“The Divine Message and World Politics in Acts 12 or the Death of Herod and the Triumph of the Word of God”

“21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish” (Acts 12:21-24).

The sudden death of King Herod marks the end of a powerful political era in the Roman Empire, and the beginning of a new trans-political force: the birth and triumph of Christianity in the ancient world. Interestingly, Luke, the theologian-historian, and the author of the book of Acts—a historical book about the beginning and spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire and beyond coupled with the activities of various Christian communities or groups—articulates a high view of Scripture in relation to the local and global politics of his times. Luke does not exclude the early Christians from political engagement in the Empire nor does he present explicitly the birth of this new religion, that is, Christianity, in the Roman Empire, as a rival to cultural politics. Ideologically, Luke intends to offer a divine perspective about the cultural phenomena and political events of his times without denigrating the relevance of culture and politics in the life of the early Christians and the citizens of the Roman Empire. Paradoxically, because Luke’s primary goal in Acts was to show the fulfillment of the “Plan and Word of God” and the “Works and Promises of Jesus,” the Jewish Messiah and Savior of the World, he presents the Word of God in opposition to any human thought and action and political administrations and interventions that contradict the divine plan and message communicated through the divine Word. Yet the Roman Empire and its transnational politics helped the spread and triumph of Christianity in the ancient world.

In Acts 12, Luke recounts two major events that took place in the Empire, and both transformed Roman politics and foreign relations with the surrounding nations: the successful death of King Herod and the end of a brutal and corrupt administration, and the continuity of the Word of God and the spread of Christianity in the ancient world. In other words, when Herod dies, the Word of God continues. (This double-event is analogous to the powerful story Prophet Isaiah recounts in Isaiah 6: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” For Isaiah, there is only one sovereign King-Ruler in the universe: Yahweh the eternal King; similarly, for Luke, there is only one sovereign message in the world: the triumphant message of the Good News. Yahweh is sovereign, and his Word has a dominant characteristic. Both Isaiah and Luke give a God-entranced vision of human history through the lens of divine revelation and the divine Word.) No political forces or cosmic powers could withstand the influence and propagating message of what he has rightly called, “the good news” (The Gospel) to the nations. While the reader might see two powers in display in this passage or two opposite poles here, Luke, however, stresses the dominance of the Message of God, which he interprets as a spiritual power over the political world.

Further, Luke wanted to emphasize the success of the Word of God amid cultural uncertainty and chaos and political instability and misjudgment. By implications, he also sought to highlight that world’s leaders, even the most powerful ones, will fail and eventually die, but the Message of God will live and prevail in moments of crisis like the one he described in Acts 12. Most importantly, Luke presents the divine Word as a radically cosmic event that is against (all evil) empires and earthly powers and all of that which is against the will and plan of God in global history and world politics. For Luke, the Divine Word will always prevail over empires and (powerful) political forces, and cultural ideologies. In the remaining part of Acts, Luke provides supporting details how the early Christians in the Roman Empire and surrounding nations were not cultural conformists and fundamentalists; rather, they were radical framers of a new cultural and political era in the ancient world. Luke’s Christianity confronted evil empires/governments and destructive cultural ideologies deferring human progress and human flourishing in society and the world. Correspondingly, the early Christians in Luke’s book remain committed to the transforming and liberative power of the Divine Word.

In summary, I conclude this short reflection with three chief ideas in the book of Acts that establish an interesting rapport between the divine Message and world politics, and Luke’s high view and vision of Scripture in this historical and theological text:

1. Luke, the historian-theologian, maintains that when politics fail, the Word of God can be trusted. While he believed that good politics could lead to the good life, but the divine Word will lead to a better and more promising life in this world and the one beyond—what he calls the “eternal life.”
2. Luke sustains the idea that when political ideologies and philosophies no longer work in society, the Word of God is still relevant. In other words, political affiliation has an end and is not adequate for the holistic enrichment of life and the welfare of citizens. By contrast, the wisdom of the divine Word should inform political decisions and interventions.
3. Finally, Luke believes that when human powers lose strength or weaken, the Word of God empowers and stays firm. All human powers and political governments are temporary, ephemeral, and will not succeed the best of times—as rightly observed with the eventual fall of the Roman Empire, the most powerful political force in the ancient world; for Luke, however, the divine Message is relentless, unswerving, and will stand the best and worst of times, including the most aggressive empires and political governments in contemporary times and post-colonial moments.

“The Problem of Decolonizing the field of Haitian Studies: An Internal Critique”

One of the speakers in the Town Hall meeting (that took place on 6/26/2021) on “Decolonizing Haitian Studies,” organized by the Haitian Studies Association, stated that the field of Haitian Studies is americancentric, that is, to learn about Haiti and the Haitian people, one has to access such knowledge via the United States, not Haiti. This is a matter of epistemology, language, and geopolitics.

In other words, academic knowledge about Haiti and the Haitian people, is centered on the scholarly production in the United States and in the English language.

In respect to the role of the English language in the production of knowledge about Haiti & the Haitian people & its rapport to decolonization, decolonization is a process that engages the history, education, language, politics, culture, identity, and psychology of a people.

Writing in the Haitian language, Kreyol, for example, does not mean the writer has experienced decolonization nor is he or she is producing decolonial works or knowledge via Kreyol. A lot of Haitian writers who write in Kreyol are still colonized mentally and ideologically in Haiti, leading to the enormous suffering and subjugation of the Haitian people. Some of those charlatan politicians do not speak a word of English, German, what have you? Yet they remain colonized in their own practices & continue the project of colonization in Haiti.

Haitians and Haitianist scholars who are actively engaged in the field of Haitian Studies need to see language—whether English, French, Kreyol, Spanish—as a tool, but more than a tool. Any of these languages could be used instrumentally to produce the work of decolonization.

The English language, for example, could still be used as a tool to decolonize the field of Haitian Studies and humanize the Haitian people. One does not need to write in Kreyol or speak Kreyol in order to perform decolonization, both as practice and action.
To insist that Haitians and Haitianists should write in the mother tongue of the Haitian people to produce effective work of decolonization is a myth. It does not deal with the reality of the academic pluralistic world, and the reality of the Haitian people in Haiti.

In respect to the idea that one has to pass through the United States to access knowledge about Haiti and the Haitian people, this issue of epistemology and geopolitics is a complex phenomenon and should not be taken lightly. Let me offer five reasons below:

A. Haiti does not have good research universities; this is important for knowledge production and ownership. It is only recently that UEH (State University of Haiti) began to offer its first PhD, and this doctoral program is less than five years old.

B. Because of Haiti’s poor infrastructures in education and academic resources, it is very difficult for Haitian writers and scholars residing in Haiti to have access to incredible resources that academics who work from the United States have in their disposal.

C. The question of academic freedom in Haiti’s higher learning and academia: Haitian scholars in Haiti do not have a sophisticated level of academic freedom Haitianists in the United States or elsewhere have or have enjoyed for many years.

Those in the United States do not have to worry that they will be attacked physically if they publish something provocative about, for example, Haitian politics and criticize the current administration in Haiti.

By contrast, those in Haiti have to be careful; the opposition could literally attack them and their family physically, even to the point of death.

D. The geopolitical question: to live in an empire such as the United States provides scholars and academics endless opportunities for writing, research, and publication. The U.S. is an aggressive empire wherein finance capitalism is intimately connected to higher learning and power.

E. To put it differently, Haiti, as a developing country, does not have a strong geopolitical position in the League of Nations; as a result, it is not the centre of knowledge production about Haiti and the Haitian people.

Finally, decolonization is a process that is both individual and collective. Decolonizing the field of Haitian Studies must begin with building strong epistemological and political infrastructures in Haiti. Haiti should be the departing point for decolonizing the field of Haitian Studies.

***Please do not misunderstand my underlying thesis here! I am not saying that Haitian scholars in Haiti do not produce good scholarship. In spite of poor infrastructures, friends like Jhon Byron , Sabine Lamour, Glodel Mezilas, Lewis Clormeus,  Nadeve Menard, Ketly Mars, Evelyne Trouillot, Gary Victor, and a host of others are producing good scholarship. (Think about guys Firmin, Price-Mars, Roumain, L. Manigat, etc. who produced their works in Haiti)I am actually saying that those who work from the US (because of US’ geopolitical power and finance capitalism linked to higher learning and power) have access to more academic and human resources (such as funding, 24/7 electricity, 24/7 internet service)  than those working in Haiti. My reflection was not to silence the work of Haitian scholars produced in Haiti, but to explain why the field of Haitian studies is americancentric.***Please do not misunderstand my underlying thesis here! I am not saying that Haitian scholars in Haiti do not produce good scholarship. In spite of poor infrastructures, friends like Jhon Byron , Sabine Lamour, Glodel Mezilas, Lewis Clormeus, Nadeve Menard, Evelyne Trouillot, Gary Victor, and a host of others are producing good scholarship. (Think about guys Firmin, Price-Mars, Roumain, L. Manigat, etc. who produced their works in Haiti)I am actually saying that those who work from the US (because of US’ geopolitical power and finance capitalism linked to higher learning and power) have access to more academic and human resources (such as funding, 24/7 electricity, 24/7 internet service)  than those working in Haiti. My reflection was not to silence the work of Haitian scholars produced in Haiti, but to explain why the field of Haitian studies is americancentric.

In the spirit of Juneteenth, today, we visited the National Underground Railroad Trail in Sandy Spring, Maryland, where runaway slaves escaped to find freedom by walking 900 miles and more toward North ( in free states such as Pennsylvania and New York), and even Canada. I actually walked the underground railroad trail, and the experience was breathtaking, memorable, and very emotional for me. The trail (about 4.0 miles roundtrip), although located in the woods, goes around a corn field where the slaves would pass through after they crossed the river.

I recorded a 13 minute video as I walked in the “freedom” underground railroad trail, narrating my personal experience. Below, you will find some pictures I have taken.

Happy Father’s Day to all dads!

Dads: love your children and your family; teach them to love their mother through demonstration and acts of service and love; guide them in both good and bad times to be responsible, mature, and moral citizens; spend time with them by making together lasting memories; teach them about the value of education, love, family, and compassion; teach them about the value of serving, sacrifice, and commitment; and instill in them love for God and their neighbor, respectively.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Even though I am no longer affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or an SBC church, the SBC has marked my theological education and Christian identity in many ways. I continue to interrogate some of the Denomination’s practices of racial and gender exclusion and underrepresentation in its affiliated theological schools and congregations (the SBC churches), its unholy union with a particular political ideology and worldview: the Republican party, and the SBC’s refusal to deal effectively and honestly with the profound problems of sexual sins and abuse and deep racial division and wounds in its churches and institutions.

Personally, I am not optimistic about the future of the SBC and its affiliated theological institutions and churches (that is why I left!); yet I applaud its present (hopeful) attempts to listen to the voice of minority Christians and to deal with some of its contemporary demons and terrors: cases of sexual abuse, the underrepresentation of black and brown Christians in positions of leadership and power, and the exclusion and invisibility of Christian women in spheres of influence and power. What the SBC needs is long-term, practical, and permanent solutions on these crucial and existential matters that are shaping and reshaping the Convention and its affiliated churches and theological schools. Such attempt must be achieved at nine inseparable levels and dimensions: structural, institutional/organisational, administrative, theological, political, ethical, gender, racial, and moral. Thankfully, the good Lord still has a remnant in a Convention that is falling apart and has fallen from grace. I support progress and growth at all levels.

“The convention approved Vision 2025, a five-year plan setting a series of goals for Great Commission advancement. Messengers added to the EC’s five proposed Vision 2025 goals on missions, evangelism and CP giving a sixth stating the convention’s intent to eliminate all incidents of racism and sexual abuse. They also amended a goal placing emphasis on reaching teenagers to those under age 18.

Diversity

The SBC constitutional amendment against racism was among several ways messengers attempted to catalyze ethnic diversity in the convention.

Juan Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, became the first Hispanic elected convention preacher. He will deliver the convention sermon next year in Anaheim, Calif. Messengers also elected a Hispanic first vice president, Ramón Medina, lead pastor of the Spanish ministry at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston. Medina was elected in a runoff over another Hispanic nominated for the post, Georgia pastor Javier Chavez.

Southern Baptists tapped to serve on committees likewise were diverse. A majority (51 percent) of Greear’s presidential appointments to committees were non-Anglo, as were 30 percent of those elected to serve on boards and committees.

In his final presidential address, Greear drew a standing ovation when he addressed racial tension within the SBC and told “people of color”: “We need you.”

Critical race theory (CRT) – the subject of a 2019 SBC resolution that has sparked controversy over the past two years – drew several mentions during the convention, including messenger motions and resolution submissions calling for its denunciation as well as questions to SBC presidents during their reports. Yet no official convention action addressed CRT by name.

Instead, messengers adopted a broad resolution regarding race and racial reconciliation. The resolution repudiated “any theory or worldview that denies that racism, oppression, or discrimination is rooted, ultimately, in anything other than sin.” It also reaffirmed a resolution regarding racial reconciliation on the SBC’s 150th anniversary in 1995 in which messengers apologized to African Americans for “condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism.”

Source: https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/wrap-up-sbc-elects-litton-takes-control-of-ec-investigation/

“‘Mature Love’: Thinking Out Loud”

If you are getting married this summer or very soon in the future, let me recommend a wedding song to you: “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. It is written both by Edward Christopher Sheeran and Amy Wadge. Ed met Amy when he was 17 yrs old and in 2014, they released this song, which articulates some of the most powerful words about the enduring power of love. What is the true language of love is the central question this song attempts to answer.

“Thinking Out Loud” not only celebrates the immortal character of love, but also the faithfulness associating with mature love and growing old in love. Fidelity in love is a process and a journey, which binds two souls and cements two hearts together toward an ultimate end: everlasting love.

The clearest expression of fidelity in love and the purpose of love are found in the first stanza:

“When your legs don’t work like they used to before
And I can’t sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks”

Consider the promise of love articulating the subsequent evocative language (pay close attention to the first two lines):

“And darling I will be loving you ’til we’re 70
And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23
And I’m thinking ’bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Oh me I fall in love with you every single day
And I just wanna tell you I am
So honey now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart”

Next, the strength of mature love (or the love that endures and continues to grow) is stressed in the next verse:

“When my hands don’t play the strings the same way, mm
I know you will still love me the same
‘Cause honey your soul can never grow old, it’s evergreen
Baby your smile’s forever in my mind and memory”

Consequently, mature love transcends the sexual intimacy love itself could create or fosters in a relationship. According to this stanza, the memory of love in his/her mind is adequate, especially when two people in love continue to grow old together and when one of the spouses has amnesia or the Alzheimer disease. The memory of love is love in itself; Love is ENOUGH! The memory of love is the very essence of what mature love is about, and it is the thousands of future possibilities and virtuous qualities mature love creates or produces in the process of growing old together. Mature love is a committed kind of love ; it is what we might call covenantal love. It is resistant love. This kind of love is radical and revolutionary. Mature love is also deep and sure love. Mature love is sacrificial love, and it is the love that endures, creates hope and optimism, is pure, and will never die. Folks, there is nothing less and more profound than everlasting love.

Enjoy the full lyrics below and do listen to the song itself:

“When your legs don’t work like they used to before
And I can’t sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks

And darling I will be loving you ’til we’re 70
And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23
And I’m thinking ’bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Oh me I fall in love with you every single day
And I just wanna tell you I am

So honey now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I’m thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are

When my hair’s all but gone and my memory fades
And the crowds don’t remember my name
When my hands don’t play the strings the same way, mm
I know you will still love me the same

‘Cause honey your soul can never grow old, it’s evergreen
Baby your smile’s forever in my mind and memory

I’m thinking ’bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe it’s all part of a plan
I’ll just keep on making the same mistakes
Hoping that you’ll understand

But baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I’m thinking out loud
That maybe we found love right where we are, oh

So baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Oh darling, place your head on my beating heart
I’m thinking out loud
That maybe we found love right where we are

Oh baby, we found love right where we are (maybe)
And we found love right where we are”

I also imagine a particular brand of Christian scholarship and theological hermeneutic that (1) take into account different sources of knowledge and human experience in the formation of Christian thinking and spirituality; (2) give serious attention to the practice of equity and diversity in the training and formation of students for the Christian vocation and Christian scholarship; (3) and give voice to a new pedagogy that acknowledges the contributions of both women and people of color (especially the Global South) in various areas of Christian academia or academic disciplines: Theological Studies, Biblical Studies, Christian Counseling, Christian Education, Christian Leadership, Christian Philosophy, Christian Apologetics, Ecclesiastical History, Christian Preaching, etc. I propose that both theological education and Christian scholarship should be used as tools of empowerment to make us better human beings and world citizens, and permanent committed followers of Jesus Christ. The common and unifying thread in those written chapters are the eventual achievement of human flourishing and the good life in this world. In brief, this is the kind of pedagogical optimism and promissory hermeneutics that I articulate in the written pages.

I signed a book contract today with Wipf and Stock Publishers. This is the book (“Theological Education and Christian Scholarship for Human Flourishing: Hermeneutics, Knowledge, and Multiculturalism”) I have always wanted to write about the intersections of theological education, Christian scholarship, multiculturalism, and participatory democracy. As an educator and scholar, these topics are very dear to my heart and scholarship. I have an abiding interest for a theological/religious education that would engage continuously our multicultural society and our complex human condition; in those written pages, I envision a theological curriculum and pedagogy that would enrich our democracy and shared humanity, and promote both racial and gender diversity–toward holistic transformation and individual/collective growth. Such theological curriculum should inform the grammar and hermeneutics of Christian scholarship, and the selection of a diverse faculty and administrators in theological education and classrooms, respectively.

• 

• 

***My initial thought for this book began in 2002 during my first semester in seminary–that is, 19 years ago. Say a little prayer for me so I could successful submit the manuscript by August 1, 2021.