By Rev. John E. Jackson
It was the late Jegna Dr. William Augustus Jones, who pastored the Bethany Baptist Church of New York, who posited this prolific paradigm, “Your Theology will determine your Anthropology and your Anthropology will then determine your Sociology.”
In other words, how you see God, [theology] will govern how you see yourself, [anthropology] and thus that will determine how you see and value other people [sociology].
Most of us in these “Yet to be united states,” to quote the late Jegan Maya Angelou, see God as an old white man who is looking to penalize people, thus many, if not most, of us see ourselves from a Hierarchical paradigm where white people, starting with white men in particular, are closest to God, then white women, Black men, Black women and then animals, and beloved this is a dangerous theology.
The example I submit is the current portrayal of white nationalism as evidenced in the election of the 45th President and his sycophants like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Rev. Robert Jeffress, Rev. Paula White, and Rev. John MacArthur. They each on this past Easter Sunday and all throughout the year have professed a faith in a Black African man who was born and raised in the North African region of Palestine, more specifically biblical Judea, but they espouse policies that would marginalize and demonize Jesus himself had he been born today.
For instance, Jesus immediately following his birth was targeted by the puppet King Herod the Great for destruction. Yet the biblical record says that Jesus was taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary at the direction of an angel to hide him to keep him safe. That means that Egypt did not have a wall, nor border patrol to limit people from entering Egypt, and it was one of the premier nations on the planet. It also means that to hide him in Egypt he had to be among people that looked like his skin that had been kissed by nature’s sun. Jesus was not a European, but the Christian Nationalist like Marjorie Taylor Greene says they worship Jesus of the Bible.
Finally, for this installment, please know that prior to the Roman Caesar Constantine’s baptism to Christianity in the 4th century, the followers of the way [Christians were originally called “Followers of The Way”] was an illegal religion. Judaism was accepted by the Romans so long as they kept the peace and most importantly paid their taxes to Rome, but Christianity was a banned religion.
The writings of the African Apostle Paul were banned [Paul wrote before any of the gospel writers]. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were banned by order of the emperor of Rome.
We read in worship every Sunday and base our faith on banned literature of the Bible. Think about that the next time you open your bibles. The white nationalist crowd along with the white hate supremacists who claim Jesus as Lord and the Bible as their “sola scriptura,” latin for “the bible alone,” are professing their faith on a banned leader and banned writings about him.
As we have witnessed in this present society in states like Florida and Texas, to name a few, see the banning of books that both tell the accurate history of this nation and an authentic remembering of the horrors people of African descent have experienced in this land as a way like the ancient Romans to deprive the colonized of any hope and further empower the colonizers.
Please also remember that people who really have no concern or care for the justice of God and who seek to order the society based on their flawed hierarchical paradigms have no problem distorting the context of the Bible to further enhance their ability to control people and profit off of poor people. I say flawed theology for a number of devastating reasons, but for this first installment please consider the absurd hypocrisy. Absurd hypocrisy because as I stated the faith in Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ of God, did not originate in Europe, therefore, it was not white.
Second this faith was passed down from the peasants, the poor and disinherited of the colonized society of first century Africa. Finally, Jesus was executed by crucifixion. Only subversives and rebels to the empire could be crucified [for more please see “The Cross and The Lynching Tree,” by the late James Cone]. It is an absurd hypocrisy to see these racial hate mongers vocally advocate for policies that hurt their own poor constituents but are targeted at Black people in this nation, despite the fact that the Savior they professed was actually one of those they protest against.
Hollywood could not have written a more unbelievable script. Beloved, Theology matters!
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.
