Rhetoric Race and Religion
by Earle Fisher
Part of the importance of wrestling and grappling with Jesus’ actions and the affirmations of his titles, (re)placing Jesus in his historical context and hue of black embodiment, is that it causes us as minorities to re-value our own humanity. This is a matter of life-and-death in the current racialized climate that attempts to criminalize black bodies while blaming victims for their own oppression. In other words, it brings us back to our relationship with God in spite of the negativity that has been heaped upon our psyche. Dr. Brian Bantum, in an article entitled, “Doing Theology As Though Our Bodies Mattered” says, “If theology does anything should it not at least speak to the realities that mark our lives together as human beings? And if this is the case, how can theology that confesses who God is, not also acknowledge the bodies that confess?”
It matters to black folks in America (and anyone concerned about racial equality, honesty and “justice for all”) that Jesus was black. If Jesus can wrestle in the garden, weep in times of sorrow, protest in righteous indignation (holy anger) and figure his faith out along the way, then we can too can embrace our human frailty and still engage our relationship with God in a way that becomes more redemptive. Salvation, then, is not merely the access to a heavenly afterlife (or an inspirational insurance policy), but also, the working out of our current lot of life, the struggling for justice, fighting for peace and seeking God’s will for the world while we are still in it, as long as we’re still in it!
Therefore, our faith is not just about polity and piety, but also about politics and policies that impact the way we live. And when the politics and policies are enacted and affected by issues of race, class, gender and other social affiliations, then we must do theology, not just learn theology or talk theology. We must resolve ourselves to worship and work, pray and participate in ways the redeem those of us who find ourselves outcaste by the social system that has so much collective human power.
When we have to look at Jesus through the lens of his blackness (his human-be-ing) then we
can reconstitute our focus on socio-political-religious issues that really matter, what Jesus calls, “the more weightier matters of the law.” The exigency (urgency) of social issues ought to guide the way we search for God’s presence and respond in light of God’s power.
Jesus was a prophetic political leader. Jesus ushered in a ministerial movement by concentrating on the various moments that mattered, not so much for his own social status but, for those with pressing spiritual and social needs. Jesus participated in the political system of his day, as somewhat of a conscientious objector (one who refuses to participate in the violent advancement of an imperial power) while being guided, primarily, by his religious convictions/tradition that was interpreted through the lens of his experience. Jesus experiences the world as a working-class-poor-urban-male (read: black man) that lives in a country controlled by rich, white people who cares more about property than people; more about corporations than children and more about money than ministry.
So to live faith effectively in the 21st century it is necessary that we consider what Dr. Obery Hendricks calls, “The Politics of Jesus” and seek to publish a similar theology through our present day actions, because while we are concerned with miniscule matters of religious tradition, people are hurting and need help and healing. For Jesus, ministry was more about healing the wounded and brokenhearted than the place and space of worship service (John 4). His focus is on community uplift more so than consecration and sanctification as we have come to understand it (Matthew 15) because the pivot point of ministry is transformative theology and not traditional technicalities. For Jesus the focus is for the oppressed to be liberated through a transformative encounter with God, “by any means necessary.” This is the type of faith and ministerial representation that ought to be promoted and published in these perilous times.
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