What are the moral problems of our times?
Here are a selected few:

The immigration crisis is a moral problem.
Separating children from their parents is a moral problem.
Mistreating the poor and the homeless is a moral problem.
Poverty is a moral problem.
Abortion is a moral problem.
Pedophilia is a moral problem.
Racism is a moral problem.
Adultery is a moral problem.
Beating one’s spouse is a moral problem.
Hunger is a moral problem.
Stealing is a moral problem.
Sexism is a moral problem.
Homophobia is a moral problem.
Xenophobia is a moral problem.
Living life without Jesus is a moral problem.
Sin is a moral problem.

These moral problems are inherently Gospel issues.

*** What else would you add to the list?

“American Public Evangelicalism, the Public Sphere, and the Questions of our Times”

For many public thinkers and cultural critics in the American society, today’s American Evangelicalism stands against anything that is democratic and human flourishing. Because of the anti-intellectual sentiment that has been a sustaining characterization of American Evangelicalism, the contemporary Evangelical world has not produced (enough) critical public intellectuals & cultural critics who are capable to address adequately and think in public about the pressing issues that are affecting (and changing) contemporary American individuals and families and concurrently the predicament of other people beyond the American geographical frontiers.

There are many reasons associated with this crisis. First, this lack of Christian intellectual representation in the public sphere lies in the academic formation and training of today’s Evangelical Christian leaders. A large number of these individuals are men who have received an academic education or a theological training that has prepared and confined them only to the Christian world, leading to their disengagement, both intentional and unintentional, with the urgent questions of our times and the crises of human nature and relations.

Second, those higher learning institutions, usually conservative Christian private schools and conservative theological seminaries, do not nurture Christian professionals, clergy or thinkers toward exercising a “public faith” or a “public Christianity” that is sufficiently robust and could simultaneously engage both the critical problems in/of the church and the secular world. Evangelical Christianity must produce an enduring Gospel-centered way of life and ethic that could sympathize with the suffering and needy individuals and families and actively address the concerns surrounding the plot of this country’s poor and vulnerable.

Third, in many ways, the educational curriculum of those institutions is ideologically constructed, limited, and selective, for example, to the studying of a selected few men and women of the dominant culture (i.e. individuals of European descent) and partially engages interdisciplinarily, cross-culturally, and cross-disciplinarily. For example, if Karl Marx is discussed in the Christian classroom, it is only to demonize his theory of the social classes and capitalism, and not to acquire genuine understanding about Marx’s (scientific) observations and proposals about the deficiencies of modernity (and now postmodernity) in Western societies. These institutions do not form future Christian thinkers to accurately understand the world, but to find (faults) everything wrong and unchristian with the secular age. This lack of clear and meaningful understanding of the things of the world and of people becomes more pronounced when one of those Christian leaders is given a public platform to interact with individuals of various educational, ethnic, racial, and cultural background, and economic standing in society. Certainly, it is a pivotal matter to consider or even appreciate the plurality of human epistemology in American Evangelicalism.

Fourth, many contemporary public thinkers and cultural critics in our culture have observed a popular trend that has now become an Evangelical tradition. It entails the passive attitude of Evangelicals to categorically avoid (addressing) cultural matters that do not directly affect (the future of) Evangelical churches and institutions. If the subject matter does not relate to them or their corresponding family members, the common reaction is to remain silent about it, or to put it bluntly, they automatically disengage the issue.

Fifth, many Evangelical leaders and clergy associate public engagement with ungodliness and moral liberalism. The apparent Evangelical anxiety is within the Evangelical world itself: it is the phobia of the self. Those from the Evangelical culture ( i.e. Russell Moore, Thabiti Anyabwile, Tim Keller) who have committed themselves to engaging in public the big questions of our times such as social justice issues, public education, sexism, classism, labor ethics, labor wages, immigration, Police brutality, poverty, mass incarceration, racism, inner city problems, etc. need to be carefully watched or monitored lest they’re leaning towards socialism and Marxism. Some have argued these thinkers ought to be “suspicious” in the Evangelical world because they’re too political as if the greater Evangelical world does not have a conscious agenda to dominate the world of American politics and rule over the sphere of American culture.

Finally, it is important for Christians of all denominational expressions or ideological tribalism as it is in contemporary American Evangelicalism to come to grips with the realities of our moments that are constantly altering (and waging war against the poor and the vulnerable in our society) human nature and radically transforming the human condition. Let American Christianity in this twenty-first century give birth to men and women of courage and conviction who will assume a public platform in the legacy of public intellectuals and cultural critics like Martin Luther King, Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, John Courtney Murray, S.J., Richard John Neuhaus, and the late James H. Cone.

“What does the Bible really say about Slavery? A Conversation on the Pro-slavery and Anti-slavery argument in the Age of American Slavery”

Tomorrow morning (Sunday, June 17) at Jesus Center Community Church, we will explore the second part of the teaching series entitled “Slavery, the Bible, and God’s Redemption.” We will give special attention to the so-called “Biblical Slavery Texts,” that is some passages in the Bible that seem to approve of the enslavement of individuals, but they do not indicate explicitly and directly that God has sanctioned slavery–as this was a common argument made by pros-slavery Christians and theologians throughout the nineteenth century in America. Secondly, we will discuss certain relevant texts that anti-abolitionists, both Christians and non-Christians, used to campaign against the enslavement of Africans in the United States, to legally abolish slavery as an institution in the United States, and for the American government to legally put a stop at the country’s participation in the transatlantic Slave trade.

“Slavery, the Bible, and God’s Redemption”

Tomorrow (Sunday, June 10) at Jesus Center Community Church, I will begin a new series of sermon on “Slavery and the Bible” to continue our exposition on the Book of Ephesians. It will be a three-part series.

On Sunday, June 10, I will teach on the “Nature of Slavery in the Greco-Roman world.” Thanks to Dr. Craig Keener for providing a detailed background analysis on this topic in his excellent text: “Paul, Women, and Wives” (pp. 197-224).

The following Sunday, June 17, I will talk about “Biblical Slavery and God’s Redemption.” I will make some comparison between biblical slavery and American slavery. Thanks to William J. Webb for writing one of the most engaging and challenging books on this topic: “Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals.”

I will close the last sermon in the series with an emphasis on “Slavery in the Letters of Paul,” with a particular focus on Ephesians 6: 5-9.
Thanks to Jennifer A. Glancy and Cain Hope Felder for providing us with alternative interpretive lenses to make sure of the complex issue of biblical slavery: “Slavery in Early Christianity” (Glancy); “Stony the Road We Trod: African American Bibilical Interpretation” (Felder).

This is going to be both a challenging and exciting teaching series for me. Pray to the God of knowledge and wisdom on my behalf for greater clarity, understanding, and humility as I seek to interpret accurately the institution of slavery as one of the most perplex human practices in human history and one of the most challenging issues in biblical ethics and theological anthropology.

Consequently, I would like to extend my invitation to you to join us tomorrow morning in corporate worship at Jesus Center.

Our worship service starts at 10:00 am.

The work of the Church in doing acts of compassion and service and demonstrating the love of God in Christ through hospitality (that is welcoming the stranger, the unknown, and the immigrant), feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, and caring for the orphan and widow does not have an end.

The Church’s duty in improving the human condition in society and transforming people’s lives for better through serving, loving, and connecting people in its community is the greatest manifestation of divine hospitality, love, and justice in public.

“A Plea for Greater Inclusion of Other Voices in Gospel and Social Justice Conversations Among American Christians”

The attached photo represents some of the influential Evangelical leaders and thinkers who will be speaking at an upcoming conference on the interrelated topics of the Christian Gospel, race, and social justice in contemporary American society and American Evangelicalism.

The visual representation and selection of the speakers indicate enormously on how (White and African American) American (Evangelical) Christians understand and frame Gospel and social justice conversations in this contemporary culture. Within the history of American Christianity, race and social justice issues in this country have almost always been a conversation between two groups of people: African American and White American Christians. History will not fail us if we interpret this phenomenon as a “tradition.” In fact, it is indeed a White and African American Christian tradition; one can look back at recent conferences on these matters among these two represented Christian groups to validate this claim.

Hence, if this is the only expression of the Gospel in white and black, American (Evangelical) Christians have indeed undermined the universal quality and value, and correspondingly the cross-cultural, cross-ethnic, and transnational force and intent of the Gospel. It is important that we do not allow the American historical narrative and the conflict between White and African Americans, as well as the struggle for shalom and wholeness between White and African American Christians to be the only lens to assess the relevance of the Gospel for these urgent issues and its implications for the project of social justice, peace, racial reconciliation, unity, and harmony.

When White American and African American Christians discuss the issues named above among themselves only, both directly and indirectly, they shut off the voice, agency, and the concerns of other brothers and sisters in Christ including those of Hispanic, Asian, and black Christians who are not African Americans. When other brothers and sisters are not included in these Christian dialogues, both intentionally and unintentionally, this particular form of ethnic and racial exclusion will not fully unite the body of Christ nor will it foster adequate conversations across the various ethnic, racial, and cultural lines in American Christianity in these urgent moments–which could also help heal our collective wound and restore our fragmented soul.

Moreover, the American history of racial trauma and fear, and the triumph of injustice and dehumanization of certain groups of people in our society should not dictate the meaning of the Gospel nor should the trajectories of American history be the cultural hermeneutical paradigm to strive toward human flourishing and the common good. We must first begin with the inclusive message of the Gospel followed by our careful analysis and criticism of the complexity of the human experience and life in America and the interplays and actions that define us as a people.

The hegemony of these two represented Christian groups, pertaining to the subject matter, also indicates their insensitivity to the pain, suffering, and alienation of Brown, Asian, Hispanic, and non-African American Christians in American Christian history, and the Gospel project (and Christ’s promise) of universal reconciliation and global justice through the cross and power of Christ.

May God lead us to reject tribal christianity to embrace a better and more promising vision of the Gospel and the glory of the cross of Christ!

***
Postcript:

Whether this above photo is accurate or not, I’m using this picture as a symbol and metaphor of a bigger problem and more pressing issue on Gospel-centered social justice and race conversations in American (Evangelical) christianity and the (monolithic) narrative associated with it.

Announcement (Summer Language Classes, July 2018): Basic (Free) English and Creole Classes for the People of Fort Pierce and its Surrounding!

Starting in the first week of July 2018, Jesus Center Community Church will offer two language classes: a free intensive class on Basic (reading, writing, speaking) English for individuals who just immigrated to the United States, and a basic course on Creole (Kreyòl) (reading, writing, speaking) for English speakers.

Would you encourage friends, parents, or anyone (in need) you believe will be interested to sign up?

By intensive, we mean each class (English or Creole) will meet once a week, for 2 hrs.The individual course will last eight weeks.

***
In order for us to launch the course, at least 10 individuals must enroll.

The free intensive English and Creole classes are open to the people of Fort Pierce, Port St Lucie, and Vero.

For any questions or concerns, contact us at jesuscentercc@gmail.com or 772 302-3118

“Black Theological Education and Liberalism, and The Shortcomings of Conservative and Evangelical Seminaries and Divinity Schools” (Part I)

The majority of black theologians and biblical scholars, and clergy in the United States are trained in the nation’s most liberal seminaries and Divinity schools, resulting in serious weaknesses in theological thinking, biblical exegesis, and ministerial practices in black congregations.

While those institutions may provide considerable advantageous resources, better networking, and human support and connection, contributing to a solid intellectual (theological) education of the future black scholar and minister towards the common good, some of these theological and ministerial centers have fostered in modern black theological education a distinctive expression of black theological liberalism and a crisis in black theological thought that bluntly reject biblical authority and the exclusive salvific message of the Gospel through Christ’s satisfactory atonement through his shed blood, and interrogate the relevance of the historic confessions of the Christian faith in black life and black ethical practices in the contemporary moments.

Nonetheless, as any theological worldview, there are many merits of or good things we can learn from Black theological liberalism. First, Black theological liberalism in the contemporary intellectual enterprise accentuates the imperative of black freedom and black agency in a society that constantly doubts the value of black existence and challenges the merit of black dignity and humanity. Second, this theological category or system seeks to promote the hoslitic welfare of black people and sustain the notion that the black life in the modern American society is worth safeguarding and that black people as a collective (human) race deserves the protection and care, not the constant surveillance and monitoring of the black body or existence, of the American government. Third, black theologians operating within the tradition of black theological liberalism embrace the promises of the Social Gospel Movement to envision an alternative life for black folk in America in which equal opportunity and access to better employment and housing opportunity, better education, healthcare, job promotion, and economic mobility are also granted to them. Fourth, Black theological liberalism draws from a wealth of sources and traditions for theological reflection and imagination, and the Bible is not its sole authority in matters of faith and practice. Finally, this theological tradition in black highlights black voices and agency, as well as those of non-European theological traditions and canons in the theological exegesis of the Biblical text and theological eisegesis of the contemporary American culture toward black and human flourishing.

Moreover, the five-fold tenets of Black theological liberalism, which I proposed above, are both the direct and by-products of non-conservative and liberal seminaries and institutions, which train most of black theologians and clergy in the United States. In the same line of reasoning, there are at least five major reasons accounting for the (Black) preference to be educated and formed in non-Evangelical and conservative schools:

1. Lack of racial diversity and inclusion, and faculty and leadership representation in the faculty-staff body of these schools.

2. A closed theological curriculum or program that does not represent the rich diversity and plurality of Christian scholarship and thought, considering the manifold contributions of a wide-range of Christian thinkers (i.e. Black, Hispanic, Asian, non-White European descent) to the Christian ministry and the discipline of theology and religious studies–even within the Orthodox theological (Evangelical) tradition.

3. The human dynamic and atmosphere in those schools are not often welcoming and friendly to the so-called minority students and students of color; some black students believe their presence is not wanted in these closed circles.

4. Black students and students of color are interested in non-Evangelical and non-conservative schools because of the promise of future and better employment opportunity (especially to those who are preparing for a career in the academia as professors and school administrators), greater financial funding and support, the educational and intellectual prestige associated with those schools such as Harvard Divinity schools, Union Theological Seminary, Boston School of Theology, Candler School of Theology, University of Chicago Divinity School, etc., and the close affiliation of (named) seminaries and divinity schools, for example, with renowned (named) universities and world-class faculty.

5. Unlike most Evangelical and Conservative seminaries and Divinity schools, most non-conservative and liberal schools intentionally pursue greater gender and racial inclusion in their faculty-staff make-up, promote and incorporate greater ethnic diversity and plurality of thought, worldview, and praxis in theological education and ministerial formation, and they train their students in the highest rigor of the social sciences and the humanities, critical theory, and multicultural education; also, these schools strategically and ideologically prepare their students to become cross-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intersectional Christian activists, human rights advocates, public intellectuals, social critics, scholars, and ministers and pastors.

As a black Christian minister and (Evangelical) theologian who embraces the historic confessions of the Christian faith, I value many of the merits and benefits of Black theological liberalism, as they address serious issues of equality, fairness, justice, representation, and equity in our culture and theological schools. These are also Gospel issues. On the other hand, there lies a profound dilemma in black theological education, black theological thinking, and ministerial practice, which are arguably a direct failure of Evangelical and conservative seminaries and institutions.

I hope the leadership of those (conservative) schools would be intentional about the theological training and ministerial formation of black seminarians and students of color, which could eventually contribute to more effective and biblically-centered black christian leadership and ministers, as well as strong and healthy black and ethnic churches in this country.