WHY DO (WHITE) EVANGELICALS NEED TO BE REMINDED THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER?

Abstract

This article explores the issues of race and the church in the United States today. Specifically, it examines why it is that Christians who represent the dominant racial category (i.e. white) have difficulty understanding the experiences of members of minority populations. As a Christian anthropologist, I explore this issue from three key anthropological concepts—culture, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. I then examine key theological issues related to Christianity and “otherness.” I conclude by bringing these two disciplines together as a way to address how they can lead to the renewing of the mind that Paul speaks of in Romans 12.