I may need to read Andy Crouch’s book. There are three great talks he gave earlier this year available here. Scroll way down near the bottom of the page. There is also a link to Scot’s presentations of the previous year just below Crouch’s (although Scot is spelled wrong – go figure).
The racism series also looks excellent.

I look forward to the comments on J. Kameron Carter’s book as I do with all the books you review. A theological account of “race” is essential to our worldview.

Presently, I working my way through Race: A Theological Account. It is an exceptional and seminal work; the extensive and detailed endnotes are amazing and worth the price of the book alone!
http://www.wrf.ca/Comment/authors2.cfm?ID=95

#2 – I agree! I’m enrolled now in a class at Biblical Seminary called Theology, Ethnicity, and Gender. We’re reading and discussing James H. Cone currently. Definitely eye-opening for me to read and discuss with classmates!

It will be interesting to see how Carter renders Paul. At first blush, to say “there is neither Jew nor Greek” might be thought implicitly to frame the kingdom of God in European terms rather than global terms. I’m not sure what the alternative is, but “there is neither Jew nor non-Jew” is sorta clumsy. Carter’s thesis sounds plausible enough (judging from the back-cover synopsis, anyway).
It would be interesting to speculate on what might have happened to Christianity had the Medo-Persians and Egyptians been able to forestall the emergence of the Roman and Greek empires; would we now, 2500 years downstream, be seeing books on how the Christian church had been cynically coopted by cultural Persia and its government, or Egypt and its, or some other eastern hegemon, and the dominant form of racism expressed in central Asian terms rather than Western terms?
Of course there’s no way to know, but the question bears heavily on Carter’s approach. Will he lay most of the blame on Westernity qua Westernity, or will he lay it on mankind’s fallen nature, irrespective of the cultural container in which it emerged? Would the nature of racism (its scope, direction, pervasiveness, virulence etc.) be fundamentally different had not European empires been the dominant cultural milieu for the evolution of Christianity?
qb

Qb #5-
Carter’s thesis,first and foremost,in accordance with biblical claims,is historical. Biblical and Christian relaity is inseparable from the particularity of the historical rootedness of YHWH’s work in Israel,and specifically in his words Jesus’ “Jewish flesh,” covenantally understood.This is the matrix through which we understand the issue you’ve raised. In fact, the central pillar of his thesis is that Christian supercessionism vis-a-vis Judaism was the engine by which Christian theology and philosophy “biologized” the difference which was not previously understood this way and led to the identification of Christianity with Western culture and vice versa. Much of this book deals with this process in terms of the rise of modern (Enlightenment)European political and cultural hegemony and the development of white supremecist ideology. Immanuel Kant is particularly in Carter’s cross hairs in this regards.
Carter is presently researching and writing on how this (modern)reality had its origins in the medieval era. But it is curious how you use the Jewish and Pauline ruminations about the universal falleness of humankind,esp. in light of the fact that rhetorically Paul uses this theology (e.g., in Romans) to deconstruct a theology of Jewish superiority and exceptionalism, to bring the linkage of Jewish covenantal privilege to its role for the salvation of the world.The use of the trope of the universal sinfulness of humankind can be used, wittingly or unwittingly,as a tool of Occidental-Christian justification of its sociopolitical agenda. Carter makes the point that Christian theology and philosophy has been the “invisible” warant in this process.

Scott #6, I’m not really “[using]…Jewish and Pauline ruminations” to do *anything* here. This whole realm of inquiry – cultural anthropology, I guess, is what we’d call it – is brand new to me. I read the blurb on Carter’s book at Amazon.com, and these questions came to mind because some bells immediately started going off. That’s about all of the background I can boast of, so I doubt I’d be a terribly interesting conversation partner for you.
To lay my cards on the table a bit, I suppose I’m a little thin-skinned about what appears to be a pervasive bitterness toward America and the western hemisphere that shows up in so many places, in so many forms, often pretty thinly veiled. I’ve already noted that I find Carter’s thesis (as rendered in the blurb, anyway) plausible; I’m just interested to find out how he plays his hand.
In my limited exposure to all of this – I just started my graduate seminary work a couple of classes ago – I have been successfully disabused of any notion that any communication can possibly be purely objective and that all writing – including the Scriptures – takes shape through cultural, social, and personal factors (among others). Presumably Carter is no more immune to that than anyone else, and therein lies my interest in seeing how he reasons, what his cultural assumptions and perspectives are, and how those things influence his reasoning.
One must admit, I think, that assaulting western ideals is in vogue. There is a lot of global schadenfreude bubbling up these days as the U. S. grapples with some big, big problems at home. I’m curious to find out if Carter has a more generous perspective than that. Though he may not put his crosshairs on America per se, a withering criticism of the European cultural and philosophical heritage from which America emerged cannot be easily separated from us. How even-handed is he? That’s what I’m interested in.
qb

I look forward to these series, especially to hearing from Vincent Bacote, who was a mentor and friend to my son when he was at Wheaton. Love Kathleen Norris as well and Andy Crouch’s work. I’ve been having fun following his new blog: http://www.culture-making.com/

I’m looking forward to discussing all three of these books. I have heard about Kathleen Norris’ work, and it will be interesting to hear what people think of it.

qb#7-
This is just my take on Carter’s work in addressing your concerns. One of the points that Carter makes in his project is that the poles which describe our political and social discourse, which have an often hidden theological aspect to it–from Left to Right, Liberal to Conservative,etc–are still oscillations within the domain of the regnant worldview of white supremecy. His main target is Christian theology’s part in aiding and abetting this process. His constructive thological response is to advocate a strong Triinitarian theology which is grounded in the Jewishness of Jewish,as a covenant reality,which is “mullatic”[his term] in nature,vis-a-vis his dual nature and the purpose of the covenant for all creation. He understands identity as a gift from YHWH, which is essence has an eshatological (unfulfilled)aspect to it.But the Occidental-Christian (white supremecist)worldview has,against the reality we see in Acts 2 and the glossalalia evidenced as a socioreligious phenomenon,has set itself up in place of YHWH as the one who names (defines and categorizes)humanity against the false definition of itself, by which it racialized and biolozied the “other” (the Jews) which opened the door to the wider ubiquitous reality we live and move and have our being in.This was not an accident.
In his scheme he is heavily dependant on Eastern Christian patristic thought,esp. of Irenaeus of Lyons (my namesake!),Gregory of Nysaa and Maximus the Confessor,who in their own ways epitomize theological moves and hermeneutics of certain African American Christians in the 19th century who espoused a true biblical and emancipatory Christian theology and praxis in the face of the weight of white supremecist understandings of Christianity,which would call itself “orthodox.”
What Carter does is a very ambitious and impressive, highlighting his creative thinking and keen and intimate knowledge of African American religious history, modern and post-modern philosophy,post-modern literary theory,modern theology and patristic theology.

Scott #10:
Fascinating, then. I look forward to it. Thanks for the preview.
How much ink does he spill on the Crusades? I wonder how much the Occidentocentric flavor of the “foreign evangelism” efforts of the last couple of centuries shares with the Crusades in terms of cultural motivations conflated with pseudo-religious objectives.
I guess I ought just to get the book and see for myself instead of asking you such things. But it’s a fascinating thesis, especially the idea of a “mullatic” nature for God’s covenant with the Jews. They were to be a “blessing to the nations,” not God’s “favorite sons” in perpetuity, I suppose…
qb

I’m currently reading Carter’s book. It is intellectually profound, creative and as you said ” challenging and provocative.”
I look forward to reading your interaction

qb#11-
In this book Carter sets his aim on the Enlightenment as the watershed, since it signifies the full flower of the process which started as Christianity sought to de-Judaize itself,and the convergence of this ideology with the rise of European political and social hegemony (viz.esp. in the form of colonialism).
As stated earlier,Carter at present is at work writing and researching a historical prequel to this in which he opines that the roots of modernity and the rise of the “racist imagination” had its origins in the Middle Ages, Christianly speaking. I like you would like to see him deal with this issue to the early church and the patristic era.

Race: A Theological Account sounds fascinationg. I can’t wait.
As a kid raised up in post-colonial Nigeria, books like this greatly interest me, especially since religion played a big part in colonialism.

Per the issue of where Carter is going with this project,the following information was an announcement of a talk he did at Rice University at their Humanities Research Center in the Fall of 2007.
5 November, Monday, 4 p.m.
Horseman of the Apocalypse: Columbus’ Later Writings and the Theological Advent of the Modern
119 Humanities Building
J. Kameron Carter, Assistant Professor in Theology and Black Church Studies, Duke University Divinity School
Approaching Columbus not only as a seafaring, but also and importantly as a literary discoverer and conqueror, Dr. Carter’s talk will consider the precise way in which theological discourse allows Columbus to construct the colonial order of things. Dr. Carter draws on patristic and medieval approaches to theology in engaging the contemporary theological and cultural imagination. His forthcoming book is Race: A Theological Account, in which he considers the modern construction of race as a theological problem.
This talk is part of the Americas Colloquium and is co-sponsored by the Center on Race, Religious & Urban Life. Contact Alexander X. Byrd at axb@rice.edu.