The Story: Thabiti Anyabwile, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman, recently delivered a lecture on “Jonathan Edwards and American Racism: Can the Theology of a Slaveholder Be Trusted by Descendants of Slaves?” (audio | video | PDF). The discussion, co-sponsored by The Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding and The Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, also featured Louis Love of New Life Fellowship Church (Vernon Hills, Illinois) and Charlie Dates of Progressive Baptist Church (Chicago) as respondents.
The Background: No matter how you slice it, the question Anyabwile addresses is sensitive. Should Christians adopt the theology of a man who owned slaves? Is it appropriate for African Americans in particular to esteem such theology? And, perhaps most significantly, was there a genetic connection between Edwards’s theology and his practice? After all, the Northampton pastor “was nothing if not an ardent defender of the Reformed or Calvinistic orthodoxy that reigned in New England during his lifetime.” Could it have been Edwards’s Reformed theology—-and soteriology in particular—-that led him to embrace slavery? Isn’t Calvinism basically about some being superior (“chosen”) while others are not? The issues at hand are indeed multifaceted, and Anyabwile addresses each in turn:
- Personal: Can the descendants of slaves trust the theology of a slaveholder?
- Theological: What was wrong with Edwards’s theology proper?
- Doctrinal: Did Edwards properly exegete and apply the “slave texts” in Scripture?
- Ethical: Did Edwards’s view of God lead him to live falsely in the world?
- Hermeneutical: Can a person be Reformed and simultaneously ask “black” questions?
Why It Matters: Racism is no thing of the past, a mere relic of American history. The formal institution of slavery may no longer exist in our land (praise God), but racism itself remains alive and active in human hearts.
In order to assess the previous questions properly, we must examine Edwards in his time and social location in order to better understand his blind spots. “Edwards was both a man of his time and a man ahead of his time,” Anyabwile observes. For example, he denounced the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the man-stealing upon which it was built (1 Tim. 1:10), while still leaving the practice of domestic slavery intact.
Anyabwile refuses to excuse Edwards’s evil, for the reality of the matter is that “what Edwards got incorrect jeopardized the lives of millions of African people who lived in the wake of his doctrine of slavery.” The pastor’s legacy, then, is undeniably and deservedly mixed.
Nevertheless, Anyabwile soundly demonstrates that Edwards’s serious ethical failures were not owing to his Reformed theology. In fact, speaking of Edwards’s theological descendants, he observes, “The seeds of their anti-slavery were planted deeply in Edwards’s own thinking and writing. . . . [He] left his heirs with a view of godly love that necessitated for them the abolition of slavery.”
Moreover, in a comment about his lecture, Anyabwile is worth quoting at length:
You know, there’s a long line of flawed and influential men in the history of the church. Doug Sweeney mentioned Luther’s anti-semitism. We have the racism of folks like Dabney and Thornwell. And so on. Isn’t it astounding that godliness and depravity can be so exquisitely mixed in the life of one human being? Praise God for the active righteousness of Christ!
With all our theologians we have to “chew the fish and spit out the bones.” There’s a very necessary sifting we have to do. Sometimes we must sift out aberrant theology, while at other times we have to sift out flawed examples. Perhaps it’s a measure of maturity to be able to do so? I don’t know. I just know that with some issues and some people it’s incredibly difficult because flaws and sins can sometimes appear darker than the light of Christ in a person’s life. But the best we can do is rejoice in God’s grace and mourn over man’s depravity. We can and should also emulate they holy and avoid the ungodly.
It’s work. Praying the Lord gives us grace to do it.
In this lecture, Anyabwile provides us with a model of sober reflection that avoids the tempting excesses of ignorant adulation on the one hand or careless vilification on the other. Indeed, we ought to be humble in our self-reflection, for we’re wearing blinders, too.
Considering the legacy of America’s greatest theologian should lead us to gaze in wonder at the only All-Consistent One for whom truth and practice never collide. There’s only one Hero who will never disappoint us, and Jonathan Edwards isn’t his name.
