A short summary of an article by Philip Powell from the Jubilee Centre

In his article ‘Understanding and responding to racism – a Christian perspective’, Philip Powell reflects on the current events surrounding Georg Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter campaign, and gives the reader concrete steps to implement change in his own life.

After a brief definition of the term “racism” and the exploration of the origin of racism in the modern world, Powell finds that racism is deeply rooted in the human being, as it can already be found in the caste system of ancient India and the self-imposed superiority of Christians over other non-believers in old Christendom.

Furthermore, Powell emphasizes the clear denunciation of racism in the Bible and leads the reader to realize that every person looks at the Bible text through his or her own cultural lens, which in his opinion also explains why some Christians in the past have mistakenly derived and advocated racism from the Bible. In fact, the Bible provides an explanation of the root of racism according to Powell and, more importantly, offers redemption and hope for the future to enable change and action against racism.

Powell then underlines the need to understand not just the personal but also the structural nature of sin in order to comprehend that there are only victims or beneficiaries of racism, which makes a person equally responsible for racism, even if he or she is not actively involved in it. At the cross, however, one does not only find personal forgiveness, but also victory over structural injustice.

The article concludes with a targeted list of challenging but also tangible and inspiring suggestions for the individual fight against racism, calling the reader to rethink his or her own language, to seek dialogue with victims, to re-examine history with the perspective of a foreigner, and much more.

A powerful und inspiring article that we would like to highly recommend to you!

The article was published on the website of the Jubilee Centre. Read the whole article here.