Black Church/White Theology: How White Evangelicalism Controls The Black Church

by Theron Williams

The late Walter Wink, brilliant scholar, theologian, and social activist, revealed the troubling truth about our world that humans negotiate life, mostly unconsciously, with hierarchical power arrangements that he labeled the Domination System. He described this system as an evil social hierarchy with the privileged class occupying the top, and as it descends, the less privileged the rungs until the bottom is reached where the oppressed reside. Historically, in the United States, the lower rungs have been reserved for people of color, the poor, women, the disabled, and the LGBTQ community, with the top rungs designated for white, heterosexual, Judeo-Christian men. From this social matrix, all theologies emerge from its various rungs. For example, some theological constructions emerge from communities occupying the lowest rungs of the hierarchy, such as black theology, from black people, liberation theology from the poor and disabled people and their advocates, womanist theology from women, and queer theology from the LGBTQ community. Central to these theologies is the struggle for liberation on behalf and along with those stuck at the bottom as they seek to eradicate the Domination System. On the other hand, white evangelical theology also emanates within this social hierarchy's highest rungs. But rather than advocating for its deconstruction, its salient feature is providing biblical, moral, and theological justification for keeping hierarchical systems sound and in place so that oppression and domination may flourish. Therein lies the contradiction between the Black church and white theology. When the Black church embraces white evangelical theology to inform and shape its ministry, message, morality, and worldview, it becomes complicit in its own oppression. Out of love, this book confronts the Black church, pleading for its purging of the toxic influence of white evangelicalism to embrace a theology consistent with its experience as Christians of African descent in America.

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2022

Reviews

[lacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read. As an Indy native it was nice to learn that Dr. Williams is a pastor in Indianapolis. I very much appreciate the fact that Dr. Williams speaks on the true history of the bible and biblical times. My favorite quote is “To call it black Christianity implies it is a divergent of the original or standard Christianity. Black Christianity is the standard, the divergent is white Christianity.” It so important to acknowledge that Jesus was a dark skinned Palestinian man that traveled North Africa. Many people around him had black skin. To portray Jesus as a fair skinned European is grossly inaccurate.

It was also interesting to learn that enslaved Africans that were forced to Americas practiced their traditional religions by hiding behind Catholicism, as Catholicism has numerous patron saints one can pray to, they were praying to their traditional deities by pretending they were praying to Catholic saints.