progressive christianity part 1
February 3, 2009
i’ve been reading a bit recently about how “progressive
christians” define themselves. partly trying to figure out if i
am one, partly looking for the roots of why the christian social
justice organizations that i hae worked for have been so self
congratulatory in their work and white in their makeup.
the center for progressive christianity has 8 points that they
give as defining progressive christianity. my first reaction
looking at them is that they are quite close to my approach to
keeping the faith and at the same time are clearly articulated
assuming that progressive christianity is a white/ privileged
movement.
By calling ourselves progressive,
we mean we are Christians who…
1.Have
found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.
2.
Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for
the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for
them, as our ways are true for us.
3.
Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus’s name to be a
representation of an ancient vision of God’s feast for all peoples
4.Invite
all people to participate in our community and worship life without
insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable
(including but not limited to):
believers
and agnostics,
conventional Christians and questioning
skeptics,
women and men,
those of all sexual orientations and
gender identities,
those of all races and cultures,
those of
all classes and abilities,
those who hope for a better world and
those who have lost hope
5.
Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other
people is the fullest expression of what we believe.
6.
Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in
dogmatic certainty – more value in questioning than in absolutes.
7.
Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another
for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice
among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s
creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his
sisters and brothers
8.
Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails
selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of
privilege.
it
is points 4, 7, and 8 that i am thinking of specifically when i say
that these are articulated in a way that assume and centers whiteness
and privilege.
4
talks about inviting all, but without insisting that they will be
like us. whenever there is an us, even if you don’t have to become
like it, that us is the center and others may be invited but they
will always be others. From the work I have done in progressive
christian organizations i would say that the center is: white, upper
middle class to wealthy (possibly downwardly mobile), peace movement
liberal, middle aged, college educated, mainline protestant.
7
progressive christians are the ones who bring hope to the least of
these, not themselves the least of these. i fear that matthew 25 may
have been one of jesus’ most unfortunate teachings at least as i have
seen it play out in the lives of white, liberal christians (an
accusation, but also a confession), who are always serving people who
are less than themselves.
8
centers privilege by centering it’s renunciation. it is true that
everyone is privileged in some ways and oppressed in others,
but centering how you deal with privilege means centering people for
whom privilege is a primary experience of life. means maintaining the
margins and center of the wider culture. went to the link to the
study guide for this point hoping that it would be expanded in a way
that the resistance to evil took precedence and muted this focus on
the privileged. certainly if a struggle for justice and against evil
was central, could be a sidenote that just received overemphasis here
. unfortunately giving up the idea that we are special becomes the
meaning of this point, which is not even a good definition of privilege.
i do think that a central task for christians is to deal with and let go of christian privilege, but to assume that all christians share a primary experience of privilege in their other identities
i do appreciate how these eight points are very concerned with focusing christian identity in action for justice and the questions and process of questioning instead of acceptance of a set of doctrinal assertions.
