Bloodlines
Does the gospel impact how we think of people of other racial and ethnic groups? John Piper, in his recent book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, argues that it does. Andrew Wencl writes in his review,
I was born in the 1980s. My generation has grown up in an increasingly diverse and integrated America than that of our parents and grandparents. The civil rights movement is something we think about in history class, not at the bus station, a public restroom, or in a restaurant after church on Sunday. But the recent newsworthy event of a church in Kentucky denying membership (and then rescinding its policy) to interracial couples serves as a reminder that diversity, equality, and racial harmony are not won battles, especially within the church.
Even though the younger generations may be experiencing more diversity, that does not necessarily equate to harmony between members of the various racial or ethnic groups that make up that diversity. John Piper wishes to speak to matters of race and ethnicity that are more readily brought to our attention as a result of being in closer proximity to people of diverse backgrounds than ever before in American history. He speaks as a pastor who is still on the path of reconciliation (and thus emphasizes black/white relations throughout the book).
Piper has not written a how-to manual for promoting diversity and racial harmony in church. Piper recognizes that another proposal or political platform is not what the dialogue needs. His focus is ever on the gospel because he recognizes that the gospel “is our only hope for the kind of racial diversity and harmony that ultimately matters.”
Advertisment
