Critical Theory, Christianity, and Justice with a Capital J.

Given almost any odds, I would take the bet that you’ve heard of Critical Race Theory from somewhere lately. What used to trickle through college lectures is now pouring out in elementary classrooms. It’s in corporate team building exercises and commercials. All of a sudden, probably because mainstream news started picking up the topic, you see moms and dads gathering at their school board meetings, hot under the collar. If it was under the radar, it isn’t any longer.

As with most things that become the topic of the day, the fact that the topic is ubiquitous does not mean that the quality of the conversation on the subject is any good.

That means we now have the choice to become one of the people that love or hate Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Intersectionality (CT/CRT/I) because our tribes love it or hate it. While it may be a reflex, do not make a choice for either of those reasons. Choices that allow you to skip thinking are dumb.

Why Am I Taking the Time to Write this Post?

I am writing this because I do humbly believe that there is a danger here for the Church. No, it isn’t the danger that is probably yelled about on Fox News (I’m guessing—haven’t watched). This topic is concerning to me as a person and a pastor because I see two forms of pressure moving people towards adopting the worldview that is Critical Theory. One pressure is internal, one is external.

The internal pressure, I believe, comes from a right desire in faithful Christians to fight for justice in the social sphere we inhabit.

Rightly so, many Christians today are at least slightly fed up with a Christianity that stepped back from social and political issues—making the Kingdom of God some personal thing that is hidden in our hearts and never addresses things that seem to be horribly wrong around us. Many Christians are fed up with seeing injustice and feeling like they either weren’t taught by the Church what to do with it; or, they feel like there is nothing that the Kingdom has to do about it. The bulk of the social/political activity that they saw practiced in front of their eyes was boilerplate, shallow republicanism (or maybe democrat-ism) with a gospely twist at the end. When the world, or your own eyes, points out bullet holes in the fabric of the culture, that kind of social/political ethic doesn’t do much but make you mad. To that anger, I say, “Amen.”

The external pressure comes from the fact that the cultural centers in our society accept and lean into this worldview. CRT/I is what you will learn in the standard Elementary School, High School, College, Corporate Training Session, Cinema, CD, etc. Because this is the cultural water we are swimming in, and the stream has been flowing for some time, these perspectives do, in fact, color the interactions we have with our neighbors and friends.

What I’m wanting to argue is simple: in order for Christians to be true agents of justice in our world, we need to believe that the scriptures are sufficient to answer all questions of right and wrong, just and unjust, fair and unfair. To put it plainly, I want to persuade you to care about justice in society—and I want to persuade you that you Modern Critical Theory is not sufficient to do that rightly, but God’s revelation is.

This article is much more a beginner than a closer, hopefully it is a push to move us to look more into this topic, study it deeply, and subject everything we study to the right standards.

It is Good for you to care about Justice.

This is not, in any way, an endorsement that we, as Christians, shouldn’t “waste time” thinking about what justice in our culture or country looks like. Far from it. Christians should care about social justice because God made the social, and God defines the justice. Christianity should not be escapism.

So, and I know this idea might sound crazy, Christians should have convictions about justice.

God doesn’t only care about us acting just personally; He establishes governments and tells them how they ought to conduct themselves (Proverbs 11:1, Romans 13:1-7, et. al.). There are numerous places to look in scripture for truths that give us more details, but the point in this article is that we must accept the truth God did not leave it up to us to decide what justice is—personally or corporately. He didn’t leave it up to the Israelites, the Babylonians, the Romans, the English, or 21st-century American Intellectuals. He decides justice because any other justice than His is lesser. Any other justice is harm to His creation. It is, inescapably, a poisoned apple.

There is a false dichotomy that floats around today: if you don’t accept the tenants of CRT, then you can not or do not care about issues on ethnicity/race, governments, just societies, education, etc.

It is a fallacious rhetorical maneuver to say, “if you don’t care about this my way, you don’t care about this at all.” That maneuver is called a Kafkatrap, and it’s also called a lie. It is like asking someone, “When was it that you stopped beating your wife?” Just because plenty of prominent authors/speakers today make their living off of these traps doesn’t mean that they aren’t traps.

It is possible care about justice issues in our day genuinely without using Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, or Intersectionality. Just because you don’t think CRT/I is a good tool does not mean that you think that the starving person isn’t malnourished, it might just mean you are trying to give the person whole foods and not McDonald’s.

The Kool-Aid

Lest this post sound like some grumpy, old (white) man yelling because the kids are on his lawn, it bears repeating that the objection to CRT/I needs to be far more than a political, preferential, or cultural reflex. You need to reject the kool-aid because it has a tendency to poison you, not because you prefer the grape flavor.

The Reasons: A Different Truth of No Truth At All

I couldn’t try to give an exhaustive list of flaws or issues that come along with the philosophy/metaphysics of Critical Theory, but I can bring up just a few key issues that I see.

Broadly defined, Critical Theory is an “…area of knowledge that originated with the Frankfurt School in the 1930s and has expanded and evolved dramatically since then. It has spawned entire disciplines such as Critical Race Theory, Critical Pedagogy, and Queer Theory and is highly influential within the social justice movement. Contemporary [Modern] critical theory views reality through the lens of power, dividing people into oppressed groups and oppressor groups along various axes like race, class, gender, sexuality orientation, physical ability and age.” (Neil Shenvi)

For a better understanding of Critical Race Theory in particular, look at this article from Neil Shenvi that simply quotes from the most prominent authors and books that hold to these perspectives: What Is Critical Race Theory?

Power Replacing Truth:

One of the most important things to understand about the poison in the apple is the tenant of seeing all things in terms of power and hegemony. This understanding of power is not merely a phenomenon that exists as a layer on top of truth, but it is one that—by function and presupposition—must eventually replace the basis of truth itself.

Modern Critical Theory necessarily says that the idea of truth itself is, in fact, an expression of power. Not that truth exists in itself. This is where it links up with another central tenant that must be true for CT/CRT/I to function: standpoint epistemology. Essentially, this view of truth says that our “social location” determines our access to knowledge. Obviously, what we experience can give us bias, and our lack of it can give us blind spots. However, from the perspective of Modern Critical Theory, these biases are endemic to humanity and the epistemology simultaneously removes the absolute truth that guides, categorizes, challenges, and corrects our biases and blind spots.

Christianity gives us an understanding of truth and humanity that affirms that we do not have perfect and complete knowledge, but that there is a truth revealed by God Himself that we can know and conform too. This very idea of conforming to an absolute standard is antithetical to CT/CRT/I because it holds the presupposition that no such absolute standard can exist or be truly known by humans. We believe that though we will always be battling against the sin-affected pieces of our intellect until glory, the orthodox Christian church has always and unequivocally believed that the revelation of God is clear and understandable.

This erosion of truth is the central reason that CT/CRT/I is not a worldview or even a set of “analytical tools” that can coincide with Christianity for long. This cornerstone of Critical Theory revises the definition of truth and ultimately of mankind himself. Instead of being creations of God that conform to God because we are in His image, Critical Theory would suggest that we either aren’t in the image of a (potentially) imaginary god, or we could never know what that image should look like—it would all just be competing interpretations based on competing powers.

You can find more in-depth interaction with the troubling tenants of Critical Theory in links at the end of this article.

The Reasons: The Real Truth Is Enough

The second reason I think Christians need to drop Critical Theory is that Christians do not need it. I understand how some may respond with some skepticism here. After all, how come the church has failed in so many areas surrounding justice in society over the years if we didn’t need more tools—or better ones?

As I said above, I feel the weight of that thought. However, the failure of past generations to apply the Word well to their context does not mean there was a problem with the scriptures. The fact that so many American Christians were once okay with their racism and their Christianity at the same time wasn’t because Galatians 2:11-21 or James 2 was missing from their Bibles. Their problem was ignoring these passages and explaining them away. If someone has been using their screwdriver to hammer in nails, the problem was never with the screwdriver, it was the person that didn’t pick up the hammer.

We ought to see the hot points that our culture is pointing out and run right towards them with the good word that the scriptures supply for us.

So don’t shout down CT/CRT/I because we don’t like it. Don’t run away from it because that one politician we hate utilizes it, or because it makes us uncomfortable. We engage with it, and the questions it raises, and we give the full truth of the scriptures above it. (See 2 Corinthians 10:5)

What the world actually needs from the church is for the church to read the entirety of God’s revelation with an interpretive grid that takes it all seriously. The world needs us to act like all of the Bible is God-breathed and profitable. We need to use an interpretive grid that digs deep into the context of the scriptures, when they were written, how the New Testament interprets and applies the old, and then not be afraid to follow suit.

Love your neighbors and neighborhoods enough to stand on the truth and communicate that truth to them in humble, clear love.

But to do that, you have to first believe that the scriptures really do speak to every facet of our lives. You must believe that God gets to tell you how you should treat your wife, how a boss should pay employees, how you should worship on Sunday, and how a governor needs to behave. You have to believe that scriptures care about dead people in alleys, streets, and little people wombs—not just the way that you pray. You have to believe that the scriptures tell you about war, work, worship, men, and women.

Not only must you believe, but you must show to the world that you can care about these things, you will not shy away from them, and that God does have the truth that will save humans—and set them up for good in this present age. The world doesn’t need more avoidance on tough issues. The world doesn’t need more boilerplate responses. The world doesn’t need to be told what it wants to hear. The world doesn’t need the church to stay comfortable. The world needs Justice with a capital J. Only God’s comes with that.

Why Am I Taking the Time to Write this Post?

It is Good for you to care about Justice.

The Reasons: A Different Truth of No Truth At All

The Reasons: The Real Truth Is Enough

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