignored it) and sometimes had to take time to grieve how its been handled and repent of it.  I’ve repented of decisions and attitudes of really lousy missionaries and of the ways I’ve been a really lousy missionary. Finally, I have to look into where I have blindspots in my theology and where are ways I have allowed ethnocentrism to drown out the transformative voice of the Holy Spirit. 



Is this an all-encompassing list?  No.  I've barely scratched the surface.  Is this a checklist?  No.  Is this the “end” of the process?  Absolutely not.  It’s barely a beginning.  Is this process the same for everyone?  No.  Our areas of sin and wounding are different.  Maybe some people need to spend more time on forgiveness and maybe some people need to spend more time just asking the Spirit what God loves about their identity and learning to be loved for all aspects of their identity, even their race or ethnicity.  (Side note, I’d encourage you to check this out for ways the process of identity development looks different for different people). 

The point I want to make is that this in an intentional process and an important spiritual discipline that helps us grow in our love of God and others.  Bringing Christ into all areas of our life and identities brings freedom, healing, and new life, even if it’s a hard, painful journey.  Right now, this is a hot topic.  Dig into what makes you uncomfortable and why.  Learn, grow in knowledge and grace, and seek to bring healing and peace into all the spaces you inhabit.  Blessings on you as you seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance into growing deeper in line with God’s desired picture for you as an individual, family line, people, land, and church.   

(If you would like to read the thoughts and processes of another's journey in this, my lovely and amazing team leader has her own blog here entitled Black in America, White in South Africa.)  

A Mother's Blessing on the Ethnic Identity of Her Children

To my precious children,

Did you know that your birth is not an accident? 

Before you were born, the Lord chose the soil of your birth, the space which would hear your first cry. He knows all the lands on which your growing feet will leave footprints until the day your weary earthly body returns into the dust.

I bless your feet for the journeys the Lord takes you on and the lands in which you find yourself. I bless you with the knowledge that God hems you in behind and before and with the knowledge that, though you may feel like an alien and a stranger, your real home, your real citizenship is in heaven. I bless you with fellow journeyman, companions to travel alongside you as you wander, and to remind you of both the joy and the temporariness of the places you find yourself in. May you sow healing and blessing wherever your feet walk.

Did you know that your blood is not an accident? 

In you, God wove together two distinct bloodlines into one. Two peoples, two histories, two lineages, reaching incomprehensibly like tree roots into the past and now expertly woven together into the beautiful tapestry that is you. Your ancestors have made tragic mistakes and achieved great victories. Neither bloodline is superior to the other nor has achieved full perfection. Both make you who you are. God made your ancestors with the same care that He made you and He redeemed them with the same blood as was used to buy you out of slavery and into His glorious freedom.

I bless your blood with both acceptance and humility. I bless you with forgiveness for the mistakes your peoples have made, the sins they have committed, and the lies they have believed. I bless you with eyes that see more clearly how to live rightly in this generation. I bless you with the knowledge that your people are precious in His sight and have a unique purpose to make in His kingdom. And I bless you with the humility to know that your people are not the only people who are precious in His sight with a purpose in His Kingdom. I bless you and your children and your children’s children with hearts that long to see every tribe and tongue and nation worshiping the One True King. 

Did you know that the day of your birth is not an accident? 

The day, the time, the era you were born in was determined long before the day arrived. You have been chosen to perform good works in the expanse of time you walk this earth, works created in advance for you to do by the One who made you. On this day, stand firm and fight the battles God ordains for you so that your children may arise and call you blessed because their lives are better for your efforts.

People may look upon you and curse you for the lands which taint your feet or the blood that colors your veins or the stories that are spoken of your people. I bless you with the ability to forgive those who curse you because of you know who has called you His. May He speak the truth of who you are into the wounded caverns of your identity. Likewise, you must beg forgiveness for those you have similarly cursed and wounded. 

In the name of Jesus, the Jew from Nazareth, I bless you to be filled with the power of God knowing that your true identity comes from the Father. God has given you the gift of your land, your blood, your history and He can and will use it for His glory.

But these gifts are for His glory and not for yours. He has given you crowns for you to lay at His feet, not to lord over others or to deny them their crowns.

I bless you with lips that praise our King in your mother tongue and in the music of your heart language. I bless you with the freedom to walk and to eat and to dance and to rejoice and to mourn in the custom of your people. I bless you with the ability to reflect the image of God in the way only you can, that only your people can.

I bless you with love and honor for the families of the earth that are different from your own. I bless you with a heart that lays down your life for your neighbor, as the Good Samaritan did for the wounded Jew.

I bless you to be a bridge-builder, a force for peace, and an ambassador of Heaven in the corners of the earth in which you dwell. May you be used to tear down the wall of hostility between peoples and bring reconciliation to those far from God and at war with each other. May you find your place of belonging in His family even others reject you. 

My precious, precious children, you are His. Root yourself in that truth and let it bleed out into every aspect of your identity so He can then redeem all the other complex and beautiful pieces that make you so fearfully and wonderfully made.

May you join in the mission of God to bring healing to the nations, in every land, throughout all bloodlines, and throughout every era humans inhabit. May you join in with every nation, tribe, people and language in declaring that "salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9-10).

Amina.

Truth in Postmodernism

                The past few weeks I’ve found myself diving deeply into a reevaluation of womanhood from Biblical, historical, biological and cultural perspectives.  I want to find out what is part of my DNA and what has made up the fabric of my social conditioning as a woman.  That is not what this post is about.  In the middle of my research, I came across what I thought would be a promising resource: Biblical Womanhood in a Postmodern Culture (Linder, 2016).  My first thought was “whoo hoo!  Maybe this source can give me more useful information on what womanhood looks like my actual current circumstances.”  

I was wrong.  It would have helped if they got the definition of postmodernism right.  They didn’t.

According to postmodern theory, truth is not universal, is not objective or absolute, and cannot be determined by a commonly accepted method….much of the literature about postmodernism is nonsensical and hard to take seriously. When major postmodern figures speak or write, the gibberish which often results sounds more like a vocabulary test than a sustained argument.   (R. Albert Mohler Jr., cited in Linder, p. 42)

Postmodernism: Reevaluation of our Human Capacity for Omniscience

First off, let’s start with what postmodernism is:

“A general movement within the social sciences and humanities that during the 1980s and 1990s sought to question the possibility of impartiality, objectivity, or authoritative knowledge,”  (Erickson & Murphy, 2003, p. 206) (emphasis mine).

Postmodernism:  Not a Denial of Absolute Truth

Next, what postmodernism is not: 

It does not mean there is no truth.  It does not deny the existence of objective reality.  It points out the way that our cultural perspective and historical milieu have shaped our views, biases, and methods of creating knowledge.  (Erickson & Murphy, 2003, p. 163-164) Once again, it does not mean there is no truth, it means our capacity to know truth is constrained by our humanness.  In other words, absolute truth isn’t bashed as much as human omniscience. 

Why Postmodernism? Teenage Rebellion against Modernism 

                After World War II, the West’s previously held paradigms of the world and knowledge and power were badly shaken.  Modernism, humanism, science, and rational thinking were supposed to fix world problems and instead it culminated in a disastrous World War, upheld by these very same philosophies.  Thus, as a reaction against some of the excesses of modernism, postmodernism was born. 

Some Things I’ve Learned from Postmodernism

1.)  Humility:  I am fallible, imperfect, and limited in my capacity to know everything.

                Modernism taught that the knowledge created by the West was universal…but it had to be created in the West by the West for it to be knowledge and for it to be true.  Western methods of creating knowledge were the only ways to find truth and those truths were true for all people (even non-Western ones).

 Postmodernism says, “hey now, just because you used the scientific method doesn’t mean you know everything.  You can be wrong sometimes and other people can have good ideas too.”

2.)  Situatedness:  I am a creature of my context, created by, in and for a particular milieu.

Postmodernism is, in essence, an evaluation of how context influences our capacity to know things (Derrida, 1982).  Truth is inseparable from power and power is inseparable from truth (Foucault, 1968). This doesn’t mean that an absolute truth doesn’t exist, it just means that our capacity to know and understand truth is rooted in our historical context and what is accepted as true in one particular era may not be accepted in another, but that doesn’t make it less true, just unseen or unacknowledged truth (Rabinow, 1986).

For example, germs made people sick long before the microscope.  Gravity existed for Sir Isaac Newton.  Lake Victoria had Africans fishing its waters long before Europeans had it on their maps.  The lack of knowledge of germs, gravity, and Lake Victoria didn’t make them less true…they just were not yet known to a particular group of people at a particular time in history.  European knowledge was constrained by their context.   

My knowledge of the world is influence by the world I have grown up in.  Kevin Vanhoozer explains, “the postmodern condition is perhaps best view in terms of an acute awareness of one’s situatedness (e.g., in gender, culture, history, language, geography, etc.)” (89).  Being an English-speaking Millennial mzungu woman from Los Angeles influences my view of the world, my interactions with people I meet, and my ideas of and capacity to know truth (not the absolute reality of Truth). It also influences my interests.  I tend to have an affinity for female authors more so than male authors.  I’ll take Elizabeth Gaskell over Charles Dickens anyway.  I prefer Jane Austen to J.R.R. Tolkien.  In anthropology, I am fascinated by the role of women in the world and how marriage, kinship, sexuality, and childrearing are influenced by culture.  I love reading about women’s worlds and women’s perspectives because I am a woman.  My experience as a woman colors my interests, my relationships with other people, and my view of myself.  Postmodernism forces me to both acknowledge my bias and frees me to pursue my interests.

                Situatedness also requires an honest evaluation of the power dynamics shaping the definitions of truth in a particular time period.  The majority of Americans can’t find Uganda on a map.  Does that mean Uganda doesn’t exist?  No.  It means that Uganda is irrelevant to America and not seen as important to daily life. Anthropologists or missionaries they are paid salaries by the British Empire are going to have different incentives and priorities for their work than anthropologists or missionaries paid by Wycliffe Bible Translators.  Studies on climate change funded by oil companies may have slightly different results than those conducted by wildlife conservationists.  And the supporting political party of a particular media outlet may influence which facts they report and which they do not.  There is an infrastructure of power that forms our ideas of truth based and it’s just as important to acknowledge that power as the truth. 

                Power means that the winner writes the history book and the loser’s story disappears.  Postmodernism says that if you want to understand Truth, you need to hear both the winner’s side and the loser’s side of the story.  Having only one story doesn’t mean you are closer to Truth, it just means you only acknowledge one truth and refuse to hear any other sides of a story.  An honest look at who controls the story, who benefits from the story, and who isn’t included in the story can give a more accurate picture of the story than the story itself. 

 

3.)  Mystery:  there is knowledge that is beyond my understanding and a world larger than myself. 

                The idea that one people group, one part of the world, or one method of knowledge is the all-encompassing end-all for truth-production severely shrinks Truth to a very small, narrow place.  The scientific method is pretty great and very useful, but it’s not the only way to learn about the world.  There are things that just can’t be known by science alone. 

                The world is complicated and complex and, even with the scientific method in place, scientists have to admit there are things they just don’t know.  Then there are things beyond the natural world which the scientific method can’t even begin to approach.  There is a sense of mystery having things beyond human understanding and knowledge that I can’t even begin to know.  It reminds me I’m a small person in a much larger universe. 

Postmodernism reminds me that God is mysterious and numinous.  He is bigger than knowledge, tools, theories, philosophies, and discoveries.  The God I know is bigger than archaeology, biology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and all other “ologies”.  It is arrogant to think that a discovery can “prove” or “disprove” God.  Why are we so afraid of knowledge, of change, of being wrong?  God is bigger and He can defend Himself.  The God I know is bigger than modernism, postmodernism, premodernism, and post postmodernism.  He is the beginning and the end, He is “before all things and in Him all things hold together.” 

I don’t need to be afraid of opposing viewpoints.  At the end of the day, Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life,” regardless of the philosophies of my current era, whether they be Hellenistic, Platonic, Confucian, or Existentialist.  And God is still God and He works in every era, through every era, and in the worldviews of all peoples in order to bring all people’s to Himself. 

Does all of this sound oversimplified?  It is.  I’m trying to avoid all the “gibberish” and “nonsensicalness” of postmodern writers.  Is postmodernism flawed?  Absolutely.  I’ve yet to find any human creation that is perfect.  But postmodernism is.  It’s the new reality in the Western world.  A world of contesting voices, power struggles, and reevaluations of how we know what we know.  It’s ok to sometimes throw everything in the blender and spend some time looking in the mirror to see who we are and what made us that way.  Good ideas and new insights can come out of that.   It’s better to know what it is than fight against what it isn’t. 

Now that my rant is finished, I can return to my original purpose…reevaluation of womanhood (in light of postmodernism, of course!)  

Works Cited

Derrida, J. (1982). Différance. In Margins of Philosophy (A. Bass, Trans., pp. 3-27). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Erickson, P. A., & Murphy, L. D. (2003). A History of Anthropological Theory. Petersborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press.

Foucault, M. (1968). On the Archaeology of the Sciences: Questions for Michel Foucault. Cahiers. Retrieved 10 18, 2018, from http://cahiers.kingston.ac.uk/pdf/cpa9.1.cercle.translation.pdf

Linder, L. (2016). Biblical Womanhood In a Postmodern Culture: Standing on Truth in our Shaky World. Retrieved 10 17, 2018, from Bethlethem College and Seminary: http://2uxt2berb3uz5oi1iq6uzjv0-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BW_Teachers-Guide.pdf

Rabinow, P. (1986). Representations are Social Facts: Modernity and post-Modernity in Anthropology. In J. Clifford, & G. E. Marcus, Writing Culture: The Politics and Poetics of Ethnography (pp. 234-261). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Vanhoozer, K. J. (2006). "One Rules to Rule Them All?" Theological Method in an Era of World Christianity. In C. Ott, & H. A. Netland (Eds.), Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity (pp. 85-126). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Christianity in Africa and Africa in Christianity

Christianity and Africa are inseparable. The two are intertwined deeply in the history and development of the other. Christianity is not foreign to African soils. It is not a religion brought in by fumbling European missionaries in suits with sunburned noses. No, from its conception, Africa has been there and has made invaluable contributions to the evolution of the faith. Yet Christianity has also had a profound impact on the development of Africa. The evolution and history of the faith has held an irrevocable role in the evolution of the cultural landscape and history of the continent. Despite the continual rise and fall of empires, power struggles, and battles to define and understand itself and its role, Christianity has persevered on the continent and remains a vibrant force for change and movement even today. Through this article, the impact of Africa on Christianity and of Christianity on Africa will be explored through four stages of history: initial expansion from the first century to the seventh century of the current era, the disintegration of empires from the seventh century to the fifteenth century, the rise of commercial-religious expansion during the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, and finally the modern missionary movement from the nineteenth century to the modern day.

I.) First to Seventh Century C.E.: Birth of Christianity

Africa has been involved in the development of Christianity even before the very death and resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone and foundation of the faith. According to Biblical traditions, Africans were present at nearly all of the major events in the formation of the faith. Africans were a part of Jesus’ infancy, his crucifixion, the onset of the first church, and the subsequent expansion of the church. The writings of Matthew teach that Jesus spent a few of his formative years in Egypt with his parents, Mary and Joseph after fleeing the wrath of King Herod[1]. Later on, according to the writings in the Gospels, Africa again came a part of the tradition during Jesus’ crucifixion. Simon from Cyrene, Libya, carried Jesus’ cross when Jesus had fallen from exhaustion and could no longer carry it[2]. During the Jewish feast of Pentecost, after the ascension of Jesus in which the first Christian church emerged, two African men were named as being present during Pentecost[3] and the book of Acts tell of Phillip converting and baptizing an Ethiopian Eunuch he met on the road and converted[4].

After the establishment of the first Christian Church movement in the first century and on until the 7th century of the Common Era, Africa still held an important role in the development of the faith. During this period, Christianity underwent an extensive formative process as the Church struggled to come into being and then later to define itself. The initial birthing pains of the Church watered the lands of the Roman Empire in the blood of martyrs. Yet this persecution, instead of dampening the faith, seemed instead to fuel it and Christianity spread like wildfire across the Empire and beyond. During this era, the faith spread throughout northern and eastern Africa, and became established in Egypt, Ethiopia, Nubia, and North Africa. African Christians were not exempt from martyrdom as even St. Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, was martyred in 258 for refusing to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods[5]. As early as 180, it is recorded in the Acts, the earliest authentic document on Christianity in North Africa, that 12 Christians from Scilla (or Scillium) in Numidia were executed under the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius for refusing to recant[6].

The conversion of Constantine in 312 CE and subsequent Christianizing of the Roman Empire quickly stilled the persecution of the infant Church. The Church all the sudden found itself in a position of power. All the energy that the saints had spent on surviving outwardly was suddenly enabled to turn inward and focus on the defining of Church beliefs and doctrines. As the Church no longer had to worry about being fed to lions and hiding in catacombs, the Church could now worry about what those within its confines of faith believed and adhered to. With the diversity inherent in its converts, doctrinal disputes were unavoidable. These disputes were necessary in order to determine and define what Christianity was and was not. The doctrinal disputes between the Donatists and Monophysites, the Pelagianists and the Arians, the Gnostics and the Judiazers all led to a need for the Church to decide what it was by deciding what it was not. Ecumenical councils were called together to determine official positions of the Universal Church on theological disputes[7]. These disputes, though an unavoidable part in the development of Christianity, were conducted in painful and needlessly bloody manners, and created great rifts and chasms between groups.

African Christianity was itself in dispute with more than half of the Christians in North Africa being Donatists, especially in Numidia, and this created a large division between different branches of the faith[8]. These doctrinal disputes led to the declaring of many to be deemed as heretics (which in many cases were most of the African versions of Christianity, especially the Monophysite beliefs held by the Coptic Church). These doctrinal disputes were sometimes peaceful, and oftentimes horrifically not. Though many of the manners in which these conflicts were quelled were less than savory and even, less than “Christian”, the conflicts themselves (not the way in which they were solved) were necessary for the evolution of the faith.

While Christianity struggled to define itself, there arose a great many brilliant minds that greatly impacted the development of the faith. Their works and writings and ideas influenced and laid foundations for the Church for the following hundreds and thousands of years, many still being read today. Appropriately enough, many of these influential individuals were of African blood; men such as Tertullian, Origen, and Clement of Alexandria had a profound impact that is still felt. Pachomius and Anthony developed the monastic tradition which was later carried into Europe and used to spread the faith throughout the world[9]. The most impacting African of the era, and one of the most influential writers in Christianity[10], was Augustine of Hippo whose writings are still recognized by both European and African Christians and a part of traditions even today.

While African minds were influencing the evolution of Christian thought, Christianity was transforming the cultural landscape of Africa in Egypt, Ethiopia, Nubia, and North Africa. The most influential African church began was founded in Egypt. Tradition holds that St. Mark founded the church in Egypt as early as 40-60 CE and the church in the ancient Hellenistic city of Alexandria became a center of Christendom. The Coptic Church, as it later came known to be called, spread Christianity through Africa and despite persecution and Islamic invasion, has continued to the present day.[11]

Nubia’s conversion came during the 6th century when the Egyptian monk, Julian traveled through Nobatia preaching the gospel. By 652 CE, the last of the three Nubian kingdoms had converted. This area produced a flourishing of religious art and architecture during this era[12]. The church in North Africa was well established, especially in Carthage which became another flourishing center of Christendom. Christianity spread remarkably quickly in North Africa, so much so that by 312 there were at least 70 bishops in Numidia[13].




Christianity is deeply interwoven into the fabric of Ethiopia. With the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts and Eusebius’ account stating that the apostle Matthew “spread seed of the church to Ethiopia”[14] Christianity has had a presence in the country ever since the beginning. Whatever its original origin may be, the country itself was not notably Christianized until the mid-fourth century with the arrival of scholars from Alexandria who converted the Axumite king[15]. St. Frumentius is given credit for introducing the people of Ethiopia to Christianity. He was a slave of the king in the Axumite court, and brought Christianity to the court and to the people. King Ezana eventually accepted Christianity and Frumentius was ordained the bishop of the Ethiopian church[16] . Christianity spread throughout the country and became infused with many traditional Ethiopian elements[17]. Aksum remained a Christian nation from the 4th century until 7th or 8th century.


II.) Seventh to Fifteenth Centuries C.E.: Disintegration of Empires


The next era in history, during the 7th-15th century, saw a profound disintegration of the previously established Christian empires and retraction and isolation of the Church. Theological disputes had turned church energies inward causing the Church to gradually grow more and more disunited and weak. The Roman and Byzantine “Christian” Empires became so busy quarrelling amongst themselves that they began to disintegrate and lose territory. With the rise of Islam, most of the empires fell apart. The rapid spread of Islam over North Africa from 640-711 “effectively ended the presence of Christianity”[18]. The areas most weakened through internal struggles, especially where the Monophysite belief had been dominant, were where Islam most effectively expanded. By 700, Alexandria, one of the oldest patriarchal churches and the most important Christian center in Africa, had been lost[19].





During this season, Africa lost much of its Christian influence, but not all. Christianity remained a permanent part of the landscape in certain well-established and hidden parts of the continent. In Nubia and Egypt, many converted to Islam rather than face the persecutions of Islam. Yet the taxation and persecution that the spread of Islam brought to these areas could not permanently stamp out the impact of Christianity in these areas. A few stubbornly held onto their Christian traditions. In Nubia, for example, the Muslims came in 652 and captured Dongola, the last Christian stronghold. Strangely enough, the Muslim conquerors treated the Nubian Christians differently than most areas they took over. Instead of forcing them to convert or suppressing their freedom, the Muslims and Christians agreed on a treaty which they called a bakt. This treaty was a “highly unusual move for the time” and “guaranteed a strong measure of autonomy and religious freedom to Nubia”.[20] Dongola remained Christian until 14th century and Alwa held on until the 16th century when it finally fell to the Ottomans.




(pictured: Rock Church in Lalibela)

Ethiopia also survived the Muslim onslaught, but not without injury. It was effectively separated from the rest of Christendom and became a church turned inward, isolated from the outside world. During the 12th-13th centuries, Christianity still continued to spread southward in the country. Christianity’s influence can be seen in the art, architecture, government and culture of the time being, entrenched into every aspect of Ethiopia. During this era Ethiopian religious art and architecture flourished, producing some of the greatest achievements of the country, including the massive rock-hewn churches in Axum and Lalibela. Christianity was given its own uniquely Ethiopian color and flavor during this period of incubation, separated from the rest of the world by the Muslim strongholds. [21]

III.) Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries C.E.: Age of European Expansion 

The 15th-19th centuries saw a rise of commercial-religious expansion through the efforts of European explorers and missionaries. Within ten years of the first Portuguese ship rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, their ships had explored up the East Coast of Africa[22]. This contagious surge of exploration spread across Europe as efficiently as the Plague and quickly brought ships full of would-be explorers and merchants onto Africa’s rich, red soil. In these foreign hearts, politics and religion remained inextricably linked. In a marriage of selfishness and selflessness, greed and charity, Christianity was carried on European ships to parts of Africa before unaffected by the faith. Eastern, western, and southern coasts of the continent felt the impact of the influx of European beliefs and customs, from South Africa to Kenya to Benin and to the Congo. While this movement did create a sudden burst of Christianity around the coasts of the continent, it did not leave a lasting impression in the hearts of the people.




(pictured King Nzinga)

The kingdom of the Kongo received missionaries in 1491who came with the intent and purpose of converting the king and controlling commerce. This two-fold goal gave exploitation a blunter edge. The Manikongo King Nzinga was the first to receive the Portuguese and later he and his entire court converted to Christianity. Yet much of his conversion and the conversions of the court were influenced by wealth and power politics more so than any genuine change of belief[23]. King Nzinga’s son, Alfonso I (1461-1543), however, was a sincere and passionate convert and proceeded to make Christianity the official state religion and encouraged the Portuguese missionaries to continue to come and convert his people[24].

The Kongo wasn’t alone. A Roman Catholic mission was created in Cairo in 1630, Mozambique had one king baptized in 1652, and South Africa saw its share of converts. Mombasa had its own share of Portuguese priests at Fort Jesus until they were finally killed and expelled. Even Ethiopia received Jesuit missionaries from 1564-1622.[25]

While Christianity began to influence areas that it had never touched before and places previously isolated from the rest of Christendom were suddenly exposed to different ways of worship, Christianity did not leave a lasting impression on African soil despite the efforts of these European missionaries. The goal of political/commercial expansion and the salvation of souls for Christianity were conflicting, often diametrically opposed purposes that made it necessary for one to be chosen over the other and, more often than not, economic goals won out.

In the Kongo, the Portuguese two-fold goal began to be more and more lop-sided as they pursued economic gains with much more vigor than they pursued spiritual. They continued to put more and more pressure on the kingdom to provide them with slaves, even going so far as to kidnap people in the king’s own family. By 1613, King Alvare II resorted to the Vatican to try to reassert authority that had been stolen by the Portuguese. He complained in a letter to the Pope that “the Christian religion is making no progress because there are no priests...the foreign priests who come to the Congo have no preoccupation other than that of enriching themselves and returning to their countries; they take no interest in gaining souls for heaven.”[26] The Portuguese had created more of a commercial empire with a Christian rationalization than a Christian kingdom. Across Africa, the European missionaries’ use of politics to develop the church and the church to develop politics failed. No viable Christian structures lasted beyond the deteriorating abandoned archeological relics until the 1880’s[27].

IV.) Nineteenth Century to Today: Modern Missions to Reverse Mission 

The dawning of the 19th century continued to see Africa impact Christianity around the world. The slave trade between the Western world and African world led to unavoidable controversy, increasing in its uncomfortable gnawing at the consciences of the perpetrating cultures. This dichotomy and conflict between commercial and ethical/moral goals continued to rise until more and more advocates began to condemn the slave trade until it was finally abolished. This movement in the British Empire became “the engine to drive the modern missionary movement, especially the Protestant missions.”[28]



(Pictured: German East Africa from German Federal Archive)

Soon, new missionary societies sprung up all over the U.S. and Europe, including a reformation in Catholic missions. This new movement saw a change in approach where it no longer focused its attention on the kings, rulers, and princes. Instead of seeking to convert the elite and so force conversion upon the masses, the modern missions’ movement sought to convert the ordinary people. Individuals came to convert individuals instead of nations converting nations. This new movement also focused on the underdogs and marginal members of society and the ordinary folks. It sought to train the indigenous people for the clergy and find ways for peaceful, social change[29].

African cultures played an important role in the development of this new movement. For much of Christian history, foreign missionary endeavors have been ignorant on the importance of anthropological methods and an understanding of a native people’s language and worldview. Over time, missionaries finally began to realize that European Christians are distinct from Asian ones which are distinct from African ones. For too long, Christianity was imported into Africa in a strictly European cultural shell that was near impossible for indigenous peoples to understand or conform to. Only when the Gospel was garbed in their traditional clothes could it be swallowed and fully digested in a meaningful way, as it had in Ethiopia and Egypt.

Christianity had an explosive impact on the continent. Europeans, both missionaries and not, had imported many of their values and political systems, some for good and some for ill, yet regardless of that, they came and became a part of the identities of the people. The modern missions’ movement brought trends in linguistic work and cultural ethnography that had profound effects both for Christianity and for the people themselves[30].

While under colonial control, the continent housed approximately 8.7 million Christians in 1900. By 1962, there were 60 million and by 1998, there were 350 million. It is important to note that the explosion of growth of Christianity came “after the end of colonial rule.”[31]

The twentieth century saw an upsurge in nationalism as Africans sought to throw off the yoke of colonialism and stand in their own independence. This movement also impacted Christianity in Africa as concurrently, Africa saw a rise in indigenous, independent church movements. Africa is still in the process of defining what Christianity looks like when stripped of its foreign elements, brought down to the bare essentials of the faith, and transplanted in its own soil. Conflicts still remain between the leftover scars and mistakes from Colonialism, as well as the power struggles facing African nations as they struggle to survive. And so, Christianity too is facing a power struggle as it seeks to decide whether to remain connected with foreign assistance or struggle for itself.

The twenty first century sees one fifth of the entire global church located in Africa. While overall numbers of Christians have declined in Europe, Africa has seen continual growth.[32] Christianity can no longer be called a “Western” religion or a “white man’s” religion as the global center of Christianity continues to shift away from North American and Europe and to South America, Africa, and Asia. Andrew F. Walls makes the argument that in the same way the secular world of academia has learned that in order to understand modern Africa, “it is necessary to know something about Christianity” so in the theological world, “if one wishes to study modern Christianity, it is necessary to know something about Africa.”[33] The future of global Christianity is and will continue to be heavily influenced by African Christianity.

One example of this can be seen in what has been called “reverse mission.” African immigrants are now sending Christian missionaries back to their former colonial masters, and to other parts of the world and bringing new expressions of Christianity into de-Christianized European cities[34]. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu’s research among diaspora churches found that “some of the largest congregations in Europe-Western and Eastern-are either founded by Africans or are led by people of African descent.” He also argues that, while they may have started as primarily immigrant churches, many have not remained so and have branched out into the surrounding communities and cultural groups. These African-led churches are bringing African Christianity outside of Africa and to the rest of the world, breathing new life into dwindling European churches. [35]

Similar to Europe, the U.S. is also seeing an influx of African Christians who see themselves not only as immigrants but as missionaries. Jannel Bakker (citing R. Stephen Warner) argues that “we are witinessing not so much the de-Christianization of American society as the de-Europeanization of American Christianity.”[36] This is expected to continue as the number and influence of African migrants continues to rise in the U.S. (and, incidentally, Africa has more Christians than the U.S. has people).

Now as we march forward in the 21st century, both Africa and Christianity will face a whole new onslaught of questions and challenges. As Africa becomes a new heartland for Christianity and whispers change to the global Christian church through missionaries and immigrants around the world, it is clear that the future of both will remain inextricably intertwined.

In conclusion, Africa has been an essential part of the history of Christianity since before its conception as a world religion. Africa’s contributions to the faith cannot be understated, nor would Christianity have been the same religion without it. Yet, neither would Africa have been the same without Christianity. They have evolved together. They have undergone struggles in trying to understand what they mean to each other and how to interpret and react to changing global conditions. It has a spotted and blood-stained history, colored by greed and disagreements. Empires have come and gone. Kings have lived and died. Yet it also has a glorious and powerful history of overcoming evil and surviving despite intense persecution, injustice, and marginalization and shaping global world events through the influence of both.


[1] Matthew 2:13-23


[2] Matthew 27:32


[3] Acts 2:8-10


[4] Acts 8:26-40


[5] “Christianity,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: Ancient Africa (prehistory to 500 CE) V I, ed. William Page, 5 vols. (USU: The Learning Source, LTD, 2005) 55.


[6] "Scillitan Martyrs." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 4 Nov. 2006 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9001247>.


[7] “Christianity,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: Ancient Africa Vol I 44


[8] "North Africa." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 4 Nov. 2006 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-46477>.


[9] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Volume I, ed. John Middleton (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1997) 290.


[10] Bamber Gascoigne, Christianity: A History. (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003) 35.


[11] “Christianity,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: Ancient Africa Vol I 55.


[12] “Nubia,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500-1500 CE) Vol II


[13] "North Africa." Encyclopædia Britannica.


[14] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Vol I.


[15] Joseph E. Holloway, An Introduction To Classical African Civilizations. (Northridge: New World African Press, 2002) 93.


[16] Terri Koontz, Mark Sidwell, S.M. Bunker. World Studies for Christian Schools. (Greenville: Bob Jones University Press, 2000) 114.


[17] “Christianity, influence of,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500-1500 CE) Vol II. 47-48.


[18] “Christianity, influence of,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500-1500 CE) Vol II. 47-48.


[19] Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976) 170


[20]“Christianity, influence of,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500-1500 CE) Vol II. 47-48.


[21] “Christianity, influence of,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: African Kingdoms (500-1500 CE) Vol II. 47-48.


[22]Bamber Gascoigne 125.


[23]Holloway, 152. .


[24] “Alvare II and Alvare III, Kings of Congo,” Documents from the African Past, ed. Robert O. Collins (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2001) 85-86.


[25] “Christianity, Influence of,” Encyclopedia of African History and Culture: From Conquest to Colonization (1500-1850 CE) Vol III. 52-54.


[26] [26] “Alvare II and Alvare III, Kings of Congo,” Documents from the African Past. 86.


[27] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Vol I. 292.


[28] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Vol I. 292.


[29] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Vol I. 291.


[30] “Christianity: Missionary Enterprise,” Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Vol I. 292.


[31] Sanneh, 18, quoted by Harold A. Netland. “Introduction: Globalization and Theology Today,” Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity. Craig Ott and Harold. A. Netland, eds. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. 14-34.


[32] Timothy Tennent. Theology in the Context of World Christianity. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. 8-9


[33] Andrew F. Walls. “Globalization and the Study of Christian History,” Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity. Craig Ott and Harold. A. Netland, eds. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. 70-82.


[34] Lily Kuo. “Africa’s ‘Reverse Missionaries’ are Bringing Christianity Back to the United Kingdom,” Quartz Africa. 11 Oct 2017. https://qz.com/africa/1088489/africas-reverse-missionaries-are-trying-to-bring-christianity-back-to-the-united-kingdom/ Accessed 11 October 2018.


[35] Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. “African-led Christianity in Europe: Migration and Diaspora Evangelism,” Lausanne World Pulse Archives. July 2008. http://www.lausanneworldpulse.com/themedarticles-php/973/07-2008. Accessed 11 October, 2018.


[36] Janel Kragt Bakker. “Every Migrant a Missionary: Immigrant Christians in America,” Bearings Online. 20 March 2014. https://collegevilleinstitute.org/bearings/every-migrant-missionary-immigrant-christians-america/ Accessed 11 October 2018.