I was listening to an episode of Undeceptions about Critical Theory last week, and I was reminded again of the incongruity of people who identify as Christian, reflexively dismissing theories that “aim to explain and transform all the circumstances that enslave human beings.” 1 I could understand if the objection was that only Christ could complete that sort of transformation or that some positions are too extreme, but there seems to be resistance in many circles to acknowledge that these theories reveal truths about societal structures that oppress people.
The Bible has its own way of presenting a critique of culture. From Genesis, where the cosmological myths of the surrounding cultures are critiqued by a competing narrative, to the unmasking of oppressive Imperial power structures in Revelation, the authors of the Bible were concerned with every kind of slavery. As part of my study, I wrote a minor thesis, looking at responsible ecological action grounded in a study of a passage in Revelation. John’s identification and unmasking of idolatry and exploitative powers in the Roman Empire provide an example for unmasking the same in our own time. When the social sciences provide tools to help in the unmasking, we should use them.
I wish that more Christians today would take seriously the way we are entangled in exploitative economic systems and oppressive power structures. I wish it were easier to disentangle ourselves, but this is where we’re at. I pray that my eyes will be opened to my own contribution, and I won’t try to avoid the truth because it’s hard. I watch the culture wars and polarised debates in the United States and hope and pray that the worst excesses of that will not be imported down here.
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4 responses to “Critical Theory and Christianity”
As a Christ-follower, I think a lot about how the world perceives my faith group as a whole. My hope is always (ALWAYS) that they look to Jesus – not to what people who purpote to love Jesus do. This includes myself! I am falliable and will 100% make mistakes and bad judgements.
When abuse (of any nature) is carried out at the hands of so-called Christians this is wrong – these people are not following the Jesus of the Bible. Sadly, the actions of some “believers” keep people from asking important questions. One of my favourite quotes from C.S. Lewis is: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.
We have a society that doesn’t know if what’s true and false – the world is so confusing! – but they become antagonistic (for good reason!) when they see people who claim to love Jesus do hateful things. It genuinely makes my heart ache…
Yes to this Elisabeth. I am with you in knowing I make my own mistakes on these things. I hope that when I am made aware of ways I am not living up to the call of the gospel, I will not be defensive and will be able to honestly examine myself. I know I have certainly changed my mind or developed my thinking in various areas since coming to faith aged 20.
I love this:
“I wish that more Christians today would take seriously the way we are entangled in exploitative economic systems and oppressive power structures. I wish it were easier to disentangle ourselves, but this is where we’re at.”
As a non believer, though I would change it from ‘Christians’ to ‘humans’ or ‘people’, because there are a lot of people on our planet of many beliefs, and we are all responsible for the world we live in. It is all of our responsibility to not contribute to an exploitative economic system. And yet, we ALL do. I do. I have an iPhone, an iPad, and so many other products that are made under horrible systems. We ship our recycling to other countries to be sorted and dealt with, because it is too expensive to do it here. Shame on us. Shame on me.
Humans are imperfect and if we could all accept that and work on ourselves, instead of pointing fingers at others.