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Human efforts to bridge our racial divide cannot succeed on their own. Instead, we need a spiritual solution.
That’s the message of Dr. Tony Evans’ book Kingdom Race Theology: God’s Answer to Our Racial Crisis.
“We have far too many people running to sociology books before searching the Scripture,” Evans writes.
He examines Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, and the 1619 Project and finds that each fails to meet the biblical standard.
“The formal entity of Black Lives Matter advocates key elements of an agenda that cannot be supported by serious Christians,” Evans writes. “It rejects the primacy and protection of the nuclear family while promoting the acceptance of gay and transgender lifestyles. In addition, the founders openly embrace an ideological framework of Marxism, an anti-theistic movement.”
Yet he finds merit in the informal aspect of BLM, the movement toward racial justice.
His positions on Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project are similarly nuanced. He calls out the 1619 Project, in particular, for historical errors. But he acknowledges that systemic racism exists.
Although he is now one of the nation’s most prominent pastors, with a radio program that is heard around the world, he had difficulty getting on stations at first.
“Some would even go as far as far as to tell me that a black speaker would offend too many of their white listeners,” he writes.
Racism may not be as overt as it once was, but it hasn’t gone away. Evans challenges Christians to be involved in racial reconciliation. Kingdom Race Theology includes a section outlining what Blacks, Whites, and churches can do to address the racial divide.
Why Christians should read this book
It offers a biblical perspective, rather than just a Black or White one, on race and practical steps to build unity.
The big takeaway
The church needs to come together to heal the country’s racial divisions. Much smaller special interest groups wield extraordinary power because they are united.
In their own words
“Our racial divide is a sinful disease. Over-the-counter human remedies won’t fix it; they merely mask the symptoms for a season. What we need is a prescription from the Creator to destroy this cancer before it destroys us.”
“It is my contention that the core of the racial disunity problem stems from a failure to understand and execute a kingdom-based theology on both righteousness and justice. A balance between the two is absolutely critical since it is from God’s kingdom throne that both righteousness and justice originate.”
“One of the challenges of contemporary social theories is that many of their iterations have gained a popular foothold, forever locking black-white relations in an oppressor/oppressed matrix. To teach or imply to a young child that he or she will always be oppressed is to install a victim mentality into that child’s worldview and, thus, limit that child’s ability to pursue his or her full potential.”
Read a sample of the book
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