Writers of the Old Testament did not write as distinctly about life after death or the divisions of body, soul, and spirit as writers of the New Testament. It wasn’t until the Greek philosopher’s Plato and Aristotle came along that people had language for these distinctions.
When reading through the Bible, we notice a shift in how the biblical authors talk about death and the afterlife.[1] We also see a shift in how they talk about spiritual realities in relation to material realities. This is likely because during the intertestimental period (the time period between the Old and New Testaments), Jewish thought adapted to the growing influence of Greek philosophy.
Plato and Aristotle were neither Jew nor Christian. They did not function from a “biblical worldview.” Yet they clearly articulated something that resonated truthfully with the apostles. In fact, it resonated truthfully enough that when the apostles wrote the New Testament they were willing to borrow some of the language of these Greek philosophers in order to communicate about issues in a way that made sense to their listeners.
Does this mean New Testament authors “promoted” Greek philosophy? I wouldn’t say so. They taught something clearly different from Greek philosophy. But they did so as they interacted with concepts the philosophers had introduced to the general thought of culture in that day.
Some people think that by using the language of Critical Race Theory(CRT), we are“promoting” CRT.
I disagree.
As a part of Unfeigned Christianity, every now and then I take an article to respond to a question members submit to me.
This article is the seventh of a series of articles addressing the question, “How should Christians process Critical Race Theory?”
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CRT has given us ways of talking about real issues that are helpful as we sort through them. Just because we interact with the language of CRT as we wrestle through a biblical response to the issue of racial disparities does not mean we are promoting CRT.
Is our response consistent with the message of scripture? Then it’s not CRT. It’s scripture, even if we use language from CRT to dissect the issue.
One of the most controversial phrases introduced into our language as a result of CRT is“white privilege.”
According to Oxford Dictionary, “white privilege” refers to “inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice.”
“White privilege” can also be described as “the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots in European colonialism and imperialism, and the Atlantic slave trade, ‘white privilege’ has developed in circumstances that have broadly sought to protect white racial privileges, various national citizenships, and other rights or special benefits.”[2]
People sometimes inaccurately conflate “white privilege” with being wealthy. But white privilege isn’t about wealth, it’s about the absence of having to live with the consequences of racism.
I have had the privilege of growing up experiencing a generally positive relationship with police in this country.
Most of the history I learned in school dealt with white people. I had the privilege of learning about my race.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing my race fairly represented in children’s books.
My friends can claim to be colorblind and I never bump into the reality that they still prefer things unique to white people.
I’ve had the privilege of being known by my personal character, not a stereotype about “my race.”
I’ve never had to worry about whether my name or bio photo would prevent someone from hiring me.
I’m privileged to have realtor agents show me all the available homes for sale regardless of whether they think I can actually afford them. Furthermore, I’m privileged to be able qualify for loans based on my income and not on the neighborhood in which I currently reside.[3]
I have the privilege of starting my own business and getting paid based on the quality of my work and not on the value they think “my people’s” labor is worth.
These are all examples of privileges I’ve experienced in this country because I am a white man.
They are realities alongside personal experiences. One time, I was checking out ten cement blocks from Home Depot and told the clerk the total number of blocks I was purchasing. She took my word for it.
She never counted them herself.
After me, a Latino man checked out twelve 2×4’s. She carefully counted each one even though he stood there repeating, “Twelve. Twelve.”
I have done handyman work in the past and on multiple occasions I showed up to the customer’s place only to have them immediately divulge to me what a horrible job “them Mexicans” did the last time they hired someone. I couldn’t help but feel they felt free to talk with me that way about the previous workers because I was white. Yet, I hadn’t even done any work for them. For all they knew, I would do just as bad of a job.
No matter how hard I may try, and no matter how much I may disagree with certain aspects of CRT, I cannot deny the fact that as a white person in America, I have certain privileges that others do not.
Gertrude Slabach shared her own experience of coming to grips with “white privilege” in a kind and thoughtful article on her blog. Like her, my upbringing did not feel “privileged.” My family was poor. My parents did not “pay my way through college.”
I could point to many areas where some of my friends of color appear to be more privileged than I because they have more money, nicer homes, and freer schedules. But as mentioned before, “white privilege” is not about wealth, it’s about not needing to deal with racism. It’s about my skin color being a form of currency in my home society. I am benefitted by being white.
This does not mean I nor anyone else need to feel guilty for being white. I admit that I feel pretty deep grief and sadness when I have experiences that remind me I am privileged or hear stories that reveal racism today. But I don’t feel guilty for being a white man.
I feel a sense of tremendous responsibility.
Not responsibility in the sense of I know what it takes to really be successful and get places in life. Rather, I feel responsibility in the sense of “having the world’s goods and seeing someone in need” (1Jn. 3:17).
I feel the responsibility to stand with my Latino brothers whom people refuse to pay fairly because “Mexicans are cheap labor.” I feel the responsibility not to structure my businesses for how I can personally get more profit, but for how others can get the most profit from the work they do even when it means I get less in the grand scheme of things.
Ultimately, I feel the responsibility to point out voices, businesses, and ministries led by people of non-white races and testifying of their legitimacy and supporting them verbally, financially, and relationally instead of quietly letting them face racial prejudice on their own.
If you question whether racism exists, start talking about how racism is a sin the church needs to address.
You’ll discover all kinds of people who hold extremely racist attitudes toward others. As you discover that, you will begin to see how privileged your life has been.
No one is evil for wearing the color of skin they have. But when one realizes their skin color has allowed them to live with a level of ease and opportunity others do not have, the loving thing is to leverage that privilege for giving others opportunity and power.
Don’t be scared of the term “white privilege.” Acknowledge it. Steward it according to the way God would have you steward any other benefit by standing with the oppressed (Prov. 31:8) and giving to those who do not have (Lk. 14:12-14, 1Jn 3:17).
Feel free to share your responses to this article in the comments below. Please be respectful to each other as you do. Grace and peace.
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Footnotes
[1] For an introduction to these differences, see the Gospel Coalitions articles on The Old Testament View of Life After Death and The New Testament View of Life After Death.
[2] Quoted from Wikipedia, White Privilege (accessed November 16, 2021).
[3] See Redlining for context on this.
