Liberalism: Identity markers like race are incidental to our shared, universal humanity. Society should be colorblind. The fundamental unit of social life is the individual.

CRT: Identity markers like race are basic to human existence. The fundamental unit of social life is the group united by a particular identity marker. In each of these four areas of creation, fall, redemption and consummation, both CRT and liberalism dismember the biblical account, making partial truths into the whole truth. Only the Bible marries concern for the oppression of particular groups with a rigorous commitment to universality, and individual guilt with collective responsibility; only the Bible sets forth a way of salvation that does not lead to social fragmentation, resentment and disdain. Only the Bible holds out a hope for the future that does not collapse either into cynicism, apocalyptic violence or an impoverished incrementalism. Guiding principlesDr Christopher Watkin lectures at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He has written extensively on modern and contemporary European thought, atheism, and the relationship between the Bible and philosophy. Chris blogs about his academic work at christopherwatkin.com, and posts reflections on the Bible and culture at thinkingthroughthebible.com. The good/bad binary is a false dichotomy. All people hold prejudices, especially across racial lines in a society deeply divided by race. . . . The simplistic idea that racism is limited to individual intentional acts committed by unkind people is at the root of virtually all white defensiveness.” Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Boston: Beacon, 2018), 72–73. DiAngelo argues against the “good/bad” binary approach to racism in favor of a sociological one that leaves everyone (particularly white people) guilty of racism. Such a view runs counter to a biblical understanding of the personal nature of sin. ↩ For Students Pursue a deeper knowledge of God through self-paced college- and seminary-level online courses in Old and New Testament studies, theology, biblical Greek, and more.

Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022). One criticism of critical race theory is that it is often very uncritical of its own assumptions and approach. The Bible, however, predisposes Christians to have a healthy scepticism about their own motivations and blind spots. The line between righteousness and sin does not fall between different groups, but splits the heart of every believer, as Moses, David and Peter could all eloquently testify. Christians on both sides of the CRT debate would do well to entertain an ongoing and probing examination of our own blind spots and prejudices, language and actions in the light of a biblical view of justice. [53] Indeed, God requires it of us. [54] We must constantly be seeking to repent and put our faith anew in God, for ‘if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall’. [55] The Bible and Critical Theory is a biannual peer-reviewed open access academic journal in the fields of biblical studies and critical theory. It was established by Roland Boer in 2004, and was published by Monash University ePress until 2010. Since 2011 it has been published independently. [1] Julie Kelso was the editor-in-chief from 2008 to 2011, and then she co-edited with Boer from 2012 to 2015. From 2016 to 2020, Caroline Blyth and Robert J. Myles were editors-in-chief.

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First, Watkin offers a sound exposition of crucial moments, movements, and structures from Genesis to Revelation in redemptive history. He is well-sourced theologically. His writing is devotional yet academic, sermonic yet technical at times, often witty, and always clear. Each chapter has study questions at the end. One can easily envision small groups working through this text together, with a Bible in hand for the relevant Scripture passages. The breadth and quality of the biblical survey would be worth the book’s price. CRT– There is an endless struggle between oppressor and oppressed. Justice for the latter can only come at the price of the overthrow of the former: it is a zero-sum game. Salvation does not come from transcending my group, but from embracing it. Becoming righteous, or ‘woke’, is an achievement, often the fruit of a careful and painstaking education in the reality and pervasiveness of systemic racism. Forgiveness is hard to come by, with job losses, ‘cancelling’ and public shaming ensuing from individual infractions of CRT orthodoxies, no doubt compounded by social media. Repentant offenders frequently remain unforgiven. A brilliant and unique book . . . It is the most biblical, up-to-date, and comprehensive analysis of contemporary Western culture that I know of.” Bible– Like liberalism’s universal, all humans are equally in the image of God. [26] Within this overarching framework I can belong to many groups, including those foregrounded by CRT, but they can never capture my identity at its most fundamental level. God sees individuals as more than members of their groups, [27] and yet can deal with nations (not races, a concept which is foreign to the Bible) en bloc. [28] The accent falls both on the one and the many, or rather on the unity and glorious diversity of all things – including all peoples and groups – in Christ. [29] People are more than their group identities, [30] but they are not abstracted from those identities. [31] Fall

A book that I have been eagerly anticipating for years. ... My prayers are that this book will bear much intellectual and spiritual fruit in many lives over the decades ahead.” G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, in The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Volume 1: Heretics, Orthodoxy, the Blatchford Controversies, ed. David Dooley (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press 1986), 296. This is truly the book I have long wanted to read, and I believe it deserves to become a standard text for all Christian leaders, teachers, evangelists, and any serious-minded believer.” CRT– Racism will remain endemic. Society cannot be reformed without tearing it down first. There is no prospect of racial justice short of this radical unmaking of society. from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly FatherFor Instructors and School Administrators Enhance your school’s traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust. Space doesn’t permit a comprehensive treatment of this important subject, but we’ll highlight a few basic facts about critical theory that all Christians should know. CRT: Society is violent, and oppression is endemic and ineradicable. The world is divided into groups of oppressors and oppressed. I am guilty of, and responsible for, the historical and contemporary actions of the majority-culture groups to which I belong. Queer theory is another activist school of thought deriving from particularly postmodern ideas about human sexuality, seeking to cast off historical (especially Judeo-Christian) definitions and characterizations of sex and gender. “Queer theory is about liberation from the normal, especially where it comes to norms of gender and sexuality. This is because it regards the very existence of the categories of sex, gender and sexuality to be oppressive.” 3 The movement wishes to detach gender identity from the historical trappings of the past that have deemed certain sexual behaviors as right or wrong. Like its ideological siblings noted above, queer theory advocates seek to reshape the ways that gender identity has been assigned.