Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.
1 Corinthians 10:16 - 17
We ought be very familiar with the idea that as members of the church we are at the same time members of the Body of Christ. For 806 years the church has celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi (and since 1970 the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ), but in quite a different sense. In the middles ages there was a deep interest in the humanity of, and the physical body of Jesus.
The church’s understanding was heightened by the thinking of theologians who linked this physical sense with Jesus’ sacramental presence in the Eucharist. The Fourth Lateran Council, which coincided, perhaps not accidentally, with the introduction of this feast, extended the use of transubstantiation to the universal church: that is, at the consecration in the Lord's Supper the elements of the Eucharist, bread and wine, are transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus and that they are no longer bread and wine, but only retain their appearance of bread and wine. By the time of the Council of Trent this understanding had been defined with some clarity.
The desire of the faithful to give honour to and to adore Christ present in the Eucharist culminates in this feast day celebrated this Sunday. Many religious congregations, particularly of women, were founded specifically for the adoration of Christ’s Eucharistic presence.
Our Catholic understanding gives succour to, and nurtures our deepest desire to not only reach out to God, but to be comforted by a ‘knowable’, accessible presence. We extend that to ensuring that when we enter the church that we acknowledge that divine presence, described as The Real Presence, by genuflecting or bowing. This wonderful presence also provides a most wonderful invitation to each of us, drawing us to prayer, to relationship with the Lord, and indeed with each other.
Peter Douglas
White Christians are Theologically Compromised
8 June 2020 by Jeff Hood from his blog Engaging radical theology.
These are crazy times. Folk don’t know what to do…especially white folk. Within the white folk arena, there is one group that seems to have lost all sense they might ever have had on reality…white Christians. On the daily, I’ve been bombarded by bizarre statements/actions that white Christians are making/taking in the name of helping. These bombardments provide a textbook example of what things look like when helping hurts. I’ve tried to refrain from having this conversation. Initially, I dismissed white Christians as harmless…then…I started reading their theologically compromised bullshit.
“There are no white people in the Bible. Take all the time you need with that.”
Just today, I saw/heard this quote at least a dozen times. Each time I encountered it, I thought about someone seeing it, thinking it was clever and excitedly sharing it. Of course, this is how dumbassticity spreads…and it is far more deadly than any virus.
“Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world. Racism—the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them—inevitably follows from this inalterable condition. In this way, racism is rendered as the innocent daughter of Mother Nature, and one is left to deplore the Middle Passage or Trail of Tears the way one deplores an earthquake, a tornado, or any other phenomenon that can be cast as beyond the handiwork of men. But race is the child of racism, not the father.”
-Ta-Nehesi Coates, Between the World and Me (7)
White is not an indubitable feature of the natural world.
White is a modern construct.
White is a sickness.
White is a child of racism.
White continues to be and will forever be racist…because white was created to oppress.
“There are no white people in the Bible. Take all the time you need with that.”
Though white people created many of the modern categories of race…they don’t get to put that construct into an ancient text as if the writers would have had any idea of such a construct. It is yet another manifestation of racism/unleashed modernism.
On the other hand… While it is true that there are no white people in the Bible, the statement is misleading. There are no white people because the construct of whiteness as a racial category did not exist. The rise/racism of colonialism created more and more of a need for people of fairer complexion to use the racist category of white. With that said, taking white people out of the Bible is also problematic.
White Christians just don’t need any more encouragement to separate themselves from Biblical moral principles. They have been successful enough at that already. In fact, I believe we must always make sure that white people understand that the oppressors/marginalizers/haters in the scriptures are their kin folk no matter whether they are their skin folk or not.
So, I encourage people to be more concerned with how white people are acting rather than whether or not you can fit their modern construction of race into an ancient text.
Ok…I’ve taken all the time I need with this…
Stop putting this kind of ignorant bullshit out there. When you think something is clever…make sure it is theologically sound first.
Maybe instead of sharing a bunch of shit there is a need to embrace the heat…and get your ass out in the street.
Jesus will meet you there.
Amen.
++ In terms of our modern understanding of race, there are also no black people in the Bible…although they do live out Biblical principles (especially of love/justice/forgiveness) much better than white folk do.
The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Baptist pastor, theologian and activist living and working in Texas. A graduate of Auburn University (BA), Southern.
No comments:
Post a Comment