Theology in the Raw - 693: #693 - Is There Such A Thing As White European Theology?

Episode Date: September 12, 2018

On episode #693 Preston gives you a teaser of what is inside his Patreon membership. This teaser includes a clip where Preston talks with [Rev’d Dr.] Glenn Packiam about White European Theology. To support Theology in the Raw for as little as $5/month and access this (and other) Patreon-only podcast(s), go to https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw Support Preston Support Preston by going to patreon.com Connect with Preston Twitter | @PrestonSprinkle Instagram | @preston.sprinkle Check out his website prestonsprinkle.com If you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave a review.

What is the relationship between race, ethnicity, and how you do theology? Is there such a thing as white European theology? My special guest, Dr. Glenn Packiam, and I discuss these tough issues, and we actually don't agree that the phrase white European theology is particularly helpful. To access this full episode, you go to patreon.com forward slash Theology in the Raw. That's patreon.com forward slash Theology in the Raw and support the show for five bucks a month. And you get access to this full episode along with other premium content through Theology in the Raw. So let me ask you a question, Glenn, to kick it off. Is American, how do I say this? Is

mainstream American evangelicalism, does it do a white European theology? And if so, maybe I should get the answer to that before I give the second part, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Like, can we describe American evangelicalism as a white European theology? Is that a helpful lens to see it? And if it is or if it's not, is that, you know, so what's wrong with that, you know? Yeah. First of all, let me say I understand the term white theology exists. I mean, I think when people use that term, usually they mean something negative by it.

They're trying to say, oh, this is kind of a Eurocentric sort of theology. And I understand that sometimes people are using that phrase, are using the phrase white theology as a way of saying there were various regional theologies. But one of the things they had in common was sort of a negative view toward people of color, you know, whether that was in the global South in Africa or in India or in Asia. And so I understand what they're trying to say is, look, for whatever else, the other nuances in these European theologies, they all kind of had a bit of a superiority complex toward the rest of the world. And so we need to name that and call it out. So I get that. I also understand that part of the point in trying to name something as white theology is to remind us that all theology is contextual, that it emerges out of a particular point in time in history and region. I just think calling it white theology

is not as helpful as it could be because we actually can't critique it as specifically as we need to. And so it's better even for the North American context. Let's talk about that specifically. Let's talk about the North American evangelical. If you want to say in the Trump era, okay, let's critique that. Or if you want to say in the antebellum South, okay, then let's critique that. But the more precise we can get about region and time and culture, the more helpful this is going to be.

So region, time and culture are more precise descriptors to help us identify maybe the contextual nature of the theology itself. And I is that that's what you're saying? I think so. I think you could add more layers to that. I think you can add language. You know, there's probably more layers that you can do. To me, color is the least interesting way and maybe the least helpful way to designate a theology. Want to access this podcast? You can go to patreon.com forward slash theology in the raw and support the show for as little as five bucks a month.