Year: 2016

Jesus Prayed for You: A Word on Christian Hope and Unity

Dr. Celucien Joseph The Gospel of John, Uncategorized ,
Jesus Prayed for You: A Word on Christian Hope and Unity

 

Foremost, I’m very pessimistic about the project of racial reconciliation and harmony in American Evangelical Churches. It’s not working in contemporary Christian circles. The division is too wide, and the wound is too deep. From a sociological perspective,  American Christians feel more comfortable being with those who look like them and with those they share the same race, culture, experience, nationality, language, and lifestyle. Contemporary American Evangelicals are afraid of “difference” and do not want to be associated with anything or anyone who will disrupt their way of life and the way they understand how life should be. They want to maintain a monolithic story of the Christian faith in America, as well as promote a homogeneous Christianity, which could never be challenged or subject to transformation.

Nonetheless, from a biblical perspective, Christ has interfered in our lives and cultures in order to establish one people out of many people groups, and to create one human race out of many races  and ethnicities for himself and to the glorious praise of the Triune God. Christ’s goal for his church and the people of God lies in his utmost desire for genuine unity and radical spiritual transformation within the Christian body. It is for this very reason that the words of Jesus, as recorded in John 17, continue to instill hope and tenacity in me so I can continue praying for what seems impossible and unreachable by human power and wisdom. I have to remind myself constantly that the wisdom of God is foolishness to us.  While we must seek God for genuine Christian unity and harmony, and radical spiritual transformation for his church and our midst, we must never lose heart in trying to achieve those life-transforming objectives. Each one of us has a responsibility to work incessantly toward Christ’s utmost desire for his church and his people.

 

In John 17, Jesus prays fervently and earnestly for unity and harmony among Christians and his followers. By implication, he prayed to dispel division and tribalism in contemporary churches. By implication, he had also prayed for the triumph of racial reconciliation and harmony among Christians and in Christian churches. Jesus’ prayer cannot fail!
  Oh how much and desperate Christian churches in America that have been divided by race, ethnicity, and by culture and political ideology need to hear the words of Jesus!
 
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
 
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
 
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”–John 17: 20-26

Jean Price-Mars and the project of Nation-Building in Haiti (Part I)

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

Jean Price-Mars and the project of Nation-Building in Haiti (Part I)

 

So I finished writing the 3rd chapter of my forthcoming book on Jean Price-Mars.

I’m currently working on the final chapter. It’s on the intersection of modernity’s racial imagination, Christianity’s contribution to it, and Price-Mars’ liberative ideas to remedy the crisis of human condition in modernity. Price-Mars presents the Haitian Revolution (its symbolic meaning as both a product of Western modernity and an alternative African modernity in the New World) and the founding of the “Black Republic” of Haiti as a double event and as the fulfillment of what Jonathan Israel calls “radical modernity” and what I call “Haitian modernity” (See my PhD dissertation, “The Haitian Turn: Haiti, the Black Atlantic, and Black Transnational Consciousness,” The University of Texas at Dallas, and my book, “Haitian Modernity and Liberative Interruption” (UPA, 2013)). In 2011, while writing my doctoral dissertation at UTD, I coined the phrase ” black transnational consciousness” (BTC) which revolutionary Haiti symbolizes, to explain the project of Haitian modernity and the new radical humanism Haitian revolutionaries had created in the Western world.

Few scholars and thinkers–both Haitians and Non-Haitians- have grasped Price-Mars’s cultural and intellectual project for Haiti and the Black Diaspora.

Price-Mars has inaugurated a new (black) epistemology and radically alternative way to (re-) “build” or reconstruct the nation of Haiti and reconceptualize the black experience in the Black Diaspora.

So far, in contemporary Haitian scholarship and Africana studies, I have encountered three scholars– Paul Camy Mocombe, Glodel Mezilas, Patrick Delices, Jhon Byron ( some of these perspectives on Price-Mars are stronger than others. I’m still waiting on Jean Eddy Saint Paul’s anticipated work on Price-Mars.) who have grasped what Price-Mars wanted to do in regard to what I call the ” Price-Marsian inaugurated black epistemology.”

It’s time to reread Price-Mars intelligently, responsibly, ethically, critically, and with care, conviction, and passion. If you want to understand the contemporary crisis of Haitian intellectuals and Haitian civil and political society, read Price-Mars. If you want to contribute to societal renewal and transformation in contemporary Haitian society and improve the lives of the underclass and the marginalized, read Price-Mars. You must go/read beyond his classic work, ” Ainsi parla l’Oncle” (1928). His ideas are interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and comprehensive.

Why Price-Mars Wrote: Toward Nation-Building

The whole of the Price-Marsian project was “to build” a new Haitian society and an alternative humanism rooted in these seven pillars: Africa, community, women, family, Haitian politics, education and equality of Haitian masses and peasants, religion. These ideological reasons explain why Price-Mars wrote whatever he has written about the Haitian people and the nation of Haiti.

1. Ancestral Affiliation and Identity: the reclaiming and acknowledgement of Africa’s indebtedness to Haiti. Africa has given Haiti its dominant religion and the legacy of strong and flourishing pre-colonial civilizations.

2. The ethics and practice of Communitarianism and Kombitism

3. The Haitian intellectual as servant leader and activist for the people.

4. Haitian Politics as a catalyst to foster national unity, cultural growth, and prosperity.

5. The education and equality of Haitian masses and peasants as imperative factors contributing to social development and human flourishing in Haiti.

6. The recognition of Haitian Women as the “cement” of Haitian society and as the “trait-d’union” (“hypen”) between the Haitian family and Haitian civil and political society.

7. The role of religion as a unifying force in society.

 

Why Donald Trump Should Resign as President-Elect!

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized ,
Why Donald Trump Should Resign as President-Elect!
 
Donald Trump should resign as the President-Elect before he officially assumes the office of presidency on January 20, 2017. His eventual resignation would help prevent a possible civil war between the KKK gangs, hate groups, white supremacists, white nationalists, and the American people who are crying and protesting against the present American environment which they believe is racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-Muslim, anti-black, and anti-Semitic; a great majority of the American people who are protesting Trump’s presidency believes that the personality and the eventual Trump presidential administration is linked to these anti-democratic attitudes and behavior.
 
The continual and consistent national mass protest against the Presidency of Mr. Trump may lead to more Police brutality, incarceration, and thousands of death.
 
Donald Trump should resign to protect life, foster peace and national unity, and solidify the American people.
 
Donald Trump should resign as President-Elect to save America, repair the American Image in the world, and for the triumph of American democracy and the will of the people.
 
The President-Elect Donald Trump must make a decision between “his ascension to presidential power and the safety and unity of the American people.”

Ten Things I Hate and Despise with all my heart, soul, and strength

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , ,
Ten Things I Hate and Despise with all my heart, soul, and strength:
 
1. War
 
2. Guns
 
3. Violence
 
4. Racism
 
5. White Supremacy
 
6. Oppressive Capitalism
 
7. Labor Exploitation
 
8. Injustice
 
9. Mistreatment of the Poor, the needy, the Marginalized, and the Minority.
 
10. American-European Hegemony in the World.

Simply Jesus!

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , , ,

Simply Jesus!

While I am ashamed to call myself an “evangelical,” I’m unapologetic to call myself simply a “follower of Christ.” That is what I am.

I do not want to be identified with American Evangelicalism and its politics of treason and political theology of conquer and subdue based on the (neo-) colonial model and imperial paradigm .

I will no longer use the epithet as a reference to my Christian identity. Just give me Jesus!

Praise the Lord!

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , ,

Psalm 146

1  Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2  I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

3  Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

4  When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

5  Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,

6  who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;

7  who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8  the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

9  The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10  The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!

The Betrayal of King Jesus in American Evangelical Politics and the Downfall of White American Evangelicalism

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized , ,

“The Betrayal of King Jesus in American Evangelical Politics and the Downfall of White American Evangelicalism”

Given the fact that  81 % White Evangelicals voted deliberately to elect  Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States shows clearly that most White American  Evangelicals are a power-hungry people in the realm of politics whose disingenuity about the Christian faith and the way of Christ, which  they claim to profess,  is publicly revealed.

They sold their soul to Caesar so they can gain direct  access to Caesar’s palace, his political power and influence, and cultural dominance. They turned away from the peaceful and reconciliatory message of King Jesus and  the Christian Gospel to please a new King, whose message is the antithesis of the Jesus Creed.

These people are the real antichrists who have betrayed their Lord who has commanded them to a higher ethical life rooted in radical love, grace,  and compassion toward the weak and the disinherited among them,  and the ministry of reconciliation, kindness, and peace.

They sold their soul for vain earthly pleasures,  temporary political correctness and satisfaction, and meaningless joys, which cannot heal the wounded spirit of the American people and their spiritual decadence.

The real antichrist is in the Evangelical circle.  The antigospel ideology dwells in the Evangelical-Caesar’s house.

*While I am ashamed to call myself an “evangelical,” I’m unapologetic to call myself simply a “follower of Christ.” That is what I am.
I do not want to be identified with American Evangelicalism and its politics of treason and political theology of conquer and subdue based on the (neo-) colonial model and imperial paradigm..

I will no longer use the epithet as a reference to my Christian identity. Just give me Jesus!

*******************************************************************

Postscript

Thanks for your gracious comment. I’m in total agreement with you that our goal as Christians is to foster unity and not division. However, how can we work collaboratively toward that end if we do not diagnose the problem and recognize that we are part of the great divide and problem that characterizes contemporary American Evangelicalism and American society? How can we offer cure if we do not know the nature and implications of the disease? How can we cultivate peace and reconciliation if we ourselves are not at peace with each other?


How can we be effective witnesses of Christ in the public sphere if we deny his message by our actions and words? Like you, I believe in the comprehensive sovereignty of God and also hold that nothing in this world can take God by surprise. On the other hand, I also believe that Christianity is a way of life and that our political and social actions can have tremendous effects on people. On a different note, both on my personal website and Facebook, I have been critical of both Trump and Clinton’s presidential candidacy. In this present post, I had no intention to judge the political choice of White Evangelical Christians, but to evaluate this Evangelical preference for a Trump’s presidency against the backdrop of Christian ethics and the doctrine of God. As a follower of Christ, I mourn over the rhetoric and actions of my Evangelical brothers and sisters that deny Jesus’ ethics or way of life. If we need to save American Evangelicalism, we ought not to be afraid to do critical self-reflection. Christ himself has shown us how to walk in humility, kind, and love, and to be solidarity with those who are weak.

If you want unity and reconciliation, you have to listen to the hurt and pain of those communities and individuals who are suffering; you have to be empathetic to their fear about their future in this country.

What I will do on the Election Day!

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized
My projected plan on the election day–Tuesday, November 8–is as follows:
1. Morning: teach from 8:00 to 10:45 AM
2. 11:00 AM to 3:30: Office hours
3. 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM:
a) Drink lots of Iced Tea Peach (my favorite flavor in the world);
b) Eat lots of dry roasted salted peanut (my second favorite thing in the world);
c) Read Peter Leihart’s excellent book, “The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church” and Brian Bantum‘s much-anticipated text, “The Death of Race: Building a New Christianity in a Racial World;”
d) While reading and drinking sweet tea, I will be watching the results of the presidential election in three of most opinionated and ideological news channels in America: CNN, MSNBC, FOX News.
*I will not let this election and the post-election moment make me lose friendship that I have cultivated and nurtured for many years and people who have been a source of support, strength, and aspiration to me when Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton was not there or absent in my life.
*At the end of all of these activities, I will call President Donald Trump to congratulate him for a triumphal presidential victory. lol

On the meaning of Jesus and Christianity

Dr. Celucien Joseph Uncategorized

​On the meaning of Jesus and Christianity

What would you say to critics if you were asked to answer these important questions without demonizing other religions and other religious leaders:  

1. Why should anyone follow Jesus? 

2. Why should anyone become a Christian?

Finally, If science has replaced religion and secularism spiritual piety in the 21st century, what is the need or reason for God?