Last week the Century held its annual lecture in Chicago, and those of us present were blessed to hear a riveting talk by theologian Willie James Jennings. Jennings, whose work has changed the trajectory of my faith and ministry, chose a rather provocative title for his speech—Curing Whiteness. I see why, without any context, this phrase might cause some of my fellow White folks to bristle.
Jennings encouraged us to differentiate Whiteness as a social construct from our personal identities as White people, just as Black people have long had to separate their self-identities from prevailing ideas about Blackness. While we don’t have a recording of the lecture, we do have a brand new essay from Kelly Brown Douglas. She draws on the work of James Baldwin as she notes the ways Whiteness holds captive White and Black people alike. We also have a piece that directly engages with Jennings’s theology: Lars Åkerson’s fascinating mapping of his city’s “moral geography.”
Our video of the week is unique. I am technically in the video, but I step aside and let CC online columnist Mac Loftin interview scholar Hannah Strømmen about her area of expertise—the ways far-right politicians use the Bible. Scroll down for even more great new content, including a reflection on bad biblical leaders like Jonah, a poem about moth holes in our memory, and more.
Jon Mathieu Email me: Which writer has most helped you think about race?
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Mac Loftin and Hannah Strømmen discuss how politicians use the Bible in Europe and the US—and how we might interrogate the types of Bible assemblages they use.
“It has never been easy for long-established, entrenched communities to open their doors to strangers and foreigners. It shouldn’t be surprising to us that the crux of Jonah’s complaint lies in the possibility of God’s grace extending to a foreign city like Nineveh.”
